Hines Debuts as Helmer with Shelly Screenplay

By Katey Rich

Though I appreciate the breakneck lunacy and perfectly timed comedic reveals of Curb Your Enthusiasm, I've always been irked by Cheryl Hines' character. Unlike Susie Essman's long-suffering wife on the show, who gets to scream her head off whenever Larry does something idiotic, Cheryl has scolded mildly and sucked it up with every ridiculous and insulting thing Larry has done-- at least until she up and left him a few episodes ago.

Maybe inspired by her character's sudden act of defiance, Hines will be directing a film about another woman who makes sure her husband gets his comeuppance. Serious Moonlight is about a woman who, when told by her husband that he is leaving, duct tapes him to the toilet seat to keep him at home. This gets even more complicated when robbers break into the home. Variety describes it as a dark comedy, and getting duct taped to a toilet is definitely something you could see happen to Larry David-- even if it wouldn't be Cheryl who did it.

Perhaps the best part about Serious Moonlight is that Adrienne Shelly wrote the screenplay before her murder a year ago. Hines starred with Shelley in this year's Waitress, which Shelly also wrote and directed; "I had such respect for Adrienne and the work she did. And I love her writing so much. That tone is really in my wheelhouse," Hines told Variety.

Cheryl Hines' input aside, it's wonderful to see Adrienne Shelly's voice continue to live on. If Serious Moonlight sees nearly the same success as Waitress, Shelly will surely be remembered as not just the quirky girl from the Hal Hartley movies, but a confident filmmaker with her own clear vision. And hey, in a world in which Cheryl finally leaves Larry, just about anything can happen.

Weekend Roundup: One Saw to Rule Them All

By Katey Rich

Ugh. I warned everyone, and I warned myself, on Friday, that we would  be seeing Saw atop the weekend's box office, and there was nothing we could do about it, and we ought to just get over it. And even though Saw opened on about 1,000 more screens than the next-widest release, Dan in Real Life, and even though it's got undeniable sequel power, and even though it's kind of Halloween-themed, I still can't get the bad taste out my mouth. Another Saw hit? Seriously?

My favorite part of the Box Office Mojo recap explains the limited appeal of the film: "Distributor Lionsgate's exit polling suggested that 90 percent of the audience had seen the previous three movies. The picture's main selling point was solely that it was the latest Saw. Other than the promise of more grisly puzzles, no new hook was presented in the marketing campaign and the slogan simply read "If it's Halloween, it must be Saw." Like sheep heading to the slaughter...

There was at least a little bit of good news underneath the Saw success, with the modest grown-up comedy Dan in Real Life earning $12 million on 1,900 screens, good enough for second place. And despite some weird grumbling (third item down) that George Clooney isn't a box office draw anymore, Michael Clayton is holding strong at #6 in its fourth week. Critically-praised Gone Baby Gone dropped only one place in its second week, to 7th, and even the quieter We Own The Night has managed to hang on in the top 10, coming in at #9. And my favorite success story of the fall, the 3D re-release of The Nightmare Before Christmas, rounded things out at #10, continuing to net an impressive per-theatre average ($5,900 this week). I re-watched this movie for the first time in years over the weekend, and totally get the appeal of seeing it in 3D; my roommate still has her 3D glasses from catching it last year, so now it's time for me to round up a posse of my own to see it while the Halloween-y feelings last.

Also in the top 10 were the unbeatable The Game Plan, which is making a killing by being the only family-targeted film out there right now; it stayed strong at #3. Why Did I Get Married? is sticking around at #4, though it dropped nearly 50% from last weekend, and for some reason people are still paying good money to see The Comebacks, which came in at #8.

The full Box Office Mojo results are after the jump. It's also worth noting that Things We Lost in the Fire continues to self-destruct, with a $626 per-theatre average that sank it to #20.The Darjeeling Limited also earned little attention in its wider expansion, actually dropping from #13 to #16 despite adding 500 screens. And critical punching bag Rendition is hanging on at #11, but given that it comes in below Nightmare Before Christmas and is playing on four times as many screens, that's not much to be proud of.

