Tobey Maguire
Maybe, just maybe, if "Spider-Man's" Peter Parker wasn't supposed to be a nerd, Tobey Maguire wouldn't have the film career he has attained for himself. I don't mean this as an insult -- someone's got to give honor and cool to the nerd. But with Maguire it almost seems that, if not for the rise of comic-book cinema and online-fanboy writing, he might not have a career. (He probably owes something to Edward Norton, too, though they are different.) With a voice that still sounds mid-puberty, a face that borders on goofy, and a disposition that's more gameboy than playboy, Maguire is lovably awkward and, in his best performances ("The Ice Storm" is a great example) wistfully moving. There's always something slightly sad about Maguire that, along with Sam Raimi, helped humanize the bells and whistles of the "Spider-Man" pictures ("Spider-Man 2," in particular). So as I write this, I'm realizing something that occurs to me whenever I watch him on-screen: he's not merely a nerd. He has too much depth for that simple classification. So forget what I said about comic-book geeks; Maguire could be big without his alter ego -- he's "incredible" himself."

Jack Black
Though "The Holiday" wasn't a great movie by any stretch of the imagination, we can thank Nancy Meyers for allowing Jack Black the chance to play romantic lead opposite that heart-stealing devil, Jude Law. Obviously, thanks go to Black for showing up and being himself, but writer-director Meyers had the sense not only to give Black the role but not to make him a dumpy loser in the process. Don't get me wrong. I love Black's anarchically hilarious performances in "School of Rock" and "High Fidelity," and his clever creepiness in "Jesus' Son" -- I love that he's the underdog who surprises everyone with his loose-cannon guile. But I also love that his movie composer in "The Holiday" wasn't written as simply a surprising slob for the ravishing Kate Winslet to fall for. Why wouldn't she like him? Black's character has a career he's passionate about, he's a nice person, he's confident and, for lack of a better word, he's cute. Let's hope more roles like this (and better ones -- "The Holiday" was a bit schlocky for Black) come his way. He could easily grace more romantic comedies, injecting the stale chick-flick formula with some verve. Meyers got what a lot of women admit: They dig him. With his arched brows and laser-beam eyes, he's impishly sexy, as if John Belushi, Jack Nicholson and Michael Keaton (as "Beetlejuice") summoned this creature. And if you really observe the surface, he's handsome on top. Take a look at the recent Hollywood-issue cover of Vanity Fair, where he looks positively dashing. Dress him in a tux, and we almost forget Black crying out, "That's a COSBYYYY SWEATAAH! A COSBBY SWEATAAH!" And to that we add, thankfully almost.

Shia LaBeouf
Shia La ... Who? Isn't a little early to discuss the box-office force that is Shia? Well, no, because the kid (who's on the cusp of 21) helped make that sleeper -- teen "Rear Window" re-mix, "Disturbia" -- a surprising box-office success. Why? Some of it was good publicity: The actor's name appeared everywhere before the picture opened. But there was also terrific word of mouth from viewers and gushing praise for LaBeouf's performance, which most critics considered the best thing about the movie. Not a conventionally attractive leading man (and a very young one), Shia, who was also a stand-out in the messy "Guide to Recognizing Your Saints," has nevertheless impressed so much that he'll soon be seen in Michael Bay's "Transformers." He has also been recently added to the cast of the new Indiana Jones movie. All this and a confusing name to boot. As talented as he is, Shia is exactly what I've been talking about -- unlikely. Now let's just see how long his unlikeliness lasts. For some, that's the perfect ingredient to a long career.

In addition to her regular contributions to MSN Movies, Kim Morgan is a film writer for the LA Weekly, Fandango and Reel.com. She was a film critic for The Oregonian and has written about movies for various print and Web media. She served as DVD critic on Tech TV's "The Screen Savers" and has appeared as guest film critic on "Ebert and Roeper," AMC's "The Movie Club with John Ridley" and on E! Entertainment. She writes the MSN Movies blog.

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