daily show Tagged Articles at Cinematical

About a year ago I was sure that Rob Corddry would be the next big thing to come out of The Daily Show. But now it looks like Ed Helms could pass him by. While Corddry waits around for his new show The Winner to get canceled (if it hasn't been killed already), Helms is busy setting up a good amount of decent movie gigs, including a starring role in A Whole New Hugh, which he will co-write and which Judd Apatow will produce. The movie, which was pitched to Universal by Helms, Jake Fleisher and Ian Berger, will be about a guy who gains confidence thanks to three friends who make him appear successful.

I'm glad for Helms, though I don't see him having enough appeal to be the next Steve Carell. I am also surprised by his sudden rise because the last thing I saw him in was Blackballed: The Bobby Dukes Story, in which Corddry starred and Helms merely had a cameo. What likely has helped Helms' success is his obnoxious run on The Office, co-starring with Carell, his former Daily Show cast mate. Other upcoming movies Helms can be seen in include Evan Almighty, where he'll again be supporting Carell, Starship Dave and Walk Hard, which stars The Office's Jenna Fischer. Both he and Corddry have parts in Harold and Kumar 2, so maybe he could give his old friend some tips on breaking out.

We can do without another baseball comedy -- or any other team sports comedy for that matter. Despite their having their devout, built-in audiences (Martha will see any soccer film, for instance), these movies haven't done anything interesting for the game or the cinema since the first incarnation of The Bad News Bears came out thirty years ago. One way to add a bit of freshness to the field, though, is to go with an unfamiliar or unrecognized sport. It worked for Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story, and now it works for Blackballed: The Bobby Dukes Story, a whimsical mockumentary set in the world of competitive paintball.

Blackballed stars The Daily Show's Rob Corddry as Bobby Dukes, a paintball legend who returns to the game after a ten year ban for "wiping," a form of cheating where a player wipes off the paint he's been hit with before a referee notices. His homecoming is not very welcome, though, as nobody has forgotten about his crooked deed, and none of his old teammates (including fellow Daily Show correspondent Ed Helms) will rejoin him for The Hudson Valley Paintball Classic. So in true sports comedy fashion, Dukes rallies up a varied team of misfit underdogs and with them tries to beat rival Sam Brown (Rob Huebel) to win back his honor.