Could 'This is 40' suffer the same fate as 'Five-Year Engagement'?

The Five-Year Engagement was about as entertaining as the average romantic comedy, but it had marked differences in the treatment of its subject matter. Love was dull sometimes, complicated by the mundane, and the difficulty of balancing one's own career with the future of a relationship. Audiences, apparently, weren't so into the latter part, and the film had a disappointing debut last weekend, earning just $10.6 million when it was expected to take in 50% more.

Judd Apatow produced The Five-Year Engagement, and he returns to the director's chair with Christmas release This is 40, which he also wrote and produced. The "sort-of" sequel to Knocked Up focuses on Pete (Paul Rudd) and Debbie (Leslie Mann, Apatow's wife), who are dealing with a crisis: middle age. The just-released trailer has plenty of funny moments sure to appeal to parents everywhere, with a couple of potential gross-out moments for which Apatow is famous. However, part of me wondered if the humdrum sources of comedy will be a turn-off to audiences. After all, Knocked Up had a real crisis, an unplanned pregnancy, while This is 40 appears (at least in the trailer) to be about the couple's self-improvement kick.

Ultimately, though, The Five-Year Engagement just wasn't that good of a movie. This is 40, with its prime end-of-year placement, at least has the time-slot endorsement of its studio. Universal has reaped the benefits of Apatow's productions, including last year's megahit Bridesmaids, and stood by when Funny People, Apatow's previous directorial effort, didn't quite catch on. Growing older and raising children isn't the kind of whacky premise that sold tickets to Knocked Up and Bridesmaids, but it could be a nice halfway point between those films and the didn't-quite-work identity crisis in Funny People.

 

Promising 'Bridesmaids' shows Apatow-style comedy can work for females

By Sarah Sluis

Another female-led movie about weddings? Oh dear. Though 27 Dresses had some redeeming moments, the horrible, ridiculous cat fighting that was Bride Wars (at least the trailer, I certainly wasn't going to see the movie after such an offensive preview) was enough to make me call it quits on the wedding genre. But Bridesmaids may be different.

Yesterday, the trailer for Bridesmaids hit the Internet. To sum up: This is a Judd Apatow-produced movie, and it shows. Kristen Wiig stars as a single gal whose best friend is getting married, giving her all the chores of a maid of honor. From the trailer, it seems like she's less unhappy about being single, and more unhappy about the fact that other people seem distressed about her relationship status (and the fact that they keep on mistaking the men standing next to her, however incompatible, as her beaux).

Unlike the vindictive hair dying and open fighting that was Bride Wars, Bridesmaids offers a more realistic take on how women bring each other down: Take the undermining comment about a fellow bridesmaid's outfit at a fancy party: "Did you come from work?" This is the kind of thing that "Sex and the City" was known for before it jumped the shark with SATC 2. The series succeeded because of its lightly caricatured, but hilarious, versions of people we already know (like snobby underminers).

Wigg kills it in Paul (trailer), a sci-fi comedy coming out in March, and I have similar faith in her in Bridesmaids. Wiig has more of a regular girl feel to her, much like fellow "SNL" alum Tina Fey. Wiig's co-stars include Maya Rudolph (also "SNL"), Ellie Kemper (the new secretary on "The Office"), Rose Byrne ("Damages") and Melissa McCarthy (starring in the "plus size" sitcom "Mike & Molly"). Notice something? None of these women have made careers as leading ladies, but in comedy and television, some in roles that prefer more down-to-earth looks.

I'm not expecting something on the level of The Hangover, and there were some stupid moments (e.g. a fart joke) that made it into the trailer. However, female buddy comedies are rare beasts, even as male-driven ones in the style of Judd Apatow have proliferated. As the spate of bad romantic comedies shows, Hollywood wants to create films that appeal to women, but it doesn't seem to know how. Bridesmaids has come up with one solution: Take the romance out of the comedy.

Love her or hate her, more Jennifer Aniston movies are on their way

By Sarah Sluis

Oh, Jennifer Aniston. Ever since you left "Friends" you've been making a career out of romantic comedies. Though none of them has been particularly good, I've seen my fair share, which I guess is the reason you

keep starring in them. People like you even if they leave your movies a little underwhelmed. While I admired your indie starring role in Friends with Money, your tiny role in Office Space earned you way more cred in my book. I missed The Bounty Hunter though I'm interested in seeing The Baster, which sounds like it has some edge to it...except that they just changed the title to the less evocative The Switch. Up next, there's a little more of the same as well as something a bit different.

First, you'll start filming WanderLust this fall with Paul Rudd, director David Wain and producer Judd Apatow. The movie is about a broke couple that moves to a commune. There's two possible options here. One, it goes the typical city-slickers-move-to-the-country route that we've seen hundreds of times. At first the couple is repulsed, then they grow to like their new area and defend it, end of story (For Richer of Poorer, Did You Hear About the Morgans?, etc.) However, I'm a fan of David Wain's Role Models, which was funny and had some spot-on characterizations of niche communities. When he made fun of LARPers (live action role players), it wasn't because he exaggerated the character types, it was because he nailed them to a T. If he can do similar work with the hippy-dippys on the commune, the movie should be in good shape. Having Apatow as a producer won't hurt.

