WetHotAmericanSummer Tagged Articles at Cinematical

Remember Broken Lizard's Beerfest? Whatever you thought of that 2006 comedy, it's difficult to dispute how incredibly astute the filmmakers were with rattling genre expectations in just a single scene. See, the American team's greatest beer guzzler, "Landfill", has passed away under shady circumstances, and right when everyone's ready to throw in the towel, in walks Landfill's identical twin brother, who they knew nothing about but who happens to have been told everything about each of them. Better yet, he's more than willing to even adopt Landfill's name, in an effort to bypass that whole awkward 'getting-to-know-you' stage.

It's every end-of-second-act "what do we do now, coach?" dilemma from an inspirational sports movie mercifully condensed to a couple of rapid-fire beats, and even if the rest of the film otherwise adheres to said sports movie formula, it's nice knowing that audience and actors alike were not going through the paces entirely unaware of how clichéd the entire narrative was.

Earlier this month, we learned that Diablo Cody was taking over LA's New Beverly Cinema to screen some of her favorite films, and she put together some awesome double features. The most recent was a screening of Midnight Madness and Wet Hot American Summer, and as CHUD reports, director David Wain was there for a Q&A with Ms. Cody, and he revealed some little nuggets of news.

First, there's going to be an anniversary DVD release at some point, which would probably means the 10th anniversary in 2011, since new releases usually don't come out on eight or nine-year anniversaries. It would contain more footage, as anniversary editions often do, but Wain also said that it might come with a soundtrack. If you remember the music from the flick, this CD could include Rick Springfield, Kenny Loggins, Loverboy, Jefferson Starship, KISS ... Basically, it would be awesome.

Then he shared some others news -- he might do a prequel to the film. This sounds half serious and half completely ludicrous, but he said that he was scheming up a prequel that would star the same cast -- playing younger versions of themselves. CHUD says: "I didn't know if Wain was kidding, but he seemed pretty serious, and mentioned that he had just worked with a bunch of Wet Hot alums -- including Paul Rudd and Elizabeth Banks -- on his new movie, tentatively titled Role Models."

What say you? Are you ready to get Wet Hot again?

Among the perks of being a sought-after Oscar-winning screenwriter is, apparently, the ability to fourwall a movie theater for two weeks and play a bunch of your favorite films for an appreciative audience. That's exactly what Juno's Diablo Cody is doing at LA's New Beverly Cinema from today through July 24th, and it won't come as any surprise to Cody's admirers that the lady's got good taste. Her slate includes reliable classics (Stripes, Pretty in Pink), off the wall genre picks (A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors), some culty fun (Wet Hot American Summer) and the expected shout-out to Juno director Jason Reitman.

Previous guest programmers at the New Beverly have included Edgar Wright, Eli Roth and Joe Dante. Cody will introduce some of the films herself, and the theater's MySpace page promises "many guest appearances."

Kudos to Movie City News for coming across this. Check out the entire schedule after the jump -- it's really an inspired slate of picks. She's got a nose for filmmaking that's smart and unabashedly mainstream, as both Juno and this film festival proves.

Today we speak with comedian/actor/writer/director Michael Ian Black. Black's hilarious credits include MTV's The State, Comedy Central's Stella, and the cult classic Wet Hot American Summer. He's probably best known to the general public as being the standout quipper on VH1's "I Love the (Insert Decade Here)" specials. Black's latest project is Run Fatboy Run. He wrote the original screenplay for the film, which was directed by David Schwimmer and stars Simon Pegg, Hank Azaria, and Thandie Newton.

Cinematical: Would you tell our readers a bit about Run Fatboy Run?

Michael Ian Black: Sure. It's a lovely and funny romantic comedy about a guy who has never finished anything in his life who decides to run a marathon.

Cinematical: What inspired you to write the film?

MIB: I wanted to write something a little more mainstream than what I am normally known for. I had just written two screenplays that were more left of center and I wanted to challenge myself to try to write something that I thought would be a little more accessible.

Cinematical: Are you a marathon man? Why do people do this to themselves?

MIB: I've never run further than a couple miles. I have no idea why somebody would subject themselves to the agony of running for twenty-six miles. Particularly if they've got a car.

If you're a fan of comedic experiments like The State, Stella and Wet Hot American Summer, you're bound to find more than a few solid laughs in The Ten, a skit-intensive (and entirely bizarre) amalgam of ideas -- clever, silly and just plain stupid. Those who don't see the humor in this sort of stream-of-consciousness, ultra-strange and intensely self-referential material will walk out of The Ten with their reaction phasers set firmly on "hate" -- but I discovered a solid handful of worthwhile chuckles in the flick, most of which come from the smoothly reliable Paul Rudd and the still-adorable Winona Ryder.

The framework is a fairly sketchy one: Rudd introduces a series of broad and generally goofy little set pieces, each of which are based on one of the Ten Commandments. Of the ten sketches (and the framing device) perhaps half of them deliver some really funny schtick, while some of 'em simply flop around the screen until the next bit comes along. But just like an anthology flick is only as good as its most entertaining sections, The Ten manages to fly only during its best moments. Here's what's on offer here:

Of the large comedy troupe that appeared on MTV and very briefly on CBS as The State, no single member has risen to any great length of fame, but three of them broke off to form the funniest trio since The Marx Brothers worked without Zeppo or Gummo. Michael Ian Black, Michael Showalter and David Wain have performed on stage, online and on Comedy Central as Stella, and the latter two wrote the brilliant cult comedy Wet Hot American Summer, which was also directed by Wain. Since that film, Showalter made his own movie (the understated and underrated The Baxter), and Black's directorial effort (The Pleasure of Your Company) is coming soon. Now Wain is finally making a follow-up to Summer, this time co-writing with Ken Marino, who appeared in the previous film and was also a member of Stella. The film is a spoof of The Ten Commandments and is simply called The Ten. It is set to begin shooting in July and will star Paul Rudd, Jessica Alba, Amanda Peet, Justin Theroux, Adam Brody and Marino. My guess is that the three Stella guys will have roles, as usual, too.

I always felt this bunch was the real successor to Monty Python, and now with a wacky Biblical picture, they may prove it. Sure, Mel Brooks did an adequate bit in History of the World: Part I that spoofed Moses' story, but if you've ever seen any of the hysterical projects that Wain has been involved in, you have to agree that his latest endeavor will be equally amazing. If you haven't seen any of his work, go and rent Summer and download all the Stella episodes from iTunes this very minute. And be prepared with stitches for when your stomach bursts from laughter.