'The Other Guys' set to unseat 'Inception'

By Sarah Sluis

It's time for The Other Guys to have a turn. Inception has been at the top spot at the box office for three weeks running, which should end once the Will Ferrell and Mark Wahlberg cop comedy hits 3,651

theatres today. Last June, Ferrell took a nosedive with Land of the Lost, a huge bomb that also happened to release the same weekend as the surprise comedy hit of the summer, The Hangover. With The Other Guys, Ferrell will have a shot at redemption. The movie's currently posting a 78% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes, and FJI critic Frank Lovece called the comedy a "surprisingly witty satire of buddy-cop movies" that "punctures the testosterone bags of a zillion buddy and even lone-wolf cop movies."

Kind of like an urban, older version of High School Musical with frenetically paced professional dancing, Step Up 3D steps into 2,435 theatres this weekend. The "dynamite" dancing, according to critic Maitland McDonagh, also includes a sequence

with two characters dancing through the New York City streets, staged using "a series of extended long shots," "incorporating taxis, brownstone steps and various props," and taking a little bit of inspiration from the 1949 Gene Kelly/Frank Sinatra musical On the Town. Bet that'll sell the movie to today's teenagers.

Opening in 252 theatres, Middle Men stars Luke Wilson as a good guy caught in the sordid side of the Internet boom days. For all the crimes that take place in the movie, however, "the film is no more salacious than an average Lady Gaga video," according to critic Daniel Eagan. Director George Gallo's focus on the "remorse and repentance side" of the "combustible premise," instead of using it for satire, left him cold.

Kind of like a feature-length version of "Gossip Girl" (as if teens needed anything more than that to rush to the theatres), Twelve debuts in 300 theatres. Chace Crawford (a "Gossip Girl" heartbreaker) stars in the tale of glamorous rich kids getting tied up in drugs, violence, and sex. Director Joel Schumacher (age 70) turns out to be handy at the job, to a point, according to critic Kirk Honeycutt, "[giving] enough texture to the tale that one might overlook its soap-opera aspects until the film implodes in the end from an excess of

overheated elements." It's not clear how well this film was marketed, so its success may come down to its ability to get the word out among teenage audiences.

Rob Reiner, who last directed senior-friendly The Bucket List, will hit the same demographic with Flipped. Set in the 1960s, the movie centers on a cute tale of young love that will be sure to inspire nostalgia. Rated just PG, this suburban-set movie looks like an extended version of "The Wonder Years," and is releasing in 45 theatres--but not New York City, which may be too hardened to appreciate the tale.

There's an unusually high number of well-regarded specialty films coming out this weekend, so there's

room to put a few on your to-see list. The highly praised Lebanon, which will make you never, ever want to go to war, much less be confined in a tank, opens in NYC and LA. The war drama is so unlike the usual American approach, free of the patriotism, bravado, and never-let-you-downs that appear in U.S. war movies, even anti-war ones. Pretend you're climbing Everest in the documentary The Wildest Dream (12 theatres), a "gorgeous adventure film" and "suspenseful quest" according to critic Erica Abeel. To see a romance set in the Arab world that's not Sex and the City 2, seek Cairo Time (5 theatres), which drew raves at the Tribeca Film Festival this year. Or, if you're in the mood for some English-accented intrigue, there's The Disappearance of Alice Creed (12 theatres), a "nifty little Brit thriller" that centers on a kidnapping.

On Monday, I'll assess Will Ferrell's market value and the performance of The Other Guys, see if teenage audiences were wowed by Step Up 3D or Twelve, and see which of the specialty releases did well enough to warrant a broad expansion.

"Mad Men" goes to the movies; Watch out for 'Sherlock Holmes 2' and 'Lebanon'

By Sarah Sluis

Over at Film Journal, we're big fans of the AMC show "Mad Men." So it was a pleasure to discover that the Film Experience Blog has been keeping track of all of the movie allusions in "Mad Men," and taking

the time to explain them. Today, the blogger points out "Mad Men" references to The Apartment and Psycho. Office manager Joan mentions the film to ad agency partner Sterling, with whom she's having an affair, in a pointed reference to the pain that a workplace affair can cause to the woman. He doesn't seem to get the hint, and says the movie is extreme like Psycho. Also of interest is how pop culture references are used to make in-jokes about art director Salvartore being in the closet, as when series leading man Don Draper tells his wife, "All men like Joan Crawford. Salvatore couldn't stop talking about her." Show creator Matthew Weiner's knowledge of movies is encyclopedic. The show, which picked up several Emmys last Sunday, is one to watch for its insights into to how people related to the movies of the day.

In Today's Film News, Warner Bros. is already moving forward with plans for a Sherlock Holmes sequel. The film isn't set to release until Christmas. The last time the studio started working on a sequel before the film came out, it was The Hangover. If we're to trust their judgment, Sherlock

Holmes could be a holiday success on par with that major summer hit.

Another film to watch is Lebanon, which was picked up by Sony Pictures Classics in a market filled with many potential buyers. The Israeli war film could be this year's Waltz with Bashir, the animated film about the Israeli-Lebanon war that SPC rolled out last year, which earned $2.2 million in the U.S. and $8.8 million abroad. With an Israeli film about the Lebanon war already under its marketing and distribution belt, SPC seems like the perfect distributor for this movie. Taking place during the first Lebanon war in 1982, it follows a tank and a group of paratroopers who are trapped in a hostile town (read the THR review here). Its characters are anti-heroes and their mission is not one of glory but terror. The movie is expected to appeal especially to those with ties or interests in Israel and the Middle East.