Your second project, Ms. Aniston, also gives me some hope. You'll play one of the eponymous Horrible Bosses. Have we ever seen you play a villain? I'm kind of excited to see you be mean. Jason Bateman, Colin Farrell and Charlie Day (TV's "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia") are also on track to be in the cast. The comedy will center on three friends who decide to murder their bosses in revenge. Seth Gordon (Four Christmases) will direct for Universal. I'm kind of iffy on murder-comedies, because I think the tone can be difficult to nail (although who knows if the planned murders will happen or go awry). It looks like this project comes from a dusted-off script that's been re-tooled by new screenwriters. A good screenplay finally getting its time...or something pulled up to satisfy an actor? We'll know soon enough.

'Funny People' draws in modest audience

By Sarah Sluis

With its mix of comedy and drama, Funny People baffled industry analysts and challenged audience expectations. At the end of the weekend, the Judd Apatow-directed comedy brought in $23.4 million, performing steadily throughout its first three days. That's slightly better than Apatow's 2005 directorial debut, The 40-Year-Old Virgin, which made $21.4 million in its opening weekend. However, that comedy posted below-average drops of 20% for several weekends to reach its $109 million cumulative gross, a performance that appears less likely for Funny People, which also needs to make back its $70 million budget.

Sci-fi kids comedy Aliens in the Attic opened at number five with $7.8 million. Kirk Honeycutt praised the family film for "[taking] good advantage of digital effects and an athletic cast to make the action virtually nonstop," but it appears the movie--or its marketing budget--was unable to pack audiences into theatres.

Opening just outside of the top ten at number eleven, The Collector grossed $3.6 million. However, if audience responses are as negative as its reviews, it should fall out of theatres quickly.

Adam, The Cove, and Thirst, each at four locations, posted strong opening weekends. Fox Searchlight's Asperger romance did the best, earning $16,575 per location for a total of $94,800. Dolphin documentary The Cove brought in $13,875 per location, an auspicious start, and was closely followed by Thirst, which made $13,800 per location. All three films are well-positioned for expansion, and their generally positive reviews should help their performance over the next few weeks.

Among holdovers, Harry Potter & The Half-Blood Prince continued its reign at the number two spot, adding another $17.7 million to its Gringotts vault. The Hangover, in its ninth week in the top ten, dropped just 21.4%, making it the word-of-mouth and box-office hit ($255 million so far) of summer 2009. (500) Days of Summer continued its expansion, increasing its box-office take 68% from last weekend and more than doubling the number of theatres. It earned $2.7 million at the number twelve spot and a healthy $10,338 per location.

The Hurt Locker and In the Loop also expanded. With just a $3,654 per-screen average, the Kathryn Bigelow-directed war film may be burning through its audiences. In the Loop's $8,829 per-screen average was higher than any film in the top ten this weekend, and its $309,000 gross was a 61% increase from last week.

This Friday, G.I. Joe: Rise of the Cobra will got to battle with boeuf-y Julie & Julia. Horror flick A Perfect Getaway will round out the offerings in wide release.

'Funny People' looks out for number one

By Sarah Sluis

While almost everyone in the industry thinks Funny People (3,008 screens) will be able to grab the number one spot this weekend, its exact gross is more uncertain, with estimates ranging from $20 to $30 million. The film itself is similarly ambiguous, uneven and not immediately satisfying. It's the kind of movie you keep on thinking about after the lights go up. While I liked it far less than The 40-Year-Old Virgin or Knocked Up, it's a film I would want to revisit a few more Judd Apatow pictures down the line. Since Universal announced today that it signed a three-picture deal with Apatow, including an option for him to make films outside the studio, it looks as though the writer-director will have several more chances to add to his body of work. FJI's Executive Editor Kevin Lally called the death-centered comedy Apatow's "most ambitious film, which is both a good and bad thing for the audience. Good, because he's not playing it safe and repeating himself; bad, because the movie falls short of fulfilling its risky ambitions." I suspect this movie will underperform, but its risk-taking increases my respect for Apatow as a director.

Going to battle against the numerous kid films in release, Aliens in the Attic will open in 3,106 theatres. It's expected to perform below Harry Potter 6 and G-Force, making it a likely candidate for the number four spot. With its horror-lite tone and High School Musical star Ashley Tisdale, the movie is likely to do best among young boys.

Horror film The Collector will scare audiences in 1,325 theatres. While the movie wasn't screened for critics, its trailer has rather striking visuals, and the tale comes from the writers of the Saw sequels. The premise is intriguingly moralistic: a thief breaks into a house, only to discover that the family has been held captive by something or someone far more sinister--and he helps save the family he intended to rob.

On the specialty front, documentary The Cove opens in 4 theatres. The filmmaking activists pursue their goal--to record the inhumane slaughter of dolphins in Taiji, Japan--Ocean's Eleven style, adding suspense and allowing the audience to viacriously join the crusade. Vampire film Thirst opens on 4 screens. I adored the "cinematic maelstrom of bloodlust and sensual obsession projected through Park Chan-wook's runaway imagination," but its graphic, depraved representation can be difficult to watch and is certainly not for everyone. Adam, a "sensitive but not sentimental" romance in which one party has Asperger's, opened Wednesday on 4 screens, and Lorna's Silence, a Danish film from the award-wnning Dardennes Brothers about the relationship between a drug addict and the woman who married him for immigration reasons, will appear on 6 screens in New York and L.A. For family audiences and those seeking specialty fare (I would almost count Funny People in that category), it's another jam-packed summer weekend.