The most underrated British actor.

Another thing that has saddled David is his loyalty to working with his mates. Some of his less-than-stellar choices have been to work with his friends. E.g., The Nativity 2 film allowed him to work with Jessica Hynes (Learners, Dr Who) and Jason Watkins (Duck Patrol), but it was crap. The St Trinian's film was a misstep too. And while he's been funny in the stuff he's done with Richard Wilson, one of his idols, they haven't struck me as the best writing.

Ewan, on the other hand, did do an episode of the US show, ER, which was massively popular at the time. He also seemed to get some movie costars whose movie careers were hot at the time he worked with them and that helped -- Gwynneth Paltrow, Renee Zellweger, Nicole Kidman. Plus, of course, Star Wars.