Nov 13 2009 'Grown-Ups' Trailer: The Bad Boys of SNL Plus Surrogate Have Aged
The trailer for the childhood-friends-reunite-as-adults film Grown-Ups is here. Watching it, I have to think this will probably be a new generation's The Big Chill. Except no it won't, because The Big Chill was college friends, and it never included gags where Jeff Goldblum swings into a tree and comically rolls down a hill. Maybe it's a new generation's Now and Then, without any of the flashback scenes? Or maybe it's just The Bad Boys of SNL Reunite as Dads, and Also King of Queens Is Here Instead of Chris Farley (RIP):
Continue Reading " 'Grown-Ups' Trailer: The Bad Boys of SNL Plus Surrogate Have Aged "
Oct 28 2009 Adam Sandler Takes on Wacky Double Role!!!
It's official: Adam Sandler is the heir presumptive to the Eddie Murphy throne. Variety is reporting Sandler's next project will be the romantic comedy Jack and Jill, in which the actor will be playing--oof, you guessed it--both Jack AND Jill:
The actor will next star in the romantic comedy "Jack and Jill" and produce via his Happy Madison shingle. Sandler will play Jack as well as twin sister Jill.Project was brought to Happy Madison by Todd Garner ("Paul Blart: Mall Cop"), who will also produce alongside Sandler's partner Jack Giarraputo. Steve Koren, whose relationship with Sandler dates back to their "Saturday Night Live" days, penned the screenplay.
This must come as a huge blow to Martin Lawrence, who has been paying his dues in a fat woman suit in the hopes of becoming neo-Murphy. Sorry, Martin, but you're going to need more absurdist family comedy (some Clicks and Bedtime Stories to match Murphy's Imagine Thats and Pluto Nashes) if you want to usurp Sandler for the lead in the Meet Dave remake someone will be doing in another ten years.
Jul 9 2009 New 'Funny People' Trailer: It's Funny
My computer's MMX processor isn't powerful enough to properly watch it, but hey, there's a new, red-band (cussin'!) trailer for Funny People! From what I could tell through the stuttered audio and slideshow-esque video that I was able to see, this film still looks funny (but not too funny, you know?) and genuine, so try to look past your seemingly-arbitrary resentment of Judd Apatow & Friends and let's all agree this looks pretty good:
Jun 17 2009 'Funny People' Provides New Entry in 'Little Man' Genre
In Judd Apatow's Funny People, Adam Sandler plays George Simmons, a comedian-turned-comic actor starring in primarily broad comedies--obviously a role that hits fairly close to home for the Waterboy. So, to promote the film, Apatow and Sandler, along with Justin Long, put together this depressingly believable clip for one of Simmons' fictional films, Re-Do. Description:
Craig, a workaholic lawyer, never made time for his relationships. Alone and depressed on his 40th birthday, he wonders about the life he could have lead. But be careful what you wish for...you might just find yourself in diapers! When a wizard gives Craig a second chance at his youth, he discovers that sometimes it takes becoming a baby to learn how to be a man.
It's really good. They've topped Yo, Teach...!:
Continue Reading " 'Funny People' Provides New Entry in 'Little Man' Genre "
Feb 23 2009 'Funny People' Trailer is Going to Live After All
Is there a second Adam Sandler movie I want to see in my adult life? I think there might be! Funny People may be a formulaic finally-truly-living-after-nearly-dying romantic comedy, but how can you resist Adam Sander, Seth Rogen, Jonah Hill, Jason Schwartzman, and others all acting not-that-hammy in a Judd Apatow film? You can't. Unless you're one of the people who are sick of the overexposure of Judd Apatow and all of his cronies, in which case you'll hate this:
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Feb 11 2009 1992 Cast of SNL and King of Queens Making a Movie
This can't go well:
Kevin James, Chris Rock, Adam Sandler, Rob Schneider and David Spade are in negotiations to star in an untitled comedy for Columbia Pictures.Frequent Sandler collaborator Dennis Dugan ("You Don't Mess With the Zohan") will helm, with the studio gearing up for a summer start date.
Sandler's Sony-based Happy Madison shingle, which recently teamed with James and the studio on the box office hit "Paul Blart: Mall Cop," is producing.
Sandler penned the screenplay with "Dickie Roberts: Former Child Star" scribe Fred Wolf. High-concept story is a comedy about five best friends from high school who reunite 30 years later on a Fourth of July weekend.
So what they're getting at is that this is a movie about SNL, but instead of calling it "a popular, weekly sketch comedy program" they're calling it "high school", and instead of Chris Farley it's Kevin James. I can't quite figure out what the reuniting on "Fourth of July weekend" part represents. Maybe a declaration of independence from genuine laughter?
Columbia pic gets Sandler and friends [Variety]
Nov 13 2008 'Funny People', Dull Poster
After so many movies ripped-off the look of Judd Apatow posters, he's decided to just go ahead and make the most boring poster possible. Steal this one, a-holes. See if he cares.
