Accepted Tagged Articles at Cinematical

I just spent the last half hour double-checking the MPAA ratings on my all-time favorite comedies, and I noticed the majority of them are rated R. There's been a real push over the last several years to get films down to a PG-13 rating. Two comedies that did really well this year with audiences, but not critics, were both rated PG-13 (Norbit, Wild Hogs). But let's take a look at the last several comedies that did well with both audiences and critics: Knocked Up, Wedding Crashers, Little Miss Sunshine, The 40 Year-Old Virgin -- all rated R. Around this same time last year, the teen comedy Accepted hit theaters. The film starred an up-and-coming Justin Long, and some new guy (who happened to steal the movie) named Jonah Hill. At the time, I thought it was a nice surprise for a PG-13 comedy -- although now that I know how good Superbad is (a film that stars the same Jonah Hill), I'm left wondering how much better Accepted would've been had it opted to go 'R.'

With Superbad, it's not even like the film carries a ton of nudity. In fact, Superbad is one of those extremely rare R-rated teen sex comedies that doesn't have an ounce of nudity anywhere in it. Instead, we have several references to sex, combined with more foul language than you know what to do with. But, like Jonah and Michael Cera told me during our interview, this is how kids talk. This is how real teenagers act around each other. And like with the majority of Judd Apatow's films (whether he's a producer or director), it's funny because it's relatable. I had a conversation with a friend of mine last night, and Apatow's name came up. In my opinion, Apatow and his crew have achieved in two years (on the big screen) what Kevin Smith should have 10 years ago (although when you factor in budgets versus box office, Smith's films have been very successful) -- writing raunchy, relatable material (sprinkled with pop culture references) that caters to a wide audience. It's not that Smith's stuff isn't funny (it totally is -- my friend and I talked Clerks for an hour last night), it's just that his films unfortunately never found a way to reach the mass audience Apatow has.**. But to get back on track ...

... what do you think: Is a comedy funnier when it's rated R? And, like Accepted, are there comedies that would've been funnier had they gone for the 'R' rating?

**Leave it to me to start a topic within a topic and not explain myself further. That's what happens when caffeine hasn't entered my system yet. But to further explain, what I meant to say is that Apatow and his crew stole a bit of Smith's thunder, and we should remember that Smith could probably be credited for starting this whole "relatable foul-mouthed humor" with little more than a bunch of credit cards and a unique sense of humor. Scott made some great points in his follow-up post, so head on over there to continue this discussion.

Slowly but surely, Ricky Gervais is climbing the Hollywood ladder. After co-starring in films like Night at the Museum and the upcoming Stardust, Variety reports Gervais has landed a lead role in Early Retirement for Warner Bros. What, did you think he was calling it quits early; hanging up his comedic hat while he was still ahead? I know a few folks who would quite literally hunt the man down and force him to return to either the big or small screen if that were the case. He's just too good at what he does, and it would be a real shame to lose him at this stage in his career. The film is based on a pitch from Mark Perez, who previously wrote the Justin Long comedy Accepted, and will make his feature directorial debut on a film called Cellmates for New Regency.

In Early Retirement, Gervais will play a father who decides to quit his job in order to spend more time with his family. Perez calls it "the opposite of most family comedies," pointing to the fact that the majority of films in this genre tend to end with the main character quitting something (be it an annoying hobby or a highly-stressed career) to be with their family. In Early Retirement, the film will begin that way instead. Fun! I imagine problems will arise when Dad realizes that staying home with the fam is far from an enjoyable experience. Next up, Gervais will be co-starring alongside Greg Kinnear and Tea Leoni in David Koepp's romantic comedy Ghost Town.

