For the last few years Ed Helms has been on an uninterrupted ascent toward the comedy A-list, thanks largely to his role as Stu in the megablockbuster "Hangover" films. He replaced Steve Carell as regional manager on "The Office" and now, in the new film "Jeff who Lives at Home" from Jay and Mark Duplass, stars alongside Jason Segel in what looks to be a chance to branch out into slightly less over-the-top fair than he's used to.

"It might not be what you expect from Jason Segel and me," said Helms on a conference call with various student news associations. The goal was "not necessarily to find the funniest joke as much as just sort of find the most authentic way to do a scene."

The film tells the story of the aimless Jeff (Segel) who, on his way to buy wood glue, looks for signs from the Universe to determine his fate. On the way he runs into his more mature (on paper, anyway) brother Pat (Helms) and the two set off on a series of bizarre escapades.

Helms is "insanely proud of it," expressing a lot of satisfaction with the project and saying that while he'd "still call it a comedy...it's a more honest look at dysfunctional people than most work I've done."

And Helms certainly has a history of portraying dysfunctional people, something made clear when he got into the psychology of his character Andy from "The Office" (a goofball in constant need of approval) and Pat from this film, someone who's very relatable in that he "wants to be the better version of himself," but goes about it in entirely the wrong way, most visiually through a goatee to appear "edgy and young" that allowed Helms to get into character just by looking in the mirror each morning of production.

Having a creative career is a major outlet for the actor, who desribes himself as "a very boring person" who loves "the fantasy of being these sort of wacked out characters." That said, the most important thing to consider when taking on a project is still whether "the story resonate[s] on any kind of emotional level, even if it's just a really silly story or a silly movie, you stll have to connect to the material somehow...I just love to be a part of good storytelling.

"Jeff who Lives at Home" opens in theaters on Friday, March 16.

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