1	N	Saw IV	LGF	$32,110,000	-	3,183	-	$10,087	$32,110,000	-	1
2	N	Dan in Real Life	BV	$12,081,000	-	1,921	+1,525	$6,288	$12,081,000	-	1
3	1	30 Days of Night	Sony	$6,700,000	-58.0%	2,859	+4	$2,343	$27,318,000	$30	2
4	3	The Game Plan	BV	$6,257,000	-23.5%	3,342	+41	$1,872	$77,067,000	-	5
5	2	Tyler Perry's Why Did I Get Married	LGF	$5,740,000	-52.9%	1,897	-137	$3,025	$47,300,000	-	3
6	4	Michael Clayton	WB	$5,030,000	-24.7%	2,585	-	$1,945	$28,774,000	-	4
7	6	Gone Baby Gone	Mira.	$3,900,000	-29.1%	1,713	-	$2,276	$11,310,000	-	2
8	5	The Comebacks	FoxA	$3,450,000	-37.9%	2,812	-	$1,226	$10,004,000	-	2
9	7	We Own the Night	Sony	$3,400,000	-37.3%	2,402	+40	$1,415	$25,070,000	$21	3
10	8	Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas in Disney Digital 3-D (2007 re-issue)	BV	$3,347,000	-37.2%	564	-	$5,934	$10,002,000	-	2
11	9	Rendition	NL	$2,350,000	-42.1%	2,250	-	$1,044	$7,800,000	-	2
12	10	The Heartbreak Kid	P/DW	$1,764,000	-53.8%	2,003	-779	$880	$35,134,000	-	4
13	16	The Darjeeling Limited	FoxS	$1,735,000	+34.2%	698	+497	$2,485	$6,100,000	-	5
14	12	Across the Universe	SonR	$1,700,000	-35.9%	964	+4	$1,763	$19,309,000	-	7
15	11	Elizabeth: The Golden Age	Uni.	$1,611,000	-48.9%	1,603	-403	$1,004	$14,019,000	-	3
16	14	Into the Wild	ParV	$1,599,000	-25.2%	658	-	$2,430	$8,967,000	-	6
17	N	Bella	RAtt.	$1,324,000	-	165	-	$8,024	$1,324,000	-	1
18	13	The Kingdom	Uni.	$1,211,000	-48.0%	1,053	-677	$1,150	$45,930,000	$70	5
19	36	Lars and the Real Girl	MGM	$952,000	+404.8%	296	+275	$3,216	$1,356,000	$12	3
20	15	Things We Lost in the Fire	P/DW	$715,000	-54.2%	1,142	-	$626	$2,832,000	-	2

Release Changes: Paul Rudd, Michelle Pfeiffer Head to Limbo

By Katey Rich

Every Friday, in addition to wading through all the reviews for new releases, I look over the list of changes in release dates for upcoming projects. A lot of it involves adding tiny little movies to our Bluesheets listing, and then trying to come up with a funny blurb to describe them. Sometimes, though, I get to second-guess the studios' motivation in pushing a certain film back, or removing another from their roster altogether. It's a remarkably good and candid look into a film's quality and the studio's hopes for it.

The most notable change for me this week is the disappearance of I Could Never Be Your Woman from Freestyle Releasing's slate. The film has been kicked around forever, a classic example of a "trouble" project that no one wants to deal with releasing, and was slated for release on November 9 before being yanked. It's already debuted in several other countries, and got middling reviews in Spain (at least, what I can tell from the Google-translated HoyCinema.com, which is not that much). The trailer available on YouTube paints it as a fairly typical romantic comedy, with Michelle Pfeiffer as an older woman coping with dating a younger man (Paul Rudd), but entirely leaves out Tracey Ullman, who plays Mother Nature meddling in their lives. Maybe that indicates that Ullman's the marketing issue here? It's probably smart not to release a mediocre romantic comedy at the height of awards season (it would have been up against Lions for Lambs, No Country for Old Men, and oh yeah, Fred Claus), but who knows if this one's dropped off the planet for good. Pfeiffer is hot right now, Paul Rudd always is, and Saiorsie Ronan, who stars in December's Atonement, is on the rise. Can it really be so bad that star power won't at least draw some eyeballs?

