Source: Edward Douglas

April 1, 2011

Warner Bros.' The Big Picture presentation really made an impact on the last day of CinemaCon 2011, as it showcased a lot of new footage from their entire 2011 line-up, including three new comedies that are likely to make an impact this summer. We also have an exclusive interview with three comedy superstars who appear in one of them.

But before we get to the big laughs, the Warner Bros. presentation kicked-off with a sizzle reel that featured the first footage from two of their fall dramas, opening with Clint Eastwood's J. Edgar biopic (still not on the release schedule), a scene of Leonardo DiCaprio as the first director of the F.B.I. giving a speech about how the kidnapping of the Lindbergh baby made it crucial that they create a database of fingerprints. It also showed some of the first footage from Steven Soderbergh's Contagion (October 21), a large-scale thriller about a virus that's unleashed on the world, with lots of dark, dystopian scenes of people suffering and images of a glammed-down Matt Damon and Kate Winslet in a hotel room talking on the phone trying to find out who has been in her room because she thinks she's gotten sick. Both movies looked like they would really be very much part of the discussion when awards season comes around.

We also were really excited to see our very first scenes from Final Destination 5, out on August 26, but like is often the case, the footage went by too fast to make note of what we saw! Other films teased in the presentation included Happy Feet 2 (November 18)--a number based around L.L. Cool J's "Mama Said Knock You Out"--New Year's Eve (December 9)--just a list of all the actors involved--and Dolphin Tale (September 23).

What we really want to focus on right now are the three comedies in Warner Bros.' summer line-up. The studio debuted the trailer for Todd Phillips' The Hangover at ShoWest three years ago and it went over so well they realized what a great potential audience they have for their two new comedies, Horrible Bosses (July 8) and Crazy, Stupid, Love. (July 29).

This year, Todd Phillips kicked off the extended look at WB's summer comedies with the world premiere of the trailer for his anticipated sequel The Hangover: Part II, which you can watch here. We have an exclusive interview with Phillips we'll probably run early next week.

Seth (The King of Kong) Gordon is back at New Line following the hit Four Christmases starring Vince Vaughn and Reese Witherspoon with a comedy that looks even funnier, Horrible Bosses (July 8), starring Jason Bateman, Jason Sudeikis and Charlie Day as three friends who are being treated so badly by their bosses they plot to kill them. This one really looks like it could be this year's "Hangover" or Wedding Crashers, because every single person at one time in their life has had that boss, the one you want to kill, and seeing this movie will offer the type of catharsis that almost guarantees this will be another blockbuster R-rated comedy for Warner Bros/New Line.

the trailer begins as we first meet Jason Bateman's Nick, a white collar worker, and his boss, played by Kevin Spacey, who offers him a drink. Nick protests that it's only 8:15 in the morning to which his boss says that it's very expensive scotch and if he wants a promotion, he should be a team player so Bateman tries to chug the large glass of scotch, most of it spilling on him. His boss then tells everyone in the office that Nick has a drinking problem, and when his boss comes out to announce who he will give the promotion to the job opening of VP of Sales, he says he has decided to give the job to himself. When Bateman protests, his boss cites the drinking as why he didn't get it.

Jason Sudeikis plays Kurt and his loathsome boss Bobby is played by Colin Farrell, completely unrecognizable with a beard, a horrifying comb-over and a beer gut! His boss is commanding him to all the fat people in the office as well as a guy in a wheelchair he refers to as "Professor X."

Charlie Day from "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia" plays Dale, a dentist assistant to Jennifer Aniston's Dr. Julia Harris, who is quite striking with dark hair rather than the trademark 'do she made famous in the '90s,' and she is constantly hitting on him. While she's working on someone's teeth, she squirts water at Charlie's crotch and makes a comment about being able to tell that he's circumcised. He doesn't want to have anything to do with it, because he tells her that he's engaged to his girlfriend, but his boss then shows him suggestive pictures of them together she took while he had been knocked out.

The three guys realize the only way to rid themselves of their problem is to get rid of their bosses so they look for a hitman. Their first attempt is a dapper looking man who they find in the newspaper, claiming to do "wetwork," which it turns out means that he urinates on other men, something which should have been obvious since they found him in the "men seeking men" section. They then go into a bar asking if the bartender knows anyone who can take care of their problems and he points out Jamie Foxx's character who tells him his name is "Motherf*cker Jones." After talking with him, they try to do the job themselves with Charlie Day attacking Kevin Spacey and failing, so the other guys lock him out of the car. In another scene, the three guys are outside Dale's boss' house looking into her window as we see Aniston in bra and panties posing for them while eating things like bananas, hot dogs and other things suggestively. Sudeikis notes that it can't possibly be a proper balanced meal, but he still would do her.

There's a lot more gags and we probably haven't done the trailer justice, but honestly, this is one of the funniest trailers we've seen since that first "Hangover" one and most of the funniest moments seem to go to Day who really kills it in his second pairing with Sudeikis after last year's Going the Distance. We expect what we saw to be toned down for a theatrical trailer, which hopefully will come out soon, but it's the type of Red Band trailer that should quickly go viral.

Before the presentation, we had the chance to talk with Jason Bateman, Jason Sudeikis and Charlie Day about making the movie (Look for our interview with director Seth Gordon next week.)


The last WB comedy on the slate is no chopped liver either as Crazy, Stupid, Love. (July 29) stars Steve Carell, Ryan Gosling, Julianne Moore and Emma Stone. It's directed by Glenn Ficcara and John Requa, writers of Bad Santa and directors of Jim Carrey's underrated comedy I Love You, Philip Morris.

This is an edgier romantic comedy with Carell playing Cal Weaver, a man whose wife Emily, played by Moore, tells him she slept with another man. This is done in the opening scene of the trailer and he's so upset he says he wants a divorce and tries to get out of the car while it's still moving. His boss comes into his office saying that everyone heard him crying in the bathroom and thought he had cancer, and is relieved when he only learns Cal is getting divorced.

We're then introduced to Ryan Gosling's character Jacob, a smooth talking who can pick up any woman he wants, something we see in action when he picks up Emma Stone in a bar, who we learn later is also someone who causes Jacob to turn things around with his womanizing ways. Having not dated in many years, Cal is impressed with Jacob's talents and hires him to help him meet women, creating a Hitch-like scenario where Jacob tries to teach Cal everything he knows about women.

In one sequence, Cal comes out wearing clothes Jacob picked for him and Jacob asks the female attendant if she'd sleep with him. In another scene they're in a locker room with Gosling naked, his lower torso blocked by Carell, who says, "Can you put on some pants?" and Gosling points down saying "Is this bothering you?" Gosling nudity or semi-nudity may play a big selling point for women with the movie as the trailer had another scene where Gosling takes off his shirt to show a six-pack to which Stone proclaims, "Are you kidding me? It looks like you've been photoshopped!" Another funny moment shows Cal trying to reconnect with Moore in tears telling him how he made her so upset once that she went off to see Twilight by herself "and it was sooooo bad!"

Crazy, Stupid, Love. looks like it could be a little more poignant and less madcap than Horrible Bosses but as a fan of Carell's work in The 40-Year-Old Virgin and Dan in Real Life, this can be one of his more earnest performances. We also love Emma Stone and Julianne Moore and are looking forward to seeing Gosling flex more comedic muscles, because Jacob seems like something that will allow Gosling to play up a funnier and more narcissistic than we've seen him in movies.

That's mostly it for our look at Warner Bros.' Big Picture line-up for 2011, but look for our interviews with Todd Phillips and Horrible Bosses director Seth Gordon early next week!