I know Funny People is supposed to be more of a drama than a typical Apatow production, but unless it's also a mid-'90s ABC series about best friends/roommates coming to terms with adulthood (Weds, 10/9 central), this is awful.
Oct 9 2008 'Bedtime Stories' Poster is Rich with Sandler
I'm sorry, Bedtime Stories, but this poster asks a more dire question than "what if the stories you told came to life?" How about "what if the stories you told came to life, and for some reason all involved various historical interpretations of Adam Sandler?" Then what? Forget that your stories are coming to life; why do all of your stories involve Chariot Driver Adam Sandler, or Cowboy Adam Sandler, or Knight Adam Sandler? What is wrong with your brain that you would think such things? And now, since you kept telling those Adam Sandler stories, and because they keep coming to life, you've brought like ten or twenty Adam Sandlers into our world, and now we've had to stop production on every other movie we were making just to devote all of our resources to making enough bland comedies to provide roles for all these Sandlers, and someone else who has the power to bring stories to life (Brendan Fraser?) has had to start telling equivalent Rob Schneider stories just so that there are enough Rob Schneiders to have minor supporting roles in all these Adam Sandler movies. That's the movie I want to see.
Bedtimes Stories Poster [IMPA]
Sep 22 2008 'Bedtime Stories' Overtakes 'Click' as Most Nightmarish Adam Sandler Comedy Concept
Here's the trailer for the new Adam Sandler movie in which a pair of reckless child-gods impose their will upon humanity. At the children's mere mention, puerile whims--like the desire for gumballs to rain from the heavens, without regard to logic, safety, or how much it seems like a Sony Bravia commercial--are met without question. Uncontrollable juvenile omnipotence always makes for such great family comedy.
Aug 14 2008 Sandler Turned Down Chance of Being 'Inglorious Bastard'
Speaking to Irish television, Adam Sandler confirmed he will not be appearing in Quentin Tarantino's Inglorious Bastards, instead choosing to do another movie with Judd Apatow (because Don't Mess with the Zohan worked so well):
Sandler had long been rumoured to take a major role in the Tarantino-scripted movie which the director has been planning for nearly a decade.Asked had he been in talks with Tarantino, he told RTÉ.ie: "Yeah it's true. It is, and I read the script, it's fantastic. But I'm shooting at the very same time. I won't be able to do it. I'm doing a movie with Judd Apatow at the same time so that's not going to happen, but I did read it. It is awesome."
"I know Quentin for a long time. We've been talking about doing it for years, for like five, six, seven years. Yeah, it's definitely disappointing. I'd love to do it, but I just can't."
Now where is Quentin Tarantino going to find another Jewish comedian? (There are many Jewish comedians.)
Adam Sandler Turned Down Inglorious Bastards [Flick News] (Thanks, Siobhan)
Jun 13 2008 Eric Bana is 'Funny People,' Proves It by Wearing Wigs
Nowadays, we tend to think of Eric Bana as Munich, The Guy From Troy Who Wasn't Brad Pitt, or Oh, Right, The Hulk. But prior to any of those stateside roles, Bana was a comedian, and even had his own sketch show--like Amanda Bynes! Thus, he's been cast alongside other well-known funnies in Judd Apatow's Funny People, a dramedy looking at the world of standup comedy. From Variety:
Eric Bana, Jason Schwartzman and Jonah Hill have joined the ensemble of "Funny People," which will be co-financed by Universal Pictures and Columbia Pictures, with Universal distributing worldwide next summer.Apatow set Adam Sandler, Seth Rogen and Leslie Mann in the comedy earlier this year.
The filmmaker, who last wrote and directed "Knocked Up," was deliberately vague about subject matter, allowing only that the movie takes place in the world of standup comedy and the focus is on a comedian who has a near-death experience.
Below the cut, see a promo for 1997's silly-wig filled The Eric Bana Show, and learn that, as it turns out, Bana does an alright Columbo.
Continue Reading " Eric Bana is 'Funny People,' Proves It by Wearing Wigs "
May 1 2008 'You Don't Mess with the Zohan' Poster Speaks for Itself
Adam Sandler's Israeli-militant-hairdresser character obscenely spreads his legs, supporting himself across the invisible borders of a poster while inexplicably flying. Now you want to see it, right?
New Zohan poster [JoBlo]
Apr 25 2008 Need Another Reason to Not See 'You Don't Mess with the Zohan'?
How about this new trailer? It's one thing to offend Israelis and anyone with a sense of humor, but to bring Technotronic's 1989 hit "Pump Up the Jam" as a backing track to this disaster? Now you're messing with Ya Kid K. Not cool, Zohan. Not cool.
It is here.
Mar 27 2008 New, Groin-Centric 'You Don't Mess with the Zohan' Trailer
After the last dodgy accent-filled trailer, I wasn't sure it was possible to make the Borat the Hairdresser comedy of You Don't Mess with the Zohan any less desirable. They'd already revealed longtime Sandler tagalong Rob Schneider plays a part; how do you make it worse from there? Oh, right, gyrating. Shot after shot of comic gyrating. I always forget about gyrating.
