Adam McKay Tagged Articles at Cinematical

You can't keep a spunky redhead down, even after she's confessed to being a shopaholic. After being unfairly painted as the poster child of conspicuous consumption, Isla Fisher has moved on and scored a one-two punch of comedies. Variety reports that Fisher has signed on to star and produce in Life Coach, and to star in an untitled romantic comedy for Universal.

Life Coach is centers on a woman who hires a (shocker!) life coach to sort her life out. In a twist of twists, the life coach is more messed up than she is. On the outside, it looks like it could be a very typical girl comedy (wacky job, problematic boyfriend, credit card debt), but it is being co-produced by Will Ferrell, Adam McKay, and Chris Henchy, and is being penned by Liz`Cackowski and Maggie Carrey. I think it might actually be a little more offbeat and more along the lines of Funny or Die, and not fall into a romantic comedy trap. An actual comedy starring a woman would be a nice thing to find outside of television's 30 Rock.

The same probably can't be said for Fisher's other gig at Universal. The untitled romantic comedy is based on a French script titled Un Jour mes princes viendront (Some Day My Princes Will Come). Universal wouldn't reveal the plotline, but I'm making the wild guess that it involves a girl looking for Prince Charming, or even more than one Prince Charming. The script is being penned by Audrey Wells, who has made a recent specialty of plots centered around individuals trying to decide to navigate love and life. But there's always the possibility of being surprised by a hearts-and-flowers script, so I'll refrain from criticizing and hope that both scripts offer an opportunity for Fisher to shine as a comedic talent.

Apparently, the Japanese American Citizens League thinks so. The group is angry about a scene featuring a racist rant against the Japanese that leads to an ass-kicking of the lone Asian in the group, played by Ken Jeong, who is of Korean heritage.

The AP reports there are other things in the movie that the JACL are displeased with besides the Pearl Harbor rant given by Jeremy Piven's character, Don Ready, like when he uses the word "Jap" and engages in other human resource department nightmares.

Paramount Vantage responded, "We understand that when presented out of context, jokes and situations in the movie about a variety of topics might be offensive to some people... To be very clear, The Goods: Live Hard, Sell Hard is in no way meant to be mean-spirited, disparaging or hurtful to any individuals and we regret any offense taken."

If you want to chat about whether or not The Goods tickled your funny bone or pissed you off, producer Adam McKay wants to hear about it. He announced last weekend on Twitter that he'd respond to calls about the movie and live-stream his answers, and based on how it went last Sunday, he is planning to do it again. He's also responsive to Tweets (and is very, very funny), so I suggest you follow him, Goods or no.

Have you seen The Goods? Were you offended?

It's rare that even a movie's biggest fan can recall all of the little throwaway lines of dialogue and performance details from supporting players. But if that supporting player is Jeremy Piven, you can almost guarantee it will come immediately to mind, whether he's an assaultive partygoer who turns introspective during a Gas 'N Sip hangout session in Say Anything, or a pal searching for romantic redemption during his high school reunion in Grosse Pointe Blank. Finally in charge of his own film, The Goods, Piven is no less generous with his comedic set-ups, sharing the screen with a talented ensemble of players (including Ving Rhames, Katheryn Hahn and Rob Riggle) who find themselves tasked with the challenge of liquidating an entire dealership's stock of cars over the Fourth of July holiday.

Cinematical recently spoke to Piven via telephone to discuss his participation in the film, which is produced by Adam McKay (Step Brothers) and directed by Neil Brennan (Chappelle's Show). In addition to talking about the good fortune that found him at the helm of a summer comedy, Piven discussed the prospect of making a car salesman a charming fellow, and reflected on the reasons why folks seem to find him such a convincing con man.

Cinematical: A car salesman is perhaps not the first person you think about when you imagine a sympathetic character. How much did you want this guy to be genuinely likeable and how much of a snake-oil salesman did you want him to be?

