I Hate Valentines Day Tagged Articles at Cinematical

Nothing can really compare to the craptacular showing of ZYZZYX Road, the film that brought in a whopping $30. That's no typo -- it didn't bring in $30 million, not even $30 thousand. I'm not sure any film could ever compete with that, except for maybe a For Justin & Kelly sequel, but there is a stinker this summer that comes sort of close.

It was set to be her big comeback. Two films, one she was headlining, and one that she wrote, directed, and starred in. The first made the rounds, but the other didn't go much further than a blog post or two. Figure out who I'm writing about yet? Yes, it's Nia Vardalos and her feature I Hate Valentine's Day. Gordon and the Whale dug into the little feature that couldn't, revealing that after spending $5 million and making well over $200 million on My Big Fat Greek Wedding, Valentine's Day only brought in eleven thousand dollars in the U.S., from three theaters. Sure, the film hit almost a million with its foreign run, but that doesn't even cover the film's estimated $3 million price tag. Ouch.

Nevertheless, Tom Hanks' Playtone loves her. The TV show might have tanked, as well as her long-awaited follow-up feature (and disappointing showings on the rest of her post-stardom work), but she's in line for two more Playtone productions -- one writing, and one writing and acting. Will they bring more success? It'd be nice, but at this point, it'd also be a shocker. Maybe they should have waited until February 14 to release this puppy. At least then they'd have gotten the coupley audience.

Nia Vardalos, who wrote and starred in My Big Fat Greek Wedding and stars in the Tribeca closer My Life in Ruins, has another rom-com on tap. I Hate Valentine's Day, which she wrote and directed, pairs her up with onscreen hubby from Greek Wedding John Corbett. Remember him back when he was the philosophically inclined DJ from "Northern Exposure," back before he went on "Sex and the City" and started a country band? Those were the days.

Nia Vardalos is a single NYC gal who refuses to go on more than five dates with anyone. Naturally, her resolve is tested when John Corbett and his debonair ways come calling. Will she change her mind? Does she have some secret heartbreak in her past? Will there be lots of jokes about chin hair and Windex? My Spidey sense says yes! And somewhere in there, Zoe Kazan (The Exploding Girl, Revolutionary Road), Rachel Dratch ("Saturday Night Live"), and Judah Friedlander (30 Rock, abuser of trucker hats) come in.

Four years after Connie and Carla failed to set the world on fire, Nia Vardalos has left the writing to someone else while returning to the safe turf of Greece for her new film, My Life in Ruins. Vardalos plays an Athens tour guide tired of all the grating tourists, obnoxious locals, and scheming colleagues in her life, and if the trailer -- link removed at request of studio -- (for those who don't mind Greek subtitles) is any indication, things might just change for the better soon enough.

There has yet to be any specific Stateside release date announced -- Fox Searchlight tentatively has it scheduled for 2009 -- but the crowdpleaser pedigree of Vardalos and director Donald Petrie certainly doesn't hurt the film's chances of outgrossing the $8 million that Connie raked in theatrically (whether or not the downright loud pairing of Harland Williams and Rachel Dratch will is a different story).

Also in the name of safe-bet follow-ups is I Hate Valentine's Day, a rom-com written and directed by Vardalos that reunites her with My Big Fat Greek Wedding love interest John Corbett. That project also bears an equally vague '09 release date, but I have trouble thinking that it couldn't be out of post-production and in theaters by next February.

It looked like Nia Vardalos' career was over after the crappy, buzz-sucking television adaptation that was My Big Fat Greek Life. Then, a whole slew of years later, we hear that she's coming back with My Life in Ruins. The film hasn't even had its world premiere in Greece yet (it screens on May 22), and she's got another one on the way. At least this time, she's not following a film up with a crappy TV show. (Man, it was such a disappointing adaptation...) To make it even more appealing, she's also going back to her big hit roots.

Variety reports that Vardalos is once again getting sexy with her My Big Fat Greek Wedding co-star John Corbett for the upcoming romcom I Hate Valentine's Day. The project, which was written by the actress and will mark her directorial debut, is being called "a comedy for the romantically challenged." It focuses on "a romantic, carefree florist who charms a commitment-phobic restaurant owner into trying her theory of 'relationship-less' dating."

Ideally, I'd like to see that remain a "relationship-less" scenario, just to be something different, but I'm sure one or both of them will succumb to the throes of passion and fall in lurve. It is a flick for Valentine's Day after all.

But I ask you: Can this live up to their first pairing?