There aren't enough words in my vocabulary to describe how much I love Michael Cera. Granted, he's nowhere near being the next George Clooney, but no one plays "dopey" better than this kid. Our pals at Moviefone have just released a brand new R-rated clip from the upcoming comedy Superbad, starring Cera and Jonah Hill. Picture Freaks and Geeks if it were R-rated and lasted enough seasons for the geeks to be graduating high school. Although the clip itself is fairly tame (with the exception of a few sh*ts, naked ass slapping, underage drinking and vomiting), it's technically R-rated which means you do need to be over 18 to view it. Yes, that also means you will need to add your name, birthdate and zip code before watching. Additionally, a urine sample is optional, but not required.

In the aforementioned scene, Cera is chatting up one of his female classmates in the school hallway. When she asks him whether he will attend a big party the following weekend, he goes into this whole diatribe about how he has to see whether he has anything else planned -- because there's always "tons of crazy sh*t happening." "Like what?" she asks. It's at that point the clip earns its R-rated status; as Cera begins to describe the super cool time he had the previous weekend -- dressing it up so that it sounds fun -- we flash to the stuff that actually took place, including computer porn watching, beer drinking and a number of other ridiculous activities. From the looks of it, Superbad appears to be the kind of comedy Accepted should've been. Don't get me wrong, I liked Accepted -- but when they opted for the PG-13 rating, they subsequently lost the opportunity to include a ton of raunchy humor. Although Judd Apatow did not direct Superbad, he did produce -- not to mention a majority of his clan of merry misfits all show up in one way, shape or form. Is it wrong for me to anticipate this flick more than The Simpsons Movie? Because I really think that's where I'm heading. Superbad hits theaters on August 17.

Recent Theatricals

Accepted -- Quick and painless late-teen college about a bunch of slackers who fabricate an entire university before things get nutty. Not awful, but not all that funny either (Extras: director/cast commentary, featurettes, music videos, deleted scenes, gag reel, etc.)

Brothers of the Head -- The creators of Lost in La Mancha go the mockumentary route with this story of conjoined-twin rock stars. Yeah, you heard me.

John Tucker Must Die -- Teen movies must stop: A bunch of girls get revenge on the campus womanizer. How nice. (Director's commentary, featurettes)

King Kong: Extended Edition -- Because Peter Jackson's remake wasn't already long enough, they added another 13 minutes back in. (Filmmaker commentary, 3-hour documentary, 38 MORE minutes of deleted scenes.) OK, I want this.

The Da Vinci Code -- Admit it; you were bored by it. (Ten featurettes.)

Catalog Picks

Forbidden Planet: Special Edition -- The classic sci-fi grand-daddy (which was based on The Tempest, dontchaknow) gets re-issued in a normal SE and a swanky LE that comes with a Robby the Robot toy! (Documentaries, deleted scenes, lost footage, random fun.)

The Green Mile: Special Edition -- Frank Darabont's second Stephen King adaptation (after The Shawshank Redemption) pales in comparison to the first, but the chemistry between Tom Hanks and Mike Duncan is still pretty effective. (Director commentary, deleted scenes, feature-length documentary, featurettes.)

Maniac Cop -- It's about a cop -- who's a maniac. It comes from Bill Lustig (Maniac) and Larry Cohen (The Stuff), plus it stars Tom Atkins, Richard Roundtree and Bruce Campbell. Not saying it's a good flick, but if you know these names you'll have fun with Maniac Cop. (Filmmaker commentary, featurette, interviews.)

Direct-to-Video

Raptor Island -- I've never seen it, but it stars Lorenzo Lamas & Stephen Bauer, was written by the guy who did Megalodon, and is about an island full of velociratpors. See it quick, before Raptor Island 2: Raptor Planet hits the Sci-Fi Channel!

Strangers With Candy -- Apparently it's got some kind of cult fanbase. I'll have to give SWC a whirl sometime, but everyone tells me to start with the series first. (Filmmaker commentary, 18 deleted scenes.)

First, the good news for New Line: Snakes on a Plane topped the weekend box office. Hooray! And now, the bad news: Including the take from Thursday night screenings, the movie earned slightly over $15 million, a long way from the studio's somewhat conservative estimates that the movie would make in the low $20 million range. Since a movie like this was built and relies largely on word-of-mouth, the comparatively small opening weekend is a bad sign for the upcoming weeks. While it's assured that New Line won't lose money on the project -- it only cost about $30 million to make -- it's nevertheless going to be hard for them to argue that they're not disappointed by this open, particularly given that many were guessing the weekend totals would be between $30 and 40 million.

