• Dody Goodman (1915-2008) - Comedienne, Actress - Played "Blanche", the principal's secretary in Grease and Grease 2 and Tom Hanks' absent-minded secretary in Splash and Splash, Too (in which Hanks was replaced by Todd Waring). She also appears in Silent Movie, Max Dugan Returns, Private Resort, Cool as Ice, Frozen Assets and Bedtime Story, and she had a recurring role in the Alvin and the Chipmunk cartoons, including the 1987 feature, The Chipmunk Adventure, providing her voice to the character of Miss Miller, adopted mother of the Chipettes. She died June 22 in Englewood, New Jersey. (AP)
  
• Sidney J. Bartholomew Jr. (c.1954-2008) - Production Designer, Writer, Director - Won an Emmy for his work on TV's Pee-Wee's Playhouse before collaborating on most of the Farrelly brothers' films, including There's Something About Mary, Dumb & Dumber, Kingpin, Shallow Hal, Me, Myself and Irene, Stuck on You, The Heartbreak Kid, Say It Isn't So (produced by the Farrellys) and Osmosis Jones, in which he appears. He also co-wrote and directed the 2003 soccer comedy Just 4 Kicks, which starred Tom Arnold. He died June 15 in Los Angeles. (Variety)
• George Carlin (1937-2008) - Comedian, Actor - Appears in Dogma, Outrageous Fortune, Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure, Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey, Jersey Girl, The Prince of Tides, Car Wash, Scary Movie 3, Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back, With Six You Get Egg Roll and the documentaries The Aristrocrats, F*ck, Outfoxed: Rupert Murdoch's War on Journalism and The N Word. He also voiced characters in Cars, Happily N'Ever After and Tarzan II. For info on his death, read William's full post.
• Cyd Charisse (1921-2008) - Actress, Dancer - Starred in Singin' in the Rain, Brigadoon, Party Girl, Ziegfeld Follies, The Band Wagon, It's Always Fair Weather, Two Weeks in Another Town, The Silencers and Silk Stockings. For info on her death, read my full post.

It's been quite some time since the Farrelly Bros. have given us a gem like There's Something About Mary, Kingpin or Dumb and Dumber. Big-screen comedy trends seem to be changing; moving away from the random gross-out gags and more toward the random pop-culture references. But that won't stop Bobby and Peter Farrelly from navigating toward material they're familiar with -- and Variety tells us their latest comes from a script written by Mike Arnold and Chris Poole. It's called Beaujolais. Yup. I don't know what it means; Wiki says it's a wine.

Anyway, the Farrelly boys are going to produce with an eye on possibly directing. Variety describes Beaujolais as a "redneck action-adventure with a protagonist along the lines of Austin Powers or Ace Ventura." So basically it's Larry the Cable guy with a few more catchphrases. Danny McBride is currently in talks to star; he's popped up in films like The Heartbreak Kid and Hot Rod, with upcoming roles in Land of the Lost and Tropic Thunder.

Do you think Peter and Bobby Farrelly still have a comedy classic left inside them? Or has their type of humor simply taken a long walk off a short pier? (Man, would I love to see another Outside Providence from these boys ...)

You might be tempted to feel a little pity for the Farrelly Brothers; they defined the big-box-office smutty comedy with movies like There's Something About Mary, Dumb and Dumber and Kingpin. Recently, they've sort of had their thunder (and box office) stolen by Judd Apatow's band of merrymakers and the success of Knocked Up and The 40-Year-Old Virgin. But that mild temptation to feel pity turns into a more steely impetus to feel contempt after you witness the squalid, lumbering mess that is The Heartbreak Kid, the Farrelly's latest effort to regain their toilet-throne as the kings of the gross-out comedy. Originally released in 1972, The Heartbreak Kid saw Neil Simon adapting Bruce Jay Friedman's short story A Change of Plan, with direction by Elaine May. The idea is simple -- a man, while on his honeymoon, meets and falls for another woman. The execution in the 1972 film was elegant, astute and smart: A comedy of manners about the mores and meanings of modern marriage, springing from the minds of three clever, talented comedians who knew how to go for the jugular and still had the sense to back off and let us breathe a little.

I only mention this in order to contrast it with the 2007 update, which is inelegant, oblivious and crass: A 'comedy' of rudeness about the mindlessness and meaningless of modern moviemaking, spring from the gonads and bowels of two dim, untalented filmmakers who only know how to cross the line and lack any sense whatsoever. In this iteration of The Heartbreak Kid, our hero is a San Francisco sporting goods store owner played by Ben Stiller. He's been commitment-phobic for so long that he may in fact be commitment-proof, which is weighing heavy on his mind after the Valentine's Day wedding of a woman he was once engaged to. On his way home, though, he has a meet-cute with a surprisingly vivacious and charming woman, Malin Akerman; they fall into a whirlwind courtship, but the news that her work wants to send her to Rotterdam a few weeks into their relationship inspires Stiller to make a leap of faith and propose. The wedding follows soon after.

Pete Jones, best known as the first time writer/director in way over his head during Project Greenlight's first season, has finally picked himself up and landed a high six-figure deal for his script, Hall Pass. Deciding to lay off the Irish-American family dramas for the time being, Jones went after the "easy money" with a high-concept comedy picked up by none other then funnymen Peter and Bobby Farrelly. The brothers, who will produce the pic, may also wind up directing this spec script (yay for original ideas!) about a husband who is allowed a "free pass" by his wife to, well, get down and do the nasty with another woman. I would imagine things don't go so well from that point on.