Two new projects set for early spring release also made their way onto the calendar. First up is the pre-Valentine's Day release The Hottie and the Nottie, which is off to a bad start based on the title alone. Add in Paris Hilton as the star and, well, you don't really need to know anything about this one, do you? (In case you're still curious, Paris plays the "Hottie.") And Tyler Perry will be back on the big screen before we know it, directing and starring in another adaptation of one of his plays, opening March 21. This one is Meet the Browns, starring Angela Bassett as a citi-fied woman who travels to the South for a funeral with her father's side of the family. Perry, unlike his last two films, will be appearing in drag as Madea, the sassy matriarch of the family. After Why Did I Get Married? opened at #1 a few weekends ago, people seemed to be paying more attention than ever to Perry; my guess, though, is that Madea's appeal will probably stick within her defined demographic.

And finally, Juno is opening a week earlier than planned, on Wednesday, December 4, exclusively in New York and L.A. It looks like they'll be trying an even longer platform release strategy with this one, giving it more time to catch on before Christmas and duke it out with the huge number of big releases coming out that month. Not that Juno is any competition to The Golden Compass, or the other way around, but the battle for butts and seats will be pretty fierce once the Christmas decorations are up.

Carnahan Asks Readers to Weigh In on Scripts

By Katey Rich

When Joe Carnahan walked away from his duties directing Mission: Impossible: III back in 2004, it was a pretty clear sign he wasn't beholden to the normal rules of Hollywood. Yesterday, though, he made what might be an even bigger faux pas: posting the scripts to his two upcoming projects on his website.

After George Clooney dropped out of Carnahan's upcoming White Jazz over the weekend, Carnahan was left deciding whether to begin production on that film or Killing Pablo, about the assassination of Colombian gangster Javier Bardem. To help him make his decision, he posted the scripts for both films on his website and invited his readers to weigh in. Carnahan apparently has some pretty opinionated readers coming to his site, as indicated by this vitriolic post aimed at one commenter. There's no telling what Carnahan's fans thought, though, since some clear-eyed publicist or studio rep forced Carnahan to yank the scripts from his site.

Slashfilm thought ahead, though, and has active links to both screenplays. Carnahan posted later that "I still might be able to put them back up in the next few days," but also noted that his poor publicist has been going through hell thanks to his "liberal blogging habits," so  "I've been asked to curtail it in the interest of both projects and not release any information that might do damage down the line."

For a director plagued by cast dropouts-- Reese Witherspoon bailed on Bunny Lake is Missing earlier this year-- and development issues, Carnahan is awfully outspoken. I don't have it in me to read either screenplay at the moment, but something about his candor makes me hope they're good. Carnahan wrote on Thursday from his White Jazz office, just days before Clooney's departure, "Maybe it lasts a year, five, ten, impossible to tell but I defintely [sic] feel as though I'm about to hit a stride." I, at least, will be keeping my fingers crossed on his behalf.

Box Office Outlook: Hopkins vs. Hoffman vs. Carell vs. A Man with a Saw

By Katey Rich

In sharp contrast to last weekend's demolition derby among prestige films, this weekend features a shockingly small number of wide releases and a handful of other quiet openers. Though Philip Seymour Hoffman, Kevin Bacon, Anthony Hopkins, Ron Livingston and even Jimmy Carter are going head-to-head, none of their films open on more than 20 screens. They're probably all cowering in fear of one man (and no, it's not Steve Carell): Jigsaw, the horror meister from Saw IV.

SAW IV. It's not being screened for critics, and really I'd rather pretend it didn't exist at all, but Saw IV is almost guaranteed to conquer the box office this weekend (those people who came out for 30 Days of Night will almost surely be back for more), so we have to at least acknowledge it. Just for comparison's sake, though, here are the Rotten Tomatoes sites for Saw, Saw II, and Saw III. A downward trend when you started at 46%? Not great news, guys. I'd rather put myself in one of those torture instruments in the film than see these movies, but alas, I'm out of touch with the general public once again. I'll put up some critical reviews on Monday, along with some begrudging acknowledgement of the scads of money it made.

