Comedy »

Times may have changed, but for years conversationalists who knew nothing about France except that french fries came from there always had a great fall back position: "You know, they worship Jerry Lewis movies." Cecil Adams of The Straight Dope analyzes the urban legend, while passing on some of his own notions regarding "highbrow critics (the only kind France has)".

When I was Paris once, I can remember reading the newspaper Le Figaro's review of "Allo Maman, C'est Moi Encore" (Hi Mom, It's Me Again better known as Look Who's Talking Too). The review began, as I recall, "What's more droll than a talking baby? Two of them!" Sheesh, that's more highbrow than Richard Roeper even! The Lewis libel is what is the novelist Gustave Flaubert called "a received idea," a bit of folk wisdom passed down uncritically from one ignoramus to another.

You enjoyed them for a long time on Saturday Night Live, and then one of these girls ran off to do her own show (the nerve!). But now Tina Fey and Amy Poehler are back together AND on the big screen in Baby Mama, which arrives in theaters on April 25. Both women sat down for one of those nifty Moviefone Unscripted segments recently -- ya know, the one where they interview each other with questions you submitted (through this very blog), as well as their own. Above you can check out an exclusive clip from their chat that's not included in the actual Unscripted installment. (And yes, to that boy picking his nose in the back corner -- that does mean you can only view it here on Cinematical.)

In Baby Mama, Tina Fey plays a straight-laced New York yuppie who desperately wants a baby, but is unable to conceive. Her only option is to bring on a surrogate mother (Poehler), but problems arise when that surrogate acts more like a child than a baby mama. So head on over to Moviefone's Unscripted area to check out their chat, which includes all kinds of tasty tidbits like what Amy Poehler wore to her prom, as well as which male celebrity Tina Fey would choose as her surrogate. Oh yes, it gets nasty. Enjoy.

In yet another case of similarly themed battling films, Variety reports that there's a new comedy on the way called Wild Cherry. This is just 11 days after we learned that Overture was going for the Freshly Popped story about a teen girl who is looking for the right guy to take her virginity. Did everyone see Juno and become inspired with thoughts about awkward teens having their first forays into sex?

Whatever the case, Rob Schneider, Tania Raymonde, Kristin Cavallari, Rumer Willis, and Ryan Merriman have signed on for the ensemble comedy, which was written by Chris Charney and will be directed by Dana Lustig. In this story, it's a bit less meat-factory hunting. Schneider is starring as the dad of a high school senior who is looking to give up her virginity to her football-kicker boyfriend. However, she then finds out that he's only dating her for his team's "bang book." Of course, that ends the talk of cherry popping, and she decides to get revenge. Taking a cue from the Greek play Lysistrata, the girl and her friends plan some payback, which I imagine means an all-out sex boycott for all of the "bang book" using jerks of the school.

It sounds like it could be a fun flick, a rarity for Schneider, but I still don't get this current cherry obsession. Regardless, the film heads to Winnipeg on May 7 to begin production.

How do you sell the merits of an indie film to the masses? Scott Macaulay raises the question at the Filmmaker Magazine blog in connection with the release of Joe Swanberg's Hannah Takes the Stairs on DVD tomorrow. The film debuted at last year's SXSW and then received a brief theatrical release last summer. Macaulay posted pictures of the theatrical release poster, in contrast with the home video box cover.

Which is more effective? Chris Thilk at Movie Marketing Madness commented on the poster last summer, describing it as "a very cool poster that manages [to] mix the starkness that identifies it easily as an independent, character-driven film with some wacky visuals that play the same sort of tune the trailer did. I love it." The DVD cover, with the titular character of Hannah (played by Greta Gerwig) almost fading into the background, makes it look more like a mainstream ensemble romantic comedy.

But, wait! The photo on the cover was one of the original publicity photos and can be found on the film's official site. It may not be the most representative, though, since the film is all about Hannah and how she flits through relationships rather quickly. The Chicago city 'scape background was obviously added later. The blurb is snipped from Owen Gleiberman's review in Entertainment Weekly. The theatrical poster featured a quote from Wesley Morris of The Boston Globe. Is one critic's quote more appealing than the other?

Cinematical has just received this exclusive poster for the film Baghead (click on the image to enlarge), written and directed by two very good friends of this site, Jay and Mark Duplass. Baghead marks the brothers' second feature-length film and follow-up to the very funny (but very uncomfortable) 2005 flick The Puffy Chair. Starring Ross Partridge, Elise Muller, Steve Zissis and my personal fav Greta Gerwig, Baghead tells of four struggling actors who retreat to a cabin in the woods in an attempt to write a screenplay they can produce and star in themselves. Will they succeed or will their personal relationships crumble? Oh, and is there really a stranger with a bag over his head lurking in the shadows, tracking the group's every move?

Baghead premiered to all sorts of great buzz back at Sundance, where our own James Rocchi said it "has warmth and innovation, and the mischievous good sense to subtly make fun of the type of film that it is." As Mark Duplass told us when we interviewed the boys during Sundance, "Baghead is a movie about the funny, horrific, tragic, terrible life of being a desperate actor." Needless to say, we highly recommend it.

