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Between Keegan Michael-Key, Zoey Deutch and Megan Mullally, the entire supporting player archetypes for a big studio comedy have been contained in one single film. In Why Him? – Michael-Key co-stars as the broad, eccentric butler stealing all the best lines (a la Riff Raff); Mullally steps into the role of the bored housewife who’s far more wild than meets the eye (a la Kathryn Hahn); and Deutch has the most difficult task of all as the ‘straight woman’, keeping the film grounded amongst all the lunatics around her (a la every comedy ever made).  Each performer though is talented enough to tweak these archetypes ever so slightly – Michael-Key adding a dose of maturity beneath each eccentric tick, Mullally playing her transformation less as a reveal and more an inevitability, and Deutch - far warmer than your typical exasperated ‘straight woman’.

In the following interview, the trio discusses these comedic archetypes, looking back to previous comedic performances and their favorite comedies. For the full interview, watch below.

Here’s the official synopsis for Why Him?:

Over the holidays, Ned (Bryan Cranston), an overprotective but loving dad and his family visit his daughter at Stanford, where he meets his biggest nightmare: her well-meaning but socially awkward Silicon Valley billionaire boyfriend, Laird (James Franco). The straight-laced Ned thinks Laird, who has absolutely no filter, is a wildly inappropriate match for his daughter. The one-sided rivalry-and Ned’s panic level-escalate when he finds himself increasingly out of step in the glamorous high-tech hub, and learns that Laird is about to pop the question.