Cinematical

Judging from the most opaque details that Variety has run regarding writer-director Cameron Crowe's next project -- his first in four years since the much-maligned Elizabethtown -- it wouldn't be unreasonable to suspect that Crowe is perhaps hedging his bets with a more reliable genre effort.

According to the trade publication, "Ben Stiller and Reese Witherspoon will star in an untitled Cameron Crowe romantic comedy adventure at Columbia Pictures." Since that's quite literally the gist of it, it seems fair to infer that the film will skew closer to Crowe's similarly themed and relatively successful Say Anything..., Singles, and Jerry Maguire than anything else on the man's resume, and I say that as someone who loves Almost Famous, dug Vanilla Sky, and will give Elizabethtown a second chance once there's nothing else on television.

For all we know, it could end up being some wildly unique "romantic comedy adventure," although it's not like the bar has been set incredibly high. While I do enjoy the works of Judd Apatow, the rom-com genre appears to have boiled down to his efforts and those of whichever cast member of 'Grey's Anatomy' couldn't resist a generic pitch and an easy paycheck; as such, having Crowe return to the field might be just what we all need.