KevinFarley Tagged Articles at Cinematical

It is hard to believe that a comedy as singularly inept and downright unfunny as An American Carol came from one of the three minds behind one of the funniest comedies of all time, Airplane! (I'd argue THE funniest, but that's for another place and time), and harder yet to believe that it somehow weaseled its way onto 1,600+ screens this weekend. But here it is, as witless and tactless as anything 2008 has offered up to date, and in a year where the wonder duo that is Friedberg and Seltzer has shat out not one, but two similarly dreadful offerings, that's saying a lot.

We're getting more Beverly Hills Ninja. It might be September, but it feels like it's Christmas! Variety reports that the film will be the first mainstream Hollywood flick to shoot in South Korea, but it's still keeping to its roots with the simple name -- Beverly Hills Ninja 2. Written by Mitch Klebanoff (co-producer and writer of the original), who will also direct, the terrible idea will focus on "an orphaned boy who wants to be a ninja but becomes involved in a crime in Hollywood while looking for his real parents." One would think Kevin Farley might be the guy heading this sucker, but no it's DAVID HASSELHOFF. Oh yes, try to resist the Hoff going ninja.

Farley, instead, gets a little something different. What do you do after you run with the cliche of "unattractive" girls who can miraculously become hot with the help of a shunned Playboy bunny? Divorced dudes. Variety reports the director of House Bunny, Fred Wolf, is directing a new flick called Divorced Guys. The comedy, which follows a group of divorced guys who go on a road trip to figure out how their marriages failed, was written by Wolf, Farley, and David Spade, who will also star.

Meanwhile, it looks like Michael Douglas is gearing up for another wacky role that could be worth the time. Variety reports that he's going to "play a car magnate with a runaway libido" in a new film called Solitary Man. More specifically, he's a guy who used to be the owner of a chain of car dealerships until "business and romantic indiscretions" mucked things up. Making the whole thing more intriguing -- Susan Sarandon, Danny DeVito, and Jenna Fischer are in talks to co-star. It's not quite as cool as him playing Liberace, but it'll do.

You may have heard that spoof veteran David Zucker's newest project, An American Carol, is a takedown of Michael Moore. You can now have a look at the trailer, online at Yahoo!. And then you can riddle me this: Does An American Carol look like a clever parody of Moore's documentaries, or just a partisan attack on the filmmaker? Or, put another way, is the clip of Bill O'Reilly slapping around Kevin Farley's "Michael Malone" a commentary on the rivalry between the two, or right-wing wish fulfillment? One thing to note before answering is that O'Reilly appears in the film himself, while Moore does not.

Moore is obviously fair game; I've enjoyed his films, and sympathize with (some of) his politics, but I'd eagerly watch a skillful spoof of the pudgy, faux-working-class provocateur. I think parts of the trailer are pretty funny ("Here I am on the island paradise Cuba!"). But if the point is just to pile on the guy, with a rah-rah patriotic, stop-hating-America message at the end, then I'm significantly less interested.

The thing is, the trailer really doesn't make clear what's going on. On one hand, prominent conservatives like O'Reilly and James Woods appear to deliver literal and figurative blows. On the other, "Michael Malone" gets accused of being a slaveowner, which sounds more like a parody of conservative attacks on Moore than of Moore himself. And is Trace Adkins poking fun at his image here, or is he for real?

We know that Zucker is himself conservative, and that the movie is political -- which is fine. But is it political in an incisive, worthwhile way, or in the brainless beatdown mode of Ann Coulter et al? What do you think?

Here's a whole bunch of comedy-laden manly news for you, courtesy of Variety:

• Recognize the dude to the right? Yes, that's the late Chris Farley's younger brother. Kevin Farley had bit parts in his brother's movies, and since then, has found work in gigs that include The Waterboy, Dickie Roberts: Former Child Star, and Blonde and Blonder. Now he's getting Christmasy -- he's landed a lead role in David Zucker's upcoming satire An American Carol, playing a character named Michael Malone.
• And Kevin isn't the only brother with casting news today. Nate Corddry, brother, of course, of Rob, has nabbed not one, but two roles that have him looking for the truth. He's got a gig in Ricky Gervais' This Side of Truth, plus a part in The Ugly Truth -- that whole Katherine Heigl v. a chauvinist Gerard Butler flick. His acting work includes the voice of Seides in Arthur and the Invisibles Minimoys, plus his gig as Tom Jeter in Studio 60 and Calvin in The Nanny Diaries.
• Last up is the old-school Keith Carradine. He's going to go a little Heston/Nugent and play a big NRA supporter and reverend in the upcoming film Driving Lessons -- the film about the woman whose memory loss gives everyone a new outlook on life. Throwing a gun-toting religious man into the mix should make things interesting, and I imagine he'll be connected to Max Thieriot's "religious, right-wing teenage son."