See the new trailer under the jump--but note that it's a rough cut, so the final gyration content could vary.
Continue Reading " New, Groin-Centric 'You Don't Mess with the Zohan' Trailer "
Dec 20 2007 AM Poster Post: 'You Don't Mess With the Zohan' Bursts with Comedy
Sometimes a movie is so engorged with raw comedy that it transcends its own wallpaper-style poster, bursting through it with hilarious props, the gut-bustingly funny yet critical, uneven eyebrows of The Rock, and Adam Sandler. So much hilarity simply can't be held within the thickness of a sheet of glossy paper, and Sandler dares you to stare down the glowing, strangely-cordless barrel of comedy. Will you dare? Warning: daring will cost you around $11, and provides about the same level of fulfillment as a saltine.
Dec 13 2007 'You Don't Mess With the Zohan', Especially if This Trailer is the Result
This trailer to You Don't Mess With the Zohan is everything you'd hope for from an Adam Sandler movie-meets-Borat-meets-hairstyling. Hilarious, mildly offensive accents galore, increasingly ludicrous antics, the requisite mildly-retarded Rob Schneider character--it's got everything you hated from Waterboy and more! It's also probably what a Bollywood adaption of Shampoo would resemble, only with more random dance numbers.
Apparently, the largest consequence of messing with the Zohan is another terrible, sentence-titled comedy from the director of I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry.
Nov 29 2007 First Look at 'The Zohan'
When I heard that I would be getting my first look at "Zohan" today, my excitement reached an all-time high. What new man, whose name clearly begins with a Z, would be walking alongside Lindsey Lohan's thinly-tighted legs? Billy Zane? Soccer star Zinedine Zidane? The animated corpse of Zero Mostel? The anticipation was palpable.
So imagine my disappointment when I learned "Zohan" was not, in fact, the cutesy name of Lindsey Lohan and a mysterious Z-man, but rather a new Adam Sandler comedy co-starring Mariah Carey and Rob Schneider (inevitably playing another half-retard with a shouted catchphrase, I assume) and helmed by the director of I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry.
In You Don't Mess with the Zohan, Sandler plays an Israeli Mossad agent who fakes his death to move to New York and become a hairstylist, a concept that will hilariously allow for both racial and gay jokes, and maybe even an enraging goofy accent. Then again, it's written by Judd Apatow and Robert Smigel, so I don't know what to think.
First look at Zohan! [JoBlo]
Jul 18 2007 Chuck & Larry Ripoff Controversy
According to JoBlo, which cites an article in Variety from 2000, which describes an earlier incarnation of Chuck & Larry that was to star Will Smith and be directed by Tom Shadyac, if anything, the ripoff was the other way around.
In either case, it's a bit like trying to figure out who did one of Carlos Mencia's bits first. The fact that someone with taste that bad chose to steal from you just reflects badly on you. Sometimes I get drunk and pee myself, but when I do, the neighbor kid with Down Syndrome doesn't sue me for royalties.
Jul 12 2007 Katharine McPhee Joins Cast of Female Animal House
If St. Peter is anything like me, this picture will be Tyra's admission ticket to heaven.
In case you haven't heard (oh wait, I'm supposed to tell you about this kind of stuff, right?), Happy Madison is working on a sorority comedy with a mostly female cast. Anna Faris will play a Playboy bunny who gets kicked out of the mansion and becomes house mother to the lamest sorority on campus. McPhee will reportedly be playing a "pregnant hippie chick".
The pic was written by the duo behind Legally Blonde and will also star Emma Stone, Rumer Willis, and Kat Dennings. And probably a couple people Sandler went to high school with.
Okay, so normally I'd be embarrassed to write an American Idol-related post, but what can I say? She's got big jugs. Throw some big jugs on those starving Ethiopian kids and hell, I'd probably become a professional fly shoo-er.
May 18 2007 MGM to Buy Rights to Rob Schneider's Directorial Debut
"Durpy Durp Durp, Da Durpy Durp Durp Durp Durp"
That's right, folks, besides playing hilarious ethnic stereotypes in Adam Sandler movies, Rob Schneider also directs.
"Big Stan," which shot last year, stars Schneider as a geeky conman who gets sentenced to a prison stretch. Terrified of being raped, he enlists the aid of a martial arts guru (David Carradine) to teach him kung fu. When he goes inside, his newfound skills result in his becoming an unlikely hero, as he outsmarts the warring prison gangs.
Oh, you silly criminals! So why is MGM spending money on this again?
MGM is understood to have made a substantial P&A commitment, and is planning to give the movie a wide December release. As well as appealing to Schneider's existing audience, the studio hopes to tap into the huge personal fanbase of Ultimate Fighting champ Randy Couture, who co-stars in the movie.
You know, as a rabid UFC fan myself, I'm going to go out on a limb here and say I speak for all of us: we like to watch Randy Couture beat people up, not act in Rob Schneider movies.