Finishing second, barely, was Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby, which took in $14.1 million in its third weekend in release, pushing the movie's total domestic earnings well past $100 million. World Trade Center was off about 40% from last weekend, and held firm in third with $10.8 million, while Accepted, Universal's major new offering, finished in the fourth spot with $10.1 million. The weekend's other major debut (and SOAP's companion in not-screen-for-critics land) was Material Girls; on about 1500 screens (roughly half Accepted's exposure), the Duff sisters festival made $4.6 million. Also worth noting is the success of Little Miss Sunshine, which continued its extraordinary box office run after adding more than 500 screens to its previously limited release. The film earned $5.7 million on an impressive $8212/screening, numbers that landed it in seventh place overall.

Full numbers are after the jump.

Right off the bat, without reading any other reviews, I'll tell you most people will immediately compare Accepted to classic comedies like Animal House and Revenge of the Nerds. In their following sentence, they will probably say Accepted wasn't as funny as Animal House or as clever as Revenge of the Nerds – summing things up by convincing you not to see this film because all it has are regurgitated jokes surrounded by an absurd plot.

Now, here's where I'll tell you to forget everything you've read, because a film is allowed to feature a college setting and include a fraternity, without automatically ripping off, well, Animal House or Revenge of the Nerds. Of course, folks do have a reason to dig up the past when speaking about Accepted – the film does have that wacky John Hughes-esque 80's feel to it. And, trust me, that's a good thing. However, if Accepted does run into trouble, it's in deciding what type of film it wants to be. Is it edgy, dirty and disgusting? Or is it cute, wholesome and meaningful? I'll tell you this much: Make me laugh my ass off and I can care less which film you remind me of or supposedly ripped off – heck, I'm leaving the theater in a good mood, with a smile on my face. And, from a late-summer comedy with a relatively unknown cast, who can ask for more than that?

It's not every day that we write up film promotions here on Cinematical. But then again, it's not every day someone sends me a picture of someone dressed up like a ... a ... giant sperm. Now, I don't know what it would take to get me to dress up like a giant sperm and serve drinks at a party, but I'm pretty sure it would have to be a hell of a lot more than they're paying this guy.

The sperm pic came attached to a press release about a promo for new film Accepted, which comes out August 11. The film is about a group of friends who, when rejected by every college they apply to, decide to make a fake college to convince their parents that they got into a school. The students at the fake school -- South Harmon Institute of Technology -- have to struggle to maintain the illusion their school is real, and end up competing with a snooty exclusive neighboring college.

Have you ever found yourself in a situation where you asked yourself, "How in the world did I get here? More importantly, is it at all possible to escape and still manage to live a somewhat normal life?" I shouldn't even need to ask this question because, at one point or another, I'm sure all of you have been in one of those uncomfortable places -- suffocated by the fear and intensity of the situation at hand. What do I do? Where do I go? How will I survive? Is the pizza place still open?

Yes, it sucks -- you're in over your head. Somewhere along the way, be it on purpose or by mistake, everything got away from you. Suddenly, life is caving in and all you're capable of is acknowledging the fact that, well, you're f*cked. Most of the time, it's our curiosity that gets the best of us. We wonder, we ponder, we use our imagination to invent the perfect scenario. Only problem is, there's no such thing as the perfect scenario -- just risk. And if you decide to take that risk, be prepared to battle. If not, you'll drown. That's life.

All of the following films feature characters who are in over their head, caught up in situations that felt right early on, but soon realized things would get a whole lot harder before that light at the end of the tunnel became visible. I've always said that life is like a game of poker -- the guy sitting next to you always wins. However, watching them win helps you to appreciate what matters most. Welcome to this week's Trailer Park: