JohnMorris Tagged Articles at Cinematical

You have probably already forgotten about the R-rated comedy Sex Drive that opened in 9th place the weekend of Oct. 17 and quickly disappeared altogether. With no big stars, a generic concept, and an uninteresting title, even the smattering of good reviews it got -- and it actually was pretty funny -- couldn't help it.

But you tend to fail upward in Hollywood, and the two guys behind the film -- writer/director Sean Anders and co-writer John Morris -- are still in demand. Not only are they writing a Meatballs remake for Lionsgate, but now they're set to co-direct a comedy called Hot Tub Time Machine. According to The Hollywood Reporter, it's about a group of grown-up friends who visit a hot tub where they once partied, discover it's now a time machine, and travel back to when they were young, raunchy fellows. Hilarity ensues.

You might say, "Why make a movie about a time-traveling hot tub?" Well, I say, "Why not make a movie about a time-traveling hot tub?" Anders and Morris' first film, the indie comedy Never Been Thawed, was about a group of frozen-food collectors and a Christian rock band. It sounds like Sex Drive, about a teenager driving cross-country for a booty call, was probably the least bizarre of their projects.

Hot Tub Time Machine is being written by someone named Jason Heald, by the way, who doesn't appear on IMDB. First-timer? Pseudonym? Typo? If Mr. Heald is reading this, please contact us and tell us whether your screenplay is funny and why we should trust you. Thanks.

It isn't uncommon for a guy to get a girl who's out of his league. It certainly happens in the movies and on television all the time. But it does happen sometimes in real life, and often the guy ends up feeling like he's never good enough. And then he sabotages the relationship somehow because of his insecurity. And then the idiot is back to dating women who aren't the woman of his dreams, always regretting screwing up that perfect thing he could have had. We've all seen it happen, right? Well, if you haven't, you can also see the scenario happen in the movies. Just recently I saw Run Fatboy Run, in which Simon Pegg plays a guy who leaves Thandie Newton (totally out of his league, right?) at the altar -- pregnant. And certainly this year's hit comedy Knocked Up was about a situation of a mis-matched couple. Oh, and the upcoming Margot at the Wedding has the same thing going on between Jack Black and Jennifer Jason Leigh. See, it happens all the time.

Now, according to Variety, there's another such movie coming (which we previously heard about and then saw on the pre-strike priority list). Titled literally She's Out of My League, this one is about a guy who finds himself dating an "extraordinarily beautiful woman" (why does it have to be about looks? certainly she could be out of his league in terms of brains or humor or other personality traits -- in Margot, Leigh is out of Black's league in multiple ways). Because he is insecure about her attraction to him, and because his friends and family are suspicious of beauty's motives, he comes close to sabotaging the relationship (unless he's about to leave her at the alter, with child, then this movie's got nothing on Fatboy). The movie will be directed by British sketch comedian Jim Field Smith and will star Jay Baruchel, best known from TV's Undeclared and, interestingly enough, Knocked Up. Originally scripted as a spec by Sean Anders and John Morris, the movie is currently in re-writes care of Tim Dowling (George Lucas in Love). It goes into production early next year, but if you can't wait to learn the secrets about how to score and keep a girl out of your league, I've got some tips: if it's good enough for Ric Ocasek, Rod Stewart and Billy Joel, it's good enough for you. And: girls love a funny guy, so if she's laughing, she probably doesn't care that you're not a hottie.