Update: Cinematical was informed that the film still does not have a title, though we imagine one will be announced soon. See full (and accurate) press release after the jump.

Since news first broke about Sam Mendes making the leap to comedy with John Krasinski and Maya Rudolph, I've become awfully curious to see if the man famous for heavy subject matter can pull off a straight rom-com. Coming Soon has received a press announcement from the JW Marriott Starr Pass Resort & Spa in Tuscon, Arizona, and according to them, the spa has been chosen as one of the locations for the road flick. More importantly, we now know that the film is going by the slightly awkward title of Farlanders.

McSweeney's founder Dave Eggers co-wrote the script with his wife, Vendela Vida, and the story centers on an expectant couple played by Krasinski (sporting some much-maligned facial hair) and Rudolph as they travel the US looking for the perfect place to start their family. The film has a big ensemble cast to play the various 'characters' our couple will meet along the way -- including some very funny women like Catherine O'Hara, Cheryl Hines, and Allison Janney.

Production began back in April, and according to the release, the Arizona shoot will begin in June. Some of the other locations include Colorado, Connecticut, and Florida. There is no official release date, so I guess I'll have plenty of time to get used to that title.

Farlanders The Untitled Sam Mendes Comedy is due to arrive in theaters in 2009.

Combining the words Allison Janney with indie comedy is usually music to my ears. In the last few years alone, she's rocked roles like Allie Stiffle in Chumscrubber and Bren MacGuff in Juno. Now The Hollywood Reporter posts that she's signing on for two bigger-budget roles -- one that will have her working with Sam Mendes, and the other that will have her directed by Brian Robbins. Well, at least one should be completely excellent.

For Mendes, she's taking a role in his upcoming comedy, which is currently and tentatively titled This Must Be the Place. Janney will play "a loud, brassy, decidedly un-PC woman who admittedly has a few screws loose." (Could Mendes have cast that any better?) "She reunites with a former employee in Phoenix, where the expectant mother/employer (Maya Rudolph) begins a tour of the country with her husband (John Krasinski) to find the best place to raise their child."

Before the rain pooed on my parade and the poo rained on my parade at the Independent Spirit Awards Saturday, I had a pretty great time. The highlight for me was being "on set" for a series of interviews between Martin Short's Jiminy Glick and various celebs. I was just tipped off by the good folks at Netflix that those conversations have hit youtube, and if you're a fan of the character, you may want to check them out. Here's Jiminy with Matt Dillon, with a never foxier Illeana Douglas, with the always youthful Dennis Hopper (an interview that opens with a depantsing), with Ed Begley, Jr, with Juno director Jason Reitman and his father Ivan, with Aaron Eckhart, with John Waters, and with Allison Janney. They could all stand to be edited down a bit, but there's a lot of good stuff in there. If I had to direct you to the funniest couple of discussions, I'd recommend the Illeana Douglas and the Ed Begley, Jr, which contains graphic mouth-to-mouth.

I intended to run a live blog from the show, but the internet connection went out -- one of the dangers of doing a live show from a tent in the rain! I did get to see some cool people up close and personal. Philip Seymour Hoffman (a winner for Best Male Lead) charmed the little press room in a fun Q & A with Savages writer/director Tamara Jenkins (a winner for Best Screenplay) and it was a thrill to meet Scott Frank, a screenwriter I truly admire. He won Best First Feature for The Lookout, one of my favorite 2007 films. I always question what they deem "independent," but I do appreciate that the Indie Spirits have special honors -- like the John Cassavetes Award -- to honor the truly independent and low-budget films each year. Did anyone watch the broadcast? I know it's not the biggest awards show of the year (or even the weekend), but the show was really entertaining. Have favorite moments or disagreements with the winners?

Cinematical is live at the 2008 Independent Spirit Awards! Our own Patrick Walsh will report back throughout the afternoon.

Jiminy Glick just wrapped up a graphic conversation with indie legend John Waters and now he is asking Maria Bello what it's like to show her "down there hair" on camera. Oh wow, now he's humping her. Now he's asking Allison Janney if Juno is a film about people who won't tolerate Jews. "Jew? No!" The man is insane. He's interviewing The Office's Rainn Wilson now, who's looking mighty unkempt and unshaven considering he's hosting the show. And now the two are engaged in a huge pillow fight. There's Dennis Hopper! What does Jiminy ask a legend like this? "Why do men have nipples if they're not supposed to breast feed their pets?" Of course.

He just told Matt Dillon he was excellent as Lieutenant Dan in Forrest Gump, and followed that up with a rave about his work in Saving Private Ryan. Dillon was in neither film. The red carpet is heating up, I just saw Kate Beckinsale, Tom Wilkinson, and now Aaron Eckhart -- who is discussing Mormonism with Jiminy. And now the skies have turned an unsettling gray, the winds are picking up, and I have a feeling a lot of expensive dresses are about to get destroyed. I'm gonna take shelter, but I'll be back.

For more photos and coverage, head on over to Moviefone.

Now I've seen everything. A couple of weeks ago, I reviewed the newly released DVD of Welcome Home, Roxy Carmichael, an oddball film from 1990 about a small town enthralled with the idea that their favorite daughter, who left the town and went on to become a movie star, was gracing them with a return visit. Now comes Our Very Own, a straight-to-DVD release that's a near ripoff of Roxy, only more crazy. This time it's not a fictional movie star that the entire town is obsessed with, but a real one. Actually, I take that back -- it is a fictional movie star. It's Sondra Locke. Yeah, Sondra Locke, the 70s-era Clint Eastwood companion who appeared in several of his films -- remember the revenge-seeking rape victim from Sudden Impact? -- and whose acting career coincidentally ended at around the same time they broke up. Our Very Own, in a stunning retcon of reality, has its cast of Tennessee townies walk around in a near hypnotic state over the potential arrival of Locke, who we're repeatedly told is a major star.

If the movie were set in 2007 instead of 1978, Melora, the main character, would be the kind of kid who starts a fan site to celebrate her favorite actor. Played by Autumn Reeser, who looks like a young Julie Warner and gives away her non-Southern roots from the start by badly affecting a Reese Witherspoon-style white-trash Tennessee twang, Melora sports a The Heart is a Lonely Hunter poster on her bedroom wall and forestalls sex with her boyfriend so that she can confess her fondest hopes and dreams, which all involve Sondra Locke. "I want to meet her so bad," she says. "I dream about being just like her. [Wow] I don't know what I'll do if I don't get to see her and get to know her. I think she'll really like me!" Her boyfriend makes the mistake of indulging her in this line of thinking, which only brings out more of her fantasizing. "I wonder how she did it ... figured out how to be somebody," Melora muses. "She knew something ... something we don't know yet." Again, wow.

Okay, now I'm convinced that many of the critics whose reviews count over at Rotten Tomatoes are secretly Pod People. That's the only way I can think of to explain how The Chumscrubber has a 32% rating over there, while Broken Flowers has an 87%.  I saw both of these movies, and I'll tell you right now, one of them? Not nearly as great as its been touted to be. And the other? Much, much better than a lot of critics are giving it credit for.

The Chumscrubber is not your typical teen film. It tackles complex social issues without being condescending; it somehow manages to walk the line between drama and dark satiric comedy without being trite, cutesy, or quirky for the sake of quirkiness (an annoying trend which I'm seeing more and more with indie films lately).

This was a fabulously layered movie about the isolating loneliness of a self-medicated society, a world where everyone walks around in a solipsitic bubble, lightly bumping into each other rather than really interacting. On the surface, The Chumscrubber might appear to be just your average indie satire of suburban society, but there is much more to this movie than that.