steve lemme Tagged Articles at Cinematical

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.

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.

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.