Imagine you're a filmmaker and you've got this cockamamie story about astronaut chimps that just won't go away. You don't have much money, but the story involves lots of technology and outer space effects. What do you do? You could use your imagination and shoot in darkness with lots of odd angles and perspectives, like Mario Bava's sci-fi masterpiece Planet of the Vampires (1965). But that would raise all kinds of questions about how to present the chimps. You could do a hand-drawn animated cartoon, something like Persepolis, for comparatively little money. But that would expose the fact that you really don't have much of an idea. So you decide to make a big, computer-animated film, make it fast, fill it with annoying jokes and hope no one notices how cheap and unfinished it looks. But what you don't do is open it three weeks after the astonishing WALL-E so that everyone notices the difference.

Space Chimps comes from the folks who brought you the universally despised animated film Happily N'Ever After (2006), and although I didn't see the earlier film, I'm told Space Chimps represents something of an improvement. Regardless, everything here has a kind of mechanical sheen rather than organic textures, and it feels like something closer to Tron than a cartoon about monkeys. Then comes the story: Ham (voiced by Andy Samberg) is the grandson of a famous chimp astronaut, who actually went into space. The younger Ham works at the circus, getting himself shot out of cannons. In the film's opening scene, he rockets toward the moon and reaches out for it, disappointed when gravity's pull inevitably begins dragging him back toward Earth.

... But will she remain onboard long enough to actually start shooting? Since the film begins production on June 9, La Lohan only has four days to fudge it up. (I think I know who's getting an extra prayer at meal time tonight!) Yes, according to Variety, Lindsay Lohan will star in Labor Pains, rescuing the film from "limbo," along with Nu Image/Millennium Films Overnight Productions. Capitol Films were originally set to finance the flick, but they've had money issues as of late (remember the whole "Nailed situation?").

Starring alongside Chris Parnell, Cheryl Hines (who's doing a TON of film work these days), Luke Kirby and Connie Britton, Lohan will play a publishing house assistant who fakes a pregnancy so that her "nasty" boss won't fire her. Seems like an odd premise for a film -- kinda Devil Wears Prada with a twist of ... fake pregnancy? Producer Rick Schwartz gave this nugget of a quote: "I didn't know Lindsay before this, but we looked each other in the eye three months ago, and she has done everything I could have asked."

Note to everyone else in the world: Look Lindsay in the eye and she'll fulfill your every wish and command.

Cinematical has just received this exclusive poster for the film Space Chimps (click to enlarge), fresh from one of the primates that brought you Shrek. Featuring a voice cast that includes Andy Samberg, Cheryl Hines, Jeff Daniels, Stanley Tucci and Patrick Warburton, Space Chimps follows Ham III (Samberg), the grandson of the first ever chimp in space, who's recruited by a scheming senator (Tucci) for a dangerous mission to help thwart a powerful tyrant (Daniels) from taking over an alien world. Of course, Ham III will have a little help from his friends along the way. You can scope out the first trailer for Space Chimps over on Moviefone, then buckle yourself in and prepare to go bananas for Space Chimps when it touches down in theaters on July 18.

I'm happy to say one of the films I was most looking forward to this year actually lived up to my expectations -- and though it's still very early in the festival, Bart Got a Room is easily my personal favorite so far. It's not complex, it's not much different from other nerdy-teen-needs-date-for-prom flicks, but it sure as hell packs a ton of heart and has a lot of fun. It's alive, it's colorful, it's got well-written characters and more than a handful of memorable scenes; if I had to describe this film in one sentence, my pitch would go something like: Picture a contemporary version of Brighton Beach Memoirs if it featured an only child and was set in South Florida. That's Bart Got a Room.

