He redefined TV comedy with Freaks and Geeks. Could Paul Feig's new film Bridesmaids do the same for the big screen? Hadley Freeman meets the dapper director and eternal underdog

It is perhaps unsurprising that the people involved in Hollywood movies – which use the lubricant of cliched characters to keep the motor running – are so often cliches themselves. And Hollywood directors are often the most cliched of all. Dressed more like students than middle-aged millionaires, in jeans and T-shirts (accessorised with a $50,000 watch), the only thing they love more than talking about how successful they are now is talking about how unbelievably successful their next project will be.

All of which makes Paul Feig (pronounced Feeg) an unlikely Hollywood director. On the morning we meet in Los Angeles, Bridesmaids, which Feig directed, has received ecstatic reviews. The La Times described it as "that rarest of treats" while the New York Times claimed,...