The Bill Engvall Show had been canceled by that point, that early glimpse into Lawrence’s comedic side largely forgotten as she quickly pursued indie dramas such as Garden Party and The Burning Plain. Weirdly enough, though, you could make the argument that the sitcom helped prepare her for the breakout role that launched her movie career. On The Bill Engvall Show, her character Lauren was the oldest of three children, the level-headed sibling who was mature beyond her years. The sitcom, which was set in comfy suburban Colorado, felt like a sunnier version of the situation in which Ree, the rural teenage protagonist of Winter’s Bone, finds herself.
In that 2010 Oscar-nominated thriller, Lawrence’s character must keep her poverty-stricken family together by hunting down her missing father, experiencing all types of peril along the way. Winter’s Bone was harrowing — Ree’s brains and savvy keep her alive while dealing with some dangerous individuals — but Lawrence (who received a Best Actress nomination) gave the film a lively, empathetic core. Ree has had a tough life, but she hadn’t lost her surly sense of humor in the process. As Lawrence had proved on The Bill Engvall Show, she projected an all-American realness in Winter’s Bone that couldn’t be faked. The authenticity she brought on the sitcom was just as evident playing a desperate young person trying to survive in the Ozarks — there weren’t as many punchlines, but at least they weren’t as corny.
As Winter’s Bone started blowing up, premiering to raves at Sundance and then becoming an awards-season darling, Lawrence was tasting the spotlight for the first time. There might have been a temptation to distance herself from her cheesy sitcom past, but instead she said, “I’m so grateful for . I had so much fun on that show, and we all became like family. It funded my indie career, so I could do the movies that I want.” And even years later, after she’d won an Oscar and was part of some huge blockbusters, Lawrence didn’t laugh off her modest start. “When I started acting, I was totally satisfied when I was on a sitcom because I had a steady paycheck,” Lawrence told Oprah Winfrey in 2017. “And I was like, ‘Maybe I can just find a way to be on sitcoms forever.’ I was totally satisfied and good. I never dreamed that I could have this kind of career.”
Still, it is somewhat odd that she’s never really embraced her goofy side on the big screen. Lord knows she’s a comedy nerd: When she was 19 and attracting Hollywood’s attention, she actually took a meeting with Adam McKay, who years later would direct her in Don’t Look Up. “I got this call that the wonderful actress from Winter’s Bone wanted to meet me,” he recalled last year. “And she came in and just for an hour we talked about Step Brothers. And I’m like, ‘I like her. We’re idiots too.’”
While it’s unlikely she’ll ever go Full Ferrell, Jennifer Lawrence certainly has it in her to do broad comedy. (She and buddy Amy Schumer have talked about doing a project together forever.) You won’t go to the sensitive character drama Causeway for laughs, but the film (in which she costars with Brian Tyree Henry) is an excellent reminder of how naturally likable she is.
When will she finally let it rip? Maybe next year: Summer 2023 is when we’ll supposedly get No Hard Feelings, which was initially described only as an “R-rated comedy with a heart.” (There’s been a little more info leaked recently: Deadline says Lawrence will star as “a ne-er-do-well who is hired by a rich couple to befriend their socially awkward kid.”) So, stay patient: We may not have to watch Bill Engvall Show reruns much longer to get our fix of Funny Jennifer.