Jane Lynch

Jane Lynch can make a height difference funny. Cast as someone entitled to give orders, she makes confidence itself look faintly unreasonable, with the possibility of menace never far away. We like her best when that imposing manner belongs to a character with something to occupy her beyond keeping everyone else in line. The limitation is familiar: cast her as another brash authority figure and half the decisions have already been made.

Best in Show (2000), her breakthrough as Christy Cummings, is the place we would start. Christopher Guest’s dog-show comedy gives its difficult people enough attention to make them worth spending time with, and Lynch’s improvisation and detailed backstory work are well suited to that company. We felt unexpectedly fond of its dog-show obsessives because Guest allows them to be ridiculous without treating them as contemptible. A few routines repeat themselves, but the film gives Lynch something more useful than an isolated opportunity to be funny: other eccentric people to work against.

Her supporting turn as Paula in Judd Apatow’s The 40-Year-Old Virgin (2005) brought wider recognition. We recommend the film, though chiefly for the warmth between Steve Carell and Catherine Keener, and its overlong routines and lazy jokes about sexuality remain substantial reservations. Lynch belongs to the stronger side of this crude ensemble comedy, but a memorable supporting turn cannot fix the pacing around it. We prefer Guest’s attention to eccentric characters to Apatow’s willingness to let a routine keep going.

With Sue Sylvester, the ruthless cheer coach in Glee (2009–2015), the authority figure became a starring role. That move makes sense for an actor who can make intimidation funny, though it also sharpens the danger of repeating the same domineering woman. Her recurring dramatic role as Diana Reid in Criminal Minds is worth remembering when that casting starts to seem inevitable. We would welcome more parts that let someone else give the orders.