By DELFIN VIGIL, San Francisco Chronicle

As far as Paul Rudd is concerned, there is only one way a comic actor can spell relief.

W-O-R-K.

SAN FRANCISCO -- There are number of remarkable things about the documentary "Chris & Don: A Love Story," not the least of which is the film's 16mm footage of two gay men proudly showing their affection for each other in public -- in the early 1950s.

Boy, is Sam Rockwell tired of playing the kid.

At 39, he knows he has come a long way from his first big-screen part in the teen horror film "Clownhouse" to his Hollywood movies such as "The Green Mile" with co-star Tom Hanks and "Confessions of a Dangerous Mind" with director George Clooney.