Danny's (Steven Kaplan) a skinny Jewish kid with low self-esteem, eccentric, over-protective parents and no prom date. While he can easily take his best friend Camille (Alia Shawkat), Danny would rather take a girl he might have a romantic chance with. Like the pretty, flirtatious blonde cheerleader he carpools with, or the reserved Asian classmate who writes exotic, pornographic poetry. He'd let his friends set him up with "that girl who sleeps around," he'd throw open the phone book and dial up a girl he hasn't seen in years -- all of which makes Danny a man on a mission. And that mission becomes even more complicated (and important) when Bart, the school's biggest loser, not only secures a prom date ... but also a hotel room. Yup ... even Bart got a room.

One of the films I'm most looking forward to at this year's Tribeca Film Festival is Bart Got a Room, directed by Brian Hecker (in his feature debut) and starring William H. Macy, Cheryl Hines, Steven Kaplan, Alia Shawkat and Jon Polito. Before I go any further -- I'm sorry, but how awesome does Macy look with that haircut? Only he can pull off the White Man's Fro and do it with style (click on the image to enlarge).

Bart Got a Room centers on any teenage kid's worst nightmare: Imagine the school's biggest dweeb not only secured a date for the prom before you, but he also got a hotel room. That's what happened to Danny (Kaplan), and now he's on a desperate quest to find a date while his divorced parents, Beth and Ernie Stein (Hines and Macy) independently search for love. Oh man, a skinny Jewish kid with major prom anxiety and nutty parents. This film will certainly take me back a few years.

We'll have a full review and interview with writer-director Brian Hecker later on this month. Oh, and when a trailer is available, we'll let you know.

Did you know this? I'm not exactly sure why, but news about Serious Moonlight isn't really getting released. I posted about the project back in October -- the film was written by the late Adrienne Shelly, is being produced by her widower, and had Cheryl Hines (who co-starred in Waitress) attached to direct. Sure, it's not the biggest selection of names, but after the shock that was Shelly's murder, and the positive reaction to Waitress, one would think that news about the feature would continue to roll in, especially when bigger names signed on.

While reading Lou Lumenick's current post about Meg Ryan, he mentioned the film and its stars -- Kristen Bell and Justin Long. So, I headed over to IMDb, and yes, the cast stars Veronica Mars and the ol' Apple guy, plus Ryan and Timothy Hutton. Did some press release get lost? The film was cast, and is already in post-production!

It's been almost a year since I saw Zak Penn's poker mockumentary The Grand when it first premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival, and I seriously cannot wait to see it again. You won't hear much about it because it's a smaller flick, but it packs one heckuva cast and it seriously rivals the films of Christopher Guest -- in fact, I'd go as far as saying The Grand is better than anything Guest has put out in awhile. I will admit, though, that The Grand is not for everyone.

It's tough to sell a mock, since some people just don't get the humor in it. Put it this way: If you dig shows like Curb Your Enthusiasm or Seinfeld, you'll certainly enjoy The Grand. It stars Woody Harrelson, Cheryl Hines, David Cross (who's hysterical), Ray Romano (in his greatest role ever), Dennis Farina, Werner Herzog ... and so many more. This flick boasts an all-star team of funny folks -- and the entire story is set in the world of high-stakes poker.

I haven't seen one commercial or advertisement for The Grand, so since it was one of my favorite comedies last year (since that's when I saw it), I felt a post like this was necessary. I really want this film to get some love, because it's seriously a real comedic gem. Wanna laugh this weekend? Go see The Grand. Odds are you'll love it.

Check out a clip from the film after the jump ...

(For more, here's my review of The Grand from last year's Tribeca fest, as well as my interview with director Zak Penn.)

Time flies, and we've almost approached the first anniversary of Adrienne Shelly's murder. Since then, Waitress has hit both the festival circuit and local big screens, charming audiences as a bittersweet cherry to her career; however, Waitress wasn't the only material she was working on. Variety reports that another Shelly screenplay is heading towards production. Cheryl Hines, who co-starred with Keri Russell in Waitress, is going to make her feature directorial debut with a project called Serious Moonlight -- which Shelly's husband, Andy Ostroy, will co-produce along with Michael Roiff.

