broken lizard Tagged Articles at Cinematical

Fans of the comedy troupe Broken Lizard won't have to wait much longer to see the group's latest film, The Slammin' Salmon. Variety reports that Anchor Bay has acquired theatrical rights and will open the film on Dec. 11. No word yet on how wide the release will be, but all of Anchor Bay's previous titles (including Spread and While She Was Out) have been fairly limited.

Broken Lizard's first film, Super Troopers, premiered at Sundance in 2001 and earned a cult following when it hit theaters a year later. But the follow-up efforts, Club Dread and Beerfest, failed to recapture the magic. Slammin' Salmon, which premiered at Slamdance this year and subsequently played at South By Southwest, is a return to form. It's about a boxer-turned-restaurateur who bullies his waitstaff into a contest to see who can sell the most food in one night, all to help him repay a gambling debt; Cinematical's Eugene Novikov said the Broken Lizard guys demonstrate their "singular, goofy, off-the-wall sense of humor, refined and sharpened from their prior efforts."

Eugene wasn't alone, either. The film got several other rave reviews at SXSW, nearly all of them calling it the best Broken Lizard film to date. I was afraid the last two disappointments would doom this one, so I'm glad Anchor Bay stepped up and will let audiences see it. Best of all: now you can enjoy the insane magic that is Michael Clarke Duncan's performance. It truly is a thing of beauty.

Before The Slammin' Salmon, I wouldn't have called myself a fan of the boys from the Broken Lizard comedy troupe, though I have some mild, slightly embarrassed affection for Super Troopers and Club Dread. But Salmon is 90 minutes of truly inspired comic mayhem. With valuable assists from the rest of their cast, Broken Lizard has crafted the funniest film of SXSW – and they had some fine competition. I know I said that you can't trust me, but trust me: this is great stuff.

Broken Lizard is Jay Chandrasekhar, Steve Lemme, Paul Soter, Erik Stolhanske and Kevin Heffernan. Heffernan directed and the entire troupe is credited for the screenplay. But in a shrewd move, The Slammin' Salmon revolves around an outsider: Michael Clarke Duncan, who plays a boxer-turned-restaurant owner named Cleon Salmon, a.k.a. "The Champ." In the best comedy tradition, the Champ combines dim-witted cluelessness with peerless confidence. That, combined with his enormous size, puts his employees in mortal fear of his wrath. So when, one evening, he announces that the waiter with the most sales gets $10,000 while the loser gets a "broken rib sandwich," the waitstaff – led by their officious manager (Heffernan) – step to.

As it turns out, I lied to all of you last week when I said that next month's SXSW Film Festival had announced its full line-up -- and I couldn't have been happier. It looks like those awesome Austin-ites are bringing summer in March, specifically 500 Days of Summer, the one apparently adorable title I particularly pined for as a non-Sundance-ite.

But wait! There's more! In addition to six picks from the Fantastic Fest crew that have yet to be announced (and are as eagerly awaited by yours truly as anything else), SXSW is bringing Broken Lizard's latest (The Slammin' Salmon), an Iron Maiden tour doc (Flight 666), Jason Eisener's already acclaimed horror-comedy short (Treevenge), and a handful of other features and shorts programs.

Between all of that and all of this, I can honestly say that I'm the most psyched for this fest than I have been in the past three years (nothing personal, Matt!), and again, you can be sure to hear plenty more from our lot in just a couple of weeks.

I have yet to love a Broken Lizard movie, but I have a definite soft spot for the goofy comedy group, which somehow manages to be both lowbrow and esoteric. I missed Beerfest, but fondly recall individual moments of brilliance in Super Troopers (e.g. Kevin Heffernan flipping out on the fast food joint surveillance tape) and Club Dread (Heffernan again, losing his cool at the "fun police"). Their jokes can be vulgar and crude, but they can also be so subtle that they're almost not jokes, if that makes any sense. The way they embrace that dichotomy is really interesting to me.

Anyway, the Broken Lizard boys have unveiled a redband trailer for their latest effort, The Slammin' Salmon, and it's a gem. They've recruited Michael Clarke Duncan to play the lead role of a boxer-turned-enthusiastic-seafood-restaurant-owner, which makes perfect sense. He has one line in the trailer about a swordfish that may singlehandedly turn the film into a cult classic. Or if it doesn't, Duncan's girlish shriek certainly will.