DAN IN REAL LIFE. Peter Hedges wowed everyone when he made his directorial debut with 2003's Pieces of April, but given that he wrote the novel and screenplay for the sublime What's Eating Gilbert Grape? and successfully adapted Nick Hornby's About a Boy, it really shouldn't have been a surprise. Now he's back with what looks like a classic screwball comedy: Dan (Steve Carell) meets the perfect woman (Juliette Binoche) only to discover she's engaged to his brother (Dane Cook). Dianne Wiest and John Mahoney play the brothers' parents, Emily Blunt appears as a sexy neighbor, and Broadway actress Allison Pill plays Dan's teenage daughter.

Maybe the presence of Dane Cook threw me off, but I stil wasn't expecting this one to get the critical applause it did. "And at the center of it all is a vulnerable and understated performance by Carell," writes our own Kevin Lally, " which confirms that the former "Daily Show" madcap and current "Office" fool is also quite an accomplished movie actor." "Carell shows a whole new side to his talents," agrees Peter Travers at Rolling Stone. Kirk Honeycutt at The Hollywood Reporter bemoans the "labored and unconvincing" ending, but concedes, "No matter. Getting there was all the fun." Still there are some grouches out there: "We root for Carell even as he drifts through the movie in a minor key," writes the Philadephia Weekly. Reel Views cries "It's cloying, artificial, and not the least bit romantic," and actually says it's worse than The Family Stone (say it ain't so!)

BEFORE THE DEVIL KNOWS YOU'RE DEAD. As unwieldy as it is, what a great title. This is Sidney Lumet's 45th (!) film, a dark crime thriller about two brothers (Philip Seymour Hoffman and Ethan Hawke) who scheme the "perfect crime"-- knocking over their parents' (Albert Finney and Rosemary Harris) jewelry store. The brothers get the goods, and get to pull off an inside job, and the parents get the insurance money. If we've learned anything from Hollywood, though, it's that crime doesn't pay, and everything goes inevitably, horribly wrong. Marisa Tomei also stars. The title gets its name from an Irish toast: "May you be in heaven half an hour before the devil know you're dead."

The film has been earning raves since its debut at the New York Film Festival, with critics crediting it for erasing the memory of Lumet's cinematic sins of the last few decades: "His touch in Before the Devil is so sure, so perfectly weighted, that it's hard to imagine him capable of making a bad movies," writes David Edelstein. Our Rex Roberts notes the film's "unrelenting perversity" but praises Hawke and Hoffman's "mesmerizing" performances that "reinforce the filmmaker's reputation as an actors' director." The New Yorker's David Denby chimes in on the acting as well: "While shooting his movies, Lumet grabs his actors and shakes them into giving more and more [...] In this case, his bullying panache feels right." J. Hoberman at The Village Voice sums it up neatly: "Before the Devil Knows You're Dead is less Sidney Lumet's comeback than his resurrection."

JIMMY CARTER MAN FROM PLAINS. I love this title too, if only because of the defiant way it includes "Man from Plains" as part of Carter's title, the way political strategists will doggedly try to attach positive phrases to their candidates' names. Jonathan Demme followed Carter on the tour for his controversial book, Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid, which found the 39th President in headlines more than he had been in the previous decade. The film becomes as much about Carter as the controversy he created, featuring supporters from both sides of the Israel-Palestine debate as Carter encounters them on his travels.

Most critics seem glad to see Carter back in the spotlight. "To many, the Cassandra-like Carter makes more sense in hindsight than when he lived in the White House," wrote Variety , calling the film a "peerless portrait." Ed Gonzalez at Slant agrees, callling it "a poignant portrait of a great man" and crediting Demme for "chart[ing] the poetry of Carter's soul." J. Hoberman at the Village Voice is a little bored, though: "It's a measure of Demme's quiet desperation that he would cite, as one of the movie's "excitements," the opportunity to see NPR radio interviewer Terry Gross in the flesh." (Hey, you leave Terry Gross alone!)

SLIPSTREAM. Anthony Hopkins readily admits he's willing to "annoy people a little bit" with Slipstream, a film which he wrote, directed, stars in and even scored. The bare-bones plot description is that screenwriter Felix Bonhoeffer is losing his mind, and the characters from his screenplay find their way into his life, turning everything upside down in a highly non-linear, illogical manner. Christian Slater, Jeffrey Tambor, Camryn Manheim and John Turturro all appear, along with Hopkins's wife Stella Arroyave.