Moonlight is a dark comedy about a "high-powered female attorney who learns that her husband is about to leave her for another woman, then prevents him from doing so by binding him to the toilet with duct tape." I guess she didn't see 9 to 5, which has a much more creative means of binding the pesky man. Anyway, things get more tricky when the home is invaded by robbers.

Ostroy says: "I felt compelled to continue her work for her after her death. I think she was just hitting her stride with Waitress. I tried to put together a team that was part of the Waitress family to re-create the vibe and the success of that film and honor Adrienne and get her work out there with a group of people who really cared about her and (understood) her spirit and vision." The comedy will head into production this December in LA, and considering Ostroy's plan, there's probably a decent chance Russell will also get involved, since there has been no mention of new projects. We should know soon -- Roiff, Ostroy, and HInes are currently casting the film.

It is hard enough being a nerdy kid searching for love. It is doubly hard to be that kid when you know love sucks and rarely works out. I remember being a teen conflicted by the desire for a date and the constant reminder that divorce is the best-case scenario for what that date will lead to. Now it seems Plum Pictures is making the story of my life, in the indie teen comedy Bart Got a Room. According to Variety, the film will star Steven Kaplan as a nerdy kid living with his parents (William H. Macy and Cheryl Hines) in a retirement community in Hollywood, Florida. At the moment in his life when he's seeking love, or at least a prom date, his parents are going through a divorce. Playing his best friend -- and let me guess also his eventual love interest -- is Alia Shawkat, who is best known as "Maeby" from the best television show ever, Arrested Development. The film is the feature debut of writer-director Brian Hecker and it will be produced by Grace is Gone's Celine Rattray, Galt Niederhoffer and Daniela Taplin Lundberg.

I have to point out -- because my mom reads Cinematical -- that my own parents divorced much, much earlier than my teen years, and I wasn't actually completely traumatized nor did the divorce ruin my ability to find love. So, Bart Got a Room will not parallel my life, though I do think I could relate to it anyway. And I'm sure I won't be alone there. The high school years are probably the most formative time in our lives regarding love and relationships, and certainly we look around us, to our parents, friends and relatives for guidance in how to figure it all out. Certainly a failing marriage in the home could have a negative impact on the experience, and I'm sure that's what Hecker is focusing on here. It kinda reminds me of Sixteen Candles, actually, in that it probably deals with a selfish lack of attention on the parents' part. Of course, with great talents like Macy and Hines at the reigns of Bart's family, we'll hopefully see more concentration on the parents in this than in that.

To be honest, I can probably count the amount of romantic comedies I've enjoyed on one hand, so, I am probably not the best audience for news on the latest in a what seems like a long line of romcoms starring Luke Wilson. Variety reports that Cheryl Hines -- famous for her turn as the wife of the neurotic Larry David on Curb Your Enthusiasm -- has joined Wilson for Henry Poole is Here. Directed by Mark Pellington, the story centers on "a man who retreats into a life of debauchery, feasting on liquor and fast food, after learning he has only six weeks to live. But his plans go awry thanks to his oddball neighbors." I'll take a wild guess and presume that Hines is on board for a wacky neighbor role -- especially in the wake of positive reviews for her work as a supportive sidekick in the indie film Waitress.

For the most part, Henry Poole sounds like a dark comedy, which is not that far off from Pellington's other upcoming projects; a war drama with Chris Evans, and a story about a violent misanthrope starring Nicholas Cage. The script for Poole was written by Albert Torres, a first time writer, and the cast also includes Radha Mitchell (Melinda and Melinda), which will probably be where the romance comes in, and Adriana Barraza (Babel). Despite Hines' skill with comedy, she has had more than her share of roles in films that really didn't do her justice. I hope Poole, and the upcoming Zak Penn mockumentary The Grand are going to be a better use of her talents.