Black Sheep @ The Box Office: No Laughing Matter

$23 million doesn’t sound like the opening weekend gross of a number one summer title but it is for this week’s FUNNY PEOPLE. In fact, that amount is the lowest gross of any number one film this summer and also 23% less than what writer/director, Judd Apatow’s last movie, KNOCKED UP, pulled in on its opening weekend. Still, distributor, Universal, thinks the number is great and falls perfectly in line with what they had in mind to begin with. Now, that’s funny.


FUNNY PEOPLE is considered a departure for both the director and the star, Adam Sandler. The major reason for that is that it isn’t very funny. To be fair, it isn’t supposed to be – it is a movie about a dying comedian after all. The departure angle is Universal’s argument for the supposedly acceptable gross. They believe the picture will speak for itself and that it will grow just like the director and star have grown in the weeks to come. One problem with that theory – reviews are mixed to poor. They’re not about to be booed off stage but it shouldn’t be too hard to follow them.


Audiences weren’t interested this weekend in much of anything that Hollywood had to offer. ALIENS IN THE ATTIC opened on over 3100 screens but only mustered a very earthly $7.8 million. And horror flick, THE COLLECTOR, missed out on the Top 10 and couldn’t crack an average higher than $3K. It was the holdovers that most impressed this week. HARRY POTTER AND THE HALF-BLOOD PRINCE redeemed itself after a 60% drop last week by slipping less than 40% this week. That did of course have to do with the addition of over 160 IMAX screens as it had to wait in line for TRANSFORMERS: REVENGE OF THE FALLEN to finish its IMAX run first. Last week’s number one, G-FORCE, has now pulled in over $66 million in under 2 weeks. And comedy hits, THE HANGOVER and THE PROPOSAL are still only dropping off with scant 20-something percents week on week.


The art-house crowd also had much to celebrate this week as expansions went smoothly and launches started solidly. (500) DAYS OF SUMMER made its first major move toward the mainstream with the addition of 181 screens. It still managed an average of over $10K per screen and will certainly find itself in the Top 10 next week when it adds 800 more screens. THE HURT LOCKER has not seen as much success as that but that stands to reason given the heavier subject matter. Still, now playing on over 500 screens, the Oscar contender saw its gross increase week on week by another 32% for a total of $6.8 million. And British import and Black Sheep favorite, IN THE LOOP added 27 screens for 60% increase and an average of nearly $9K. As far as launches go, the dolphin documentary, THE COVE, opened to a solid $13K average on just four screens (look for the Black Sheep interview with the director coming later this week) but it was ADAM, a Fox Searchlight picture about an unlikely love, that scored this week’s biggest per screen average, with $16.5K.

NEXT WEEK: The last of the summer blockbusters, G.I JOE blasts its way onto over 3500 screens. Sony counter-programs with the Meryl Streep/Amy Adams comedy, JULIE & JULIA on 2300 screens. Universal gets scary with THE GETAWAY on 2000 screens. And the quirky Charlene Yi/Michael Cera mockumentary, PAPER HEART opens on 40 screens.

Sources: Box Office Mojo, Variety

FUNNY PEOPLE

Written and Directed by Judd Apatow
Starring Adam Sandler, Seth Rogen, Jonah Hill, Jason Schwartzman, Leslie Mann and Eric Bana


Ira: Do you like music?
Daisy: Did you just ask me if I like music? That’s like asking if I like food.

You’ve got your funny, you’ve got your people. And FUNNY PEOPLE, the third film by Judd Apatow, the reigning God of all things supposedly funny at the movies, only has room for one of these things. Which one, you ask. Let’s just that's an awfully big cast he's got there. Apatow has set himself apart in the last few years by making stylish comedies that speak directly to an audience that isn’t often engaged when it comes to comedy. It isn’t slapstick; it isn’t stupid. It is smart comedy with real people who have relatable problems but who don’t mind getting dirty with their humour. A comedian who has joked his way through life and is now facing his own mortality is certainly a real problem, just like a forty-year-old who has yet to lose his virginity or a one night stand that resulted in a pregnancy (Apatow’s two previous features, THE FORTY-YEAR-OLD VIRGIN and KNOCKED UP, respectively) are real problems, but FUNNY PEOPLE forgets to be exactly what got Apatow and all his regulars there in the first place – funny.


Apatow has certainly stepped up his game. In many ways, he didn’t have much of a choice. His name has been built up so high at this stage for all of his producing gigs that when one of his own movies drops, it has to lead by example. Casting Adam Sandler as the aforementioned dying comedian was the perfect start to a project brimming with potential. George is not so much unlike Sandler, at least when it comes to his career. Both started out in standup and both went on to make movie after crappy movie to appease the masses. More importantly, both are now in need of redemption for their regrets. (I can’t imagine Sandler is too proud of YOU DON’T MESS WITH THE ZOHAN; I could be wrong, but that’s doubtful.) The art imitating life doesn’t stop there either with Seth Rogen playing Ira, George’s assistant, as Rogen looks destined to follow in Sandler’s footsteps in Hollywood. While it is clear that both are pushing their dramatic acting abilities in this picture, well, it is also clear that they’re trying so it isn’t exactly a resounding success.