"Annoy" was probably a good choice of words on Hopkins' part, since a good number of critics have simply thrown their hands up in frustration at this one. Aaron Hills at the Village Voice wrote what might be my favorite complaint: "Sir Anthony Hopkins has raised the bar to batshit insanity with this maddening passion project." "Slipstream fails miserably as a film about moviemaking, writing, REM sleep and historical atrocities," writes Time Out New York, while the Hollywood Reporter considers itself in on the "joke" Hopkins has called the film: "The ending is a letdown only if you've taken any of the film seriously." Susan Granger went along with the joke too, giving it "A stream-of-consciousness, playfully surreal, satirical 7." Film Threat, too, found method in the, well, you know: "It is a carefully orchestrated madness that has its own logic."

Ron Howard Doubles Up Before Strike Begins

By Katey Rich

I've avoided reporting too much on the looming writers' strike in Hollywood, both because I don't quite understand all the details yet, and the segment of the industry I work in (exhibition) presumably won't be too affected by it--unless the strike continues for months. Regardless, Variety's top online story highlights one of the most interesting things about the strike--the way writers, directors and producers are scrambling to get scripts finished and projects set in motion before the walkout begins.

Ron Howard could practically be a poster child for all this rushing around. Having finished Frost/Nixon--an adaptation of the hit Broadway play by Peter Morgan-- just last week, Howard is immediately turning around to finish the Angels & Demons script with his frequent collaborators, producer Brian Grazer and screenwriter Akiva Goldsman. Angels & Demons, of course, is the prequel to the mammothly successful (but critically reviled) movie The Da Vinci Code, based on some book you've probably never heard of. The gang's all here for the sequel, with the above-mentioned creators and Tom Hanks all reprising their roles (no word on whether Hanks' hair, which was more heavily criticized than the film itself, will be returning in the same form as well).

Ron Howard is really gravitating toward his two poles with these projects, taking on the heavy prestige picture Frost/Nixon and the action-heavy Angels & Demons almost simultaneously. Both are set for release late next year, and while I'm not sure the Eddie Murphy curse exists for directors, you have to wonder if this timing might be unfortunate for Howard when it comes time for critical consideration of Frost/Nixon. Also, talk about spreading yourself too think. Now I'm worried we're going to see Richard Nixon considering the symbolism of statues at the Vatican, or Hanks' cryptographer Robert Langdon asking probing questions of disgraced political officials. If G. Gordon Liddy turns up in Angels, we'll know Howard was working too fast.

Efron and Mann Team Up in '17'

By Katey Rich

I don't want to be embarassed about looking forward to Zac Efron's new project, and now thanks to Leslie Mann, I might not have to. The Knocked Up star (and wife of Judd Apatow) has joined Efron in 17, a comedy about a man who suddenly finds himself as a 17-year-old who must navigate high school. Mann will play the wife of Efron's adult character, who has not been cast yet.

This seems like a total retread of Big and 13 Going on 30 (which, lets be honest, are pretty great), except that Burr Steers is directing it. Steers has spent the last few years directing episodes of premium cable shows like "Big Love" and "The L Word," but made a huge splash with his directorial debut back in 2002, Igby Goes Down. Probably one of the harshest looks at family life and adolescence ever, especially to star a Culkin, Igby is about as far from bubblegum as it gets. I can't imagine that Zac Efron will suddenly do a 360 and go all sullen and matricidic on us, but there's a very good chance that 17 will be more than just a chipper flight of fancy.

I haven't seen any of the High School Musicals, though I know the plot in and out (I used to babysit) and can recognize the entire cast (I work in the media), but Zac Efron stole my heart in Hairspray. Those blue eyes! That slicked-back hair! Those moves! I could probably listen to "Ladies Choice" every day (and maybe have already). Efron seems more or less like the real deal, and if Lindsay Lohan could pull off playing a middle-aged woman in Freaky Friday, he's more than capable of pulling off the same feat.