Well, leave it to the comedy duo of Will Ferrell and Adam McKay to remind me of one of the better B-movie curios sitting on my shelf, a film that even combines their own site's merits of 'funny' and 'die' into one sharp satire that's already gone overlooked and underappreciated since its 2001 release (into a whopping ten theaters, it seems).

Series 7: The Contenders plays like a 90-minute marathon of a supposed TV show in which contestants are chosen at random and tasked with killing the competition. Everyday citizens have to take out other everyday citizens while the cameras are rolling, and the last man or woman standing wins, plain and simple.

It's funny in the ways it dead-on skewers the manipulations and absurdity of reality programming, and it's funny in more bleakly matter-of-fact ways as we grow slowly but surely engaged by the characters, just as the show itself would intend to. Besides, in what other movie would you see Paul Giamatti's mom from Sideways and the girl from the well in The Silence of the Lambs duke it out, with Will Arnett narrating throughout? Now that's something I would watch...

Great Odin's *beard raven! It looks like a sequel to Adam McKay and Will Ferrell's comic classic Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy has gotten a little closer to reality. During a press event for Land of the Lost in Australia on Monday, Ferrell told the Aussie radio DJs Jono & Dano that, "he expected to meet with Paul Rudd and Steve Carell "next week" to discuss ideas...and salaries: "[Because] believe me, I'm not taking a pay-cut. No way!" -- It's a long segment, but if you have the time, Ferrell drops the 'Burgundy bomb' around the 8:20 mark.

McKay and Ferrell have been hinting at a sequel as far back as last summer, and they told Entertainment Weekly that they were already developing a script that would fast-forward Ron Burgundy to the 80's. Now, normally the word sequel is a cause for concern when it comes to a favorite flick, but I have to admit; it's an idea that has tons of possibilities. I mean, who wouldn't love to see the Ron in the world of cable news pundits? I wonder if Burgundy would be a Fox News or a MSNBC kind of guy? Nobody can play a lovable blow-hard like Farrell, and as long as the whole thing doesn't become overrun with bad '80s jokes about Rubik's Cubes and Thriller jackets, we should be good, right?

*Correction: You'll have to forgive the Burgundy misquote, it happens to the best of us.

I may have suggested once that Hansel and Gretel head for the big screen, but I never imagined it would be as witch hunters. The Hollywood Reporter posts that Norwegian writer/director Tommy Wirkola is cooking up Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters, for Will Ferrell and Adam McKay's Sanchez Prods. to produce. Set 15 years after the incident at the tasty house, Hansel and Gretel are now "specialized bounty hunters looking to put down the cackling black-hat set."

McKay says: "It's a hybrid sort of old-timey feeling, yet there's pump-action shotguns. Modern technology but in an old style. We heard it and we were just like, 'That's a freakin' franchise! You could make three of those!' " Hansel and Gretel, the franchise. That'd be the day! Hold onto your hats though -- Wirkola is still working on the outline, so we've got a long wait ahead.

Meanwhile, it's time for dueling Paradise Lost features. Two years ago, a feature was in the works that would focus on the war of Milton's epic poem, while leaving in enough religion to appeal to faith audiences. Now THR not only states that the project is still in the works for Warner Bros., but that an indie version is now gearing up. Veteran producer Martin Poll is moving ahead with the feature that he started pitching back in the '60s. Talk about determination!

He wrote a script with the late John Collier, kept renewing the option, and now STV Networks is biting. David Dunham and Patricia Li Bryan are set to play Adam and Eve, and they're currently looking for a star to play Satan, and a director to helm the thing. I know I just wowed over him playing a god in Clash of the Titans, but Danny Huston would make one charismatic devil. Who would you cast?

Forbes has released its Most Valuable Comedians list, and through some intricate calculations I stopped studying after high school, came up with Adam Sandler as Hollywood's most powerful laugh riot, both in front of the camera and behind the scenes.