People are funny and Apatow knows this. FUNNY PEOPLE definitely refers to the vast cast of people who are all undeniably funny (Jason Schwartzman and Jonah Hill play their own brand of comedians as Ira’s roommates in a subplot that is essentially useless) but it could just as easily refer to the funny things we do as people. Whether that is Ira cussing out a girl he has yet to even have a date with for sleeping with one of his friends or George naively thinking that he can get back with the girl who got away (and who got married and got herself two kids, all played by Apatow’s real-life family, wife, Leslie Mann, and his two daughters, Maude and Iris Apatow) just because time was running out and sympathy was on his side. Hollywood works that way but life just doesn’t and fortunately, Apatow has earned himself enough clout in Hollywood to play against convention, as long as he isn’t making, “Sad People.” He might as well have made the sad one here though; at least then people would know what they were in for.


There is a scene early on in the film where George makes an impromptu appearance at a comedy club the same day he finds out he is dying. He doesn’t want to tell the audience about it; he just doesn’t know what to do with himself. Understandably, his jokes fall flatter than a flat line, and he pauses while on stage to listen to the sound of the cars on the nearby freeway, audible to everyone inside as no one is laughing. It is a touching moment but it also sums up what it is like to watch FUNNY PEOPLE. There is hilarity surrounding you but the delivery only inspires discomfort and a couple of chuckles. Your heart goes out but you wish your gut was hurting just a little too.

I Love You, Paul Rudd

I remember the first time I saw Paul Rudd on screen. It was 1995 and Rudd, named Josh long before everyone in film and television seemed to don that moniker, played a college boy who had come in to Los Angeles to help his former step father with a heavy legal load but ended up falling for his distant former step sister, Cher, played by then it-girl, Alicia Silverstone, instead. Not only did CLUELESS permanently ruin the language limits of a generation I must unfortunately count myself among but it gave us that face – that smooth, earnest face with the smile that tells you he’s not going nowhere. Rudd may not have taken over Hollywood there and then but his appeal is better appreciated over time. With his latest comedy, I LOVE YOU, MAN, getting the masses laughing up the brotherly love, it is clear that Rudd’s time has finally arrived.


Rudd, having first gained notoriety on the NBC hit, “Sisters”, followed up his CLUELESS breakout with a thankless part in Baz Luhrmann’s ROMEO+JULIET. His first lead role didn’t come until 1998’s THE OBJECT OF MY AFFECTION, opposite “Friends” star, Jennifer Aniston. Of course, with Aniston in the project, the media focus was on her to see how well she could carry a film outside of her safety “Friends” zone. The experiment was not a success but then again, I don’t think it was ever meant to be. In this Nicolas Hytner film, Rudd plays, George Hanson, a private school first grade teacher with a big heart that he allows to be trampled on again and again. Aniston plays Nina Borowski, a social worker with a walk-up in Brooklyn and a controlling boyfriend. After George’s boyfriend breaks up with him, he moves in with Nina and the two quickly learn the meaning of unconditional love – that is until they realize how unrealistic the whole thing is. THE OBJECT OF MY AFFECTION is surprisingly sensitive, progressive and ahead of its time. These characters explore new relationship possibilities without any judgment or embellishment. Instead, it is just a bunch of ordinary people looking for love. It remains to this day one of my favorite romantic weepers. In fact, I just teared watching it again on a bus, surrounded by strangers.


Given the gay subject matter, which incidentally, Rudd pulled off without the least bit of cliché, this was not the vehicle to get Rudd noticed. It did get him on Aniston’s mega hit series, “Friends” though, as Phoebe Buffet’s (Lisa Kudrow) fiancé in the last season. That in turn led to a number of sidekick roles that would come to define him for a while. Rudd fell in with some very funny people, from Will Ferrell (ANCHORMAN) to Judd Apatow (KNOCKED UP). Rudd’s perfect buddy role is exemplified in Apatow’s breakout, THE FORTY-YEAR-OLD VIRGIN. When Steve Carrell’s Andy freaks out after realizing the damage he has done to his life after admitting he is in fact forty years old and a bonafide virgin, it is Rudd’s David that chases him through a crowded shopping complex to sit him down and tell him that there is nothing wrong with him. When Andy can’t handle the pressure of being hooked up with countless girls with the sole purpose of losing his virginity, it is David that tells him that he doesn’t have to do anything he doesn’t want to. Rudd exemplifies reliability and reassurance. You can count on him to not only help you out when you need it but to get you smiling as well.