I'm even more excited for The Slammin' Salmon because it was directed by Heffernan who, if it wasn't obvious, is far and away my favorite member of the troupe. Jay Chandrasekhar, who directed all the previous films (as well as the execrable Dukes of Hazzard remake) co-wrote with Heffernan and stars.

The movie premieres at Slamdance this month, and will be released this year on a date to be determined. (I'm hoping it shows up at SXSW in March.) Check out the trailer over at Collider.

Fred Durst wasn't the first Du-singer to make it into the world of cinema. Back in the '90s, Counting Crows singer Adam Duritz produced two films, and now, a decade later, he's heading back to the biz. Variety reports that Duritz is going to produce a new film from the Broken Lizard comedy troupe called Freeloaders. Written by director Dan Rosen (with the lead singer of Gigolo Aunts, Dave Gibbs), the film focuses on "five guys and a girl who live in the lap of luxury in a rock star's mansion." That is, until the star decides that he wants to sell his home. Oh, the woes of groupie moochers. Broken Lizard (Super Troopers) is financing the film, and I imagine they're also starring in it -- that leaves us with the girl, and the rock star. Will Duritz take it? And speaking of '90s singers and film -- who's next? Mmm Mmm Mmming Brad Roberts?

Meanwhile: I knew it!! As soon as word hit earlier this year that Cheech and Chong were going back on the road, I wondered how long it would be before a reunion film. Well, we're not getting a fictional feature (not yet), but we are getting a concert documentary. The Hollywood Reporter posts that the Weinstein Co. will produce and distribute a doc based on their current Light up America tour. But don't hold your breath -- whether this makes it to the big screen depends on what the company thinks of the final product. Then they'll decide whether to release it in theaters or television.

Strange Wilderness is a new comedy starring Steve Zahn as the host of a wilderness television show with plummeting ratings. To increase viewership, he assembles a motley crew and sets out on an expedition to find Bigfoot. The cast includes Jonah Hill, Justin Long, Ashley Scott, Peter Dante, Jeff Garlin, and -- believe it or not -- Ernest Borgnine! The red band trailer for Wilderness just hit the internet. (Need a little incentive to check it out? There's nudity. You're welcome.) Cinematical spoke with two of the film's stars -- Kevin Heffernan (of Broken Lizard fame) and Allen Covert (pretty much every Adam Sandler movie, Grandma's Boy) -- about this film and their careers. First up is Kevin Heffernan...

Cinematical: Who do you play in the film?

Kevin Heffernan: I play a character named Whitaker. When they go out on this trip, they need to hire an animal wrangler. I'm a car mechanic and I have no animal wrangling experience. Basically, I'm just looking for a job. So I go and interview with them and I win the job but I have no knowledge of animals. I don't even like them that much really! It's got this great ensemble cast and some great cameos...

Cinematical: It does have such a great comedy cast, was improvisation encouraged on the set?

KH: Yeah man. The script was so good, I mean it was written by Fred Wolf and Peter Gaulke who have a lot of comedy writing experience, but it was just one of those kind of movies where there's always like six or seven people on the screen. And they left it free for us to do the improv stuff that we all love to do. So there were a lot of people going off, and they had to kind of pull you back to the script a little bit.

I'm conflicted on the Broken Lizard comedy troupe. I thought Super Troopers was pretty funny, but Club Dread was a complete disaster. Beerfest was extremely uneven, but had some really hilarious moments. So I approach their new project with a mixture of excitement and indifference I'm calling "indiffitement." The Slammin' Salmon will get all the Broken Lizard guys back together -- Kevin Heffernan, Jay Chandrasekhar, Steve Lemme, Paul Soter and Erik Stolhanske. Chandrasekhar typically directs Broken Lizard projects (and also did the dreaded Dukes of Hazzard), but this one will be helmed by Heffernan (he played Farva in Super Troopers), making his directorial debut.