Sandler is gaining traction not only because of his starring roles in such critic-proof movies as You Don't Mess with the Zohan and I Now Pronounce You Chuck & Larry, but because he can also occasionally show off some real acting chops as in 2007's Reign Over Me and Punch-Drunk Love. The number of movies he's producing and has in development under Happy Madison Productions are growing in number. And despite its premise, this summer's Funny People, which stars Sandler as a comedian dying of cancer who mentors a younger comedian, has quite a number of big names attached. Judd Apatow wrote, directed, and produced the film; Seth Rogen and Jonah Hill costar. Oscar-winning cinematographer Janusz Kaminski is behind the lens. So even though at first glance, I thought, "Adam Sandler, WTF?" it's clear that even though Sandler doesn't tickle my funny bone, he does have all the criteria for Forbes's list firmly in place.

Will Ferrell, who's #2, is getting more and more into production along with writing and acting, and launching FunnyorDie.com with director and writer Adam McKay was a watershed moment for viral video. HBO's investment in the website led to a deal with Ferrell and his FoD cohorts for a TV show - 10 episodes to be exact - which turned out to be the hit Eastbound and Down.

Everybody loves a package deal, right? It makes things much easier when you can buy a property kit and caboodle -- think of it as a cinematic value meal. Even though it may not be cheap, Will Ferrell and his comedy cohort Adam McKay are counting on the lure of star power to sell their latest comedy. Variety reports that McKay is currently shopping around an action-comedy titled The B Team with Ferrell and Mark Wahlberg attached as mismatched cops.

Not much is known about the story, but I think it's a safe bet to say it will be pretty much the same as most of the films that Ferrell and McKay have done together. B Team was scripted by Land of the Lost writer, Chris Henchy, who also serves as a producer on Wahlberg's Entourage -- which would probably explain how Wahlberg got involved.

So even though most people have started to lose patience with the duo of McKay and Ferrell, I still have hope that a few laughs will be had. To be honest with you, my only concern is the comedy stylings of one Mr. Mark Wahlberg. Other than a few brief moments here and there, Wahlberg has never really been intentionally funny. But I guess studios are going to have to pay, and pay big to find out. Mainly because the studio purchase pretty much means that the studio will be on the hook to make the flick no matter what. Ferrell and McKay are already working on Ferrell's one-man show about G.W. Bush's last night in office, You're Welcome America, but the two are expected to get to work on B Team this summer, with an eye on a 2010 release.

At some point this past summer, between all but consecutive viewings of The Dark Knight, I slipped into a screening of Step Brothers with the same tempered expectations with which I had greeted Blades of Glory and Semi-Pro -- and found myself equally surprised in the coming days and weeks and months by just how admittedly tickled I was by any of them (quoting lines was moderate on all counts). Mind you, I'm saying this as the guy who chuckled during Anchorman, sure, but not really enough to keep it on my shelf or call myself thankful for it.

That's nothing against our Eric D. Snider, and nothing against the star of each film mentioned, Will Ferrell (yes, he was actually Batman). In fact, with Step Brothers hitting shelves today (with reports of a wholly sung commentary track), it only seemed fitting that we go over his most amusing roles as overgrown man-children (Ferrell's, not Snider's). Because they're there, and they always will be, and the sooner that I admit to being vulnerable to his shtick, a better world this very well may be.

Anyone with more than a passing interest in Judd Apatow's career will note how there's a curious call-back to one of Apatow's earlier works in this most recent of his productions, with the credits for Step Brothers in the exact same scrawled, stretched-out font as his comedy Freaks and Geeks. Freaks and Geeks, though, featured teens who often spoke and acted like adults; Step Brothers features adults who constantly speak and act like children.

The credit-font's evocation of an earlier Apatow work is an omen for the rest of Step Brothers, in fact, with Will Ferrell and John C. Reilly recycling and amplifying their rivalry from Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby (also directed by Step Brothers helmer Adam McKay) but without that film's plot structure, surreal wit or inspired mockery (and celebration) of NASCAR culture; instead, Step Brothers seems constructed -- or, rather, contrived -- solely to create a circumstance where Ferrell and Reilly can act like idiot man-children and riff to their great amusement. That, however, is not the same thing as riffing to the amusement of the audience. ...