Usually actors are type cast for the rest of their life in their career launching role. But not Paul Rudd. He entered the scene as a witty know-it-all in Clueless and since then he’s played every dork on the planet. I don’t get it. Because I wasn’t sure if I misread him as sexy in Clueless, I re-watched the clip below and confirmed it. So what happened? He’s obviously a working actor, and is therefore not too concerned about his type-casting, but I’d still like to see him return to his roots. It’s hard to even imagine him as sexy after his many guy-who-never-gets-the-girl roles.
Paul Rudd was a dork in clueless. That’s exactly the point. When Silverstone loosens her grip on external cool, she’s able to see him for who he is, not how he dresses etc. So I think you’ll find Paul Rudd’s career break type cast pretty consistent from there.
He was not a dork! He was just too smart for her and they therefore were not
interested in each other. It was mutual. He wasn’t some asshole pining
away for the girl.