Baghead arrives in theaters on June 13, after making a stop at the Tribeca Film Festival later this month.

College professors rule! Well, at least the one that Richard Jenkins plays so well in Tom McCarthy's The Visitor (Overture Films). The comedy-drama expanded to 18 theaters in its second week of release and averaged $9,055 per-screen to remain in the #1 position, according to estimates compiled by Box Office Mojo. Check the film's web site to see where it will be opening in the next couple of weeks (click on "in select theaters now").

Debuting indie films did not fare so well, judging strictly by per-screen averages, but it's notable that Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed (Rocky Mountain Pictures), opened on more than 1,000 screens and made $2,997 per location for a total of more than $3 million for the weekend. The doc follows Ben Stein as he chases down Ferris Bueller ... oops, wrong movie! This one's about "intelligent design" in the classroom.

Opening on just one screen, Anamorph (IFC Films) grossed $3,000. Willem Dafoe stars as an NYPD detective investigating a serial killer. Critics were not kind: Anamorph scored just 28% positive at Rotten Tomatoes. David Hudson at GreenCine Daily rounds up pertinent quotes.

Two other holdovers did better as they expanded their runs. Young At Heart (Fox Searchlight), the "elderly folk chorus that sings modern rock songs" documentary, increased its theater count to 33 and averaged $4,393 per screen. Hou Hsiao-Hsien's gentle drama The Flight of the Red Balloon (IFC Films) proved its appeal beyond New York City, making $3,572 per-screen at 11 locations.

I've read my fair share of plot summaries, and I have to say -- this one is definitely interesting, and strange enough that it could be good. So The Hollywood Reporter posts that there's this new indie black comedy on the way, Possessions, and it will star Trent Ford (The West Wing), Jaime Murray (the crazy Lila on Dexter), and Autumn Reeser (The OC). The film was written, and will be directed by, newcomer Nathan Adolfson. But the plot's the key.

According to this job post, the film will focus on a dude named Orlando (Ford) who is dying from cancer. "Resigned to his fate, all he wants is to be left alone with his alcohol and drugs. But his hopes of solitude are destroyed when he wakes to hear Jean-Luc, an incessantly chatty Frenchman who happens to be a voice in his head. Now, in addition to cancer, Orlando must deal with Jean-Luc's never-ending questions and commentary, as well as the discovery that Jean-Luc is slowly taking over every sense of his body (sight, hearing, taste, smell, touch)."

Strange, eh? I guess if Orlando isn't going to make use of it, Jean-Luc will pick up the slack. THR says that Murray and Reeser "form an odd quadrangle" with the struggling man. Production began Friday in Los Angeles.

The pounding beat of a headache, or the sear of a migraine, is something I rarely have to face. That makes me lucky, for the most part, but it also means that when one hits, like today, all I can think of is heads and brains like a zombie in training. Naturally, this has me thinking of movies that focus on the stories of the noggin. Should I go for The Man with Two Brains or other similar brainy fare? Nah.

Instead, I'm going to focus on a man behind the camera, one who brought us two of the best stories of the mind to date: Mr. Charlie Kaufman. It all started with a little Malkovich Malkovich, and then continued with the overwhelming urge to erase love from the mind -- two stories that make a little headache seem like nothing. On this warm Friday, I give you: Being John Malkovich and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind ...

This week I've got a quintet of trailers for movies that recall other movies. It's Echoes of Movies Passed on this week's Trailer Park.

House Bunny
I can imagine the pitch meeting for this one starting with a suggestion to remake Legally Blonde, but without all that annoying charm and wit. That theory actually might hold water when you realize the screenplay for this one was written by the same team behind the Legally Blonde script. Anna Faris stars as a Playboy Bunny who, at the age of 27, finds herself kicked out of the Playboy mansion for getting too long in the tooth. With nowhere else to go, she takes a job as house mother to a sorority full of nerds/geeks/dorks, and everybody learns something important (I guess). If there's anything worthwhile here the trailer keeps it well hidden. Here's what Jessica thought.

Photographers, journalists and casual television watchers alike went into frenzies late last year when the Sex and the City team reunited all across New York for the feature-length version of the hit series. Whether or not you're a fan, it's hard to deny that Sex and the City qualifies as one of those event films, if only because it puts a definitive cap on the six seasons when the show became a phenomenon. It's automatically a quintessential New York film, belonging to a separate class from any number of movies that come out each year incidentally featuring New York that could take place anywhere else.

For that reason, you'd imagine that the movie would celebrate the town of its title with a glitzy New York premiere at some big media affair, of which there is never a shortage. Oddly enough, the Los Angeles Times is reporting that Sex and the City might premiere in London, of all places. London? Really? When Spider-Man 3 opened last year, the Tribeca Film Festival dedicated an entire week to the webslinger with large scale events throughout New York's five boroughs. Considering all that Sex and the City owes to New York -- its entire legacy, really -- the idea of fleeing to Europe first sounds a little confused. Then again, I never understood the appeal of this show anyway, but that's just me. Right?