According to Variety, the comedy will revolve around "a restaurant owner and former heavyweight champ who pits his wait staff against each other in a Glengarry Glen Ross - like competish." (Hey Variety, I love you -- you supply me with a lot of my movie news and for that I am grateful. But..."competish?" I like abbreves as much as the next guy, but writing out "competition" only takes two more strokes of the keyboard!) Sounds like it could be funny, and The Slammin' Salmon is certainly a title you don't forget. The gang is doing this film independently, to beat a potential Screen Actors' Guild strike. "We wanted to go back to our independent roots and get a project off the ground and into production quickly," says Heffernan. Expect Salmon to swim (upstream of course) into theaters next year.

Here's something you don't see everyday: Participant Prods. is teaming up with Broken Lizard producers Jay Chandrasekhar and Julia Dray on a new comedy called Taildraggers. For those who aren't familiar with Participant Prods., that's like saying Al Gore decided to co-direct a film with the Jackass boys. Participant, who's known more for their politically and environmentally aware films (Syriana, An Inconvenient Truth, Fast Food Nation) is making this their first geared toward a younger audience. That's not to say Taildraggers won't come with a friendly message attached; in fact, part of the plot includes uncovering "a plan to dig oil from the Alaskan nature preserve."

After playing Super Troopers, hedonistic swingers and competitive beer drinkers, it appears at least one Lizard will this time take on "a small Alaskan airline who face a bitter rivalry with a local taxi company." Man, we must be talking about one small airline if their biggest rival are a bunch of taxis. Unlike their previous films, however, Taildraggers will be written by Will Gluck, and not the entire Lizard team. In fact, I don't even know who that is. No word yet on whether the rest of the clan (Kevin Heffernan, Steve Lemme, Paul Soter, Erik Stolhanske) will be involved, but since none of them are mentioned, it seems Taildraggers will be more like a Liz production, then something put out by the entire Lizard crew. No word on a director or a start date, but if Chandrasekhar decided to step behind the camera, then look for some of his good pals to show up and lend a hand.

The five-man comedy troupe known as Broken Lizard hit the scene in 2001, when their Super Troopers was chosen to play the Sundance Film Festival, which led to Fox Searchlight's purchase of the flick, which led to the sophomore-slump bomb Club Dread and the fairly successful Beerfest. And now the boys (Jay Chandrasekhar, Kevin Heffernan, Steve Lemme, Paul Soter and Erik Stolhanske) are ready to suit up as cops and give the fans what they want: Super Troopers 2.

According to the MTV Movies blog, which had a brief chat with Mr. Soter, the troupe expects this to be their next flick: "There was a period of time where it seemed to us that the only way people recognized us at all was as Super Troopers. So we thought, let's get a few other films under our belt just to let people know that it's not the only thing that we do." The screenplay isn't written just yet, nor has Fox given them the official go-ahead, but Soter promises that the gang has a few cool ideas. Guess this means that Greek Road project might be put on the back burner by the Broken boys, but they managed to right their ship after the Club Dread disaster, so I'm curious to see what they come up with next. Sure, "sequel" is the easy way to go, but as long as its funny, what's the problem?

Two members from the Broken Lizard comedy troupe are looking to go where plenty of people have gone before (storywise) with their latest spec script, Funny Fat Guy, which Warner Bros. has just picked up. Kevin Heffernan and Steve Lemme wrote the spec, while Heffernan is currently attached to star. However, while the two are known for being Lizards, Fat Guy will not be an official Broken Lizard-penned project. Oh drats -- after all, everyone knows how much I absolutely love all those Lizard flicks. Comedy gold, I tell ya.

Plot will revolve around your stereotypical funny fat guy (basically me in college) -- ya know, the guy who tells the best jokes, party's hard and always has your back. A great friend. A great teammate. Yet, the kind of dude who has the worst luck when it comes to the opposite sex. So, if you've seen films like Can't Buy Me Love or She's All That, then you know exactly where this one is heading -- at some point, the funny fat guy wants to transform himself into a ladies man ... but, I assume, with a Broken Lizard twist. Warner Bros. is all about The Lizard, as Heffernan is also set to star in The Baby Maker (Lizard-produced) for Warners and the troupe has Nutcraker, Ambulance Chasers and Take My Wife all set up at the studio.