Rudd stepped up his game last year by starring in and co-writing the moderately successful ROLE MODELS, co-starring Seann William Scott. This mostly conventional film features a fairly relatable premise. Here you have two 30-ish guys who don’t know thing one about kids who find themselves forced to mentor a couple of misfit kids. I am 30-ish guy and I wouldn’t know what to do with an infant. I would probably plop it down in front of the television, force it to watch Pixar films all day and throw food at it every once in a while to make sure it doesn’t start crying. Rudd’s kiddie problems aside, ROLE MODELS stepped up his visibility significantly and leads us to his final stepping stone, the leading man. Just like THE OBJECT OF MY AFFECTION, Rudd’s leading man in I LOVE YOU, MAN is no ordinary leading role. Sure, it follows to proper structure of a romantic comedy; Rudd meets girl, gets girl, loses girl and we must then wait to see if he gets said girl back. The major difference here is that the girl in question is actually a guy, Jason Segal, and this time Rudd isn’t playing gay. In I LOVE YOU, MAN, directed by John Hamburg, Rudd plays Peter Klaven, a guy so regular that he still has the package default ringtone on his iPhone. (And yes, I only know this because we share the same ring and I felt like my phone was going off the whole way through the film.) Peter has always had an easier time being friends with the ladies and now, as his wedding approaches, he embarks on a series of man dates in search of a best man. To watch the romantic comedy genre hilariously subverted not only allows for the glorification of male bonding but it also allows Rudd to discover new sides of himself that make us love him even more.


Today is April 6th and therefore, Paul Rudd turns 40 today. When interviewed, Rudd is adamant that he loves his life. He loves his wife, Julie Yeager, and their three-year-old son, Jack Rudd. He loves his life in New York City. He especially loves the direction his career has taken. He loves that he gets to do what he does and he gets to have his private life as well. It just seems to me that Paul Rudd is loving his life and the laughter that embodies it. You can see it right there, plainly on his smiling face and that, my friends, is why I love that man.

PINEAPPLE EXPRESS

Written by Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg
Directed by David Gordon Green
Starring Seth Rogen, James Franco, Danny McBride and Rosie Perez


Private Miller: I feel like a slice of butter melting all over a big ol’ pile of flapjacks … yeah.

I’m pretty sure my mother always told me that smoking pot was bad for you. She’s my mother so, naturally, I always believed her. Now, I’m not so sure though. She couldn’t possibly have seen PINEAPPLE EXPRESS before making this assertion. If she had, then she would know that smoking only leads to hilarity and kinship. At least that is one of the many valuable life lessons I learned while watching the latest Seth Rogen vehicle to come off the Judd Apatow assembly line. I also learned that paranoia can be a very good thing, that friends who smoke together stay together and that James Franco actually has a drastically different side to his usual stoic, dry presence. I think most importantly though, I learned that stoner movies, when they’re done right like this one, don’t require the audience to smoke up heavily beforehand in order to have a good time. Albeit, I’m sure a whole other kind of good time would be had if you did.


You could see this movie as an opportunity for Rogen to push his pot smoking agenda onto unsuspecting youths that think of his as some sort of demi-God after last year’s one-two punch, KNOCKED UP and SUPERBAD, or you could just drop the act and enjoy the trip. Besides, smoking is hardly over glorified in this film. Every time Rogen, as Dale Denton, a crafty process server, lights up, he finds himself in a whole heap of trouble. He makes stupid mistakes that lead to his deeper and deeper into despair. And while watching Rogen alone is certainly entertaining, watching him get goofy with a buddy is even better. The buddy here is the unexpected Franco. Franco plays Saul Silver, the drug dealer to Dale’s drug doer. Get these two in a forest and give them a little herbal amusement and there is no telling how stupid they will get and how far out in space their minds will go. There is one sure thing though, weed brings these two together and their lives are better for it.


Thank goodness these two have each other because they could never endure what they need to go through all alone. Saul sells Dale some of his highest-grade bud, called pineapple express. It’s so rare, so exclusive, that after Dale witness a homicide and dumps his roach at the scene, he believes that it can be tracked back to him. Saul must then get involved as he is the sole distributor of pineapple express and therefore the whole thing can be traced back to him. In order to get out of their unfortunate bind, the two must go to the source and get the bad guys, including a feisty Rosie Perez as a crooked cop, before the bad guys, and gals, get them. Many a stoner has inhaled and embarked on zany adventures before these two but how many find themselves in high speed car chases or live-or-die bang-up’s or even fleeing scenes of explosive proportions? Well, I can’t say actually but I can say that none have been this funny in what feels like a very long time (what feels even longer if you actually are stoned).


Dale and Saul are the new stoner buddies, the new Harold & Kumar, if you will. They are accidental action heroes whose pot smoking both gets them in and out of trouble. Unlike the punks responsible for the most recent Harold & Kumar disaster, the people behind PINEAPPLE EXPRESS are actually interested in making a solid film, one with an engaging story and consistent character development. Director David Gordon Green (SNOW ANGELS) knows that just because his characters are stoned out of their heads 99% of the time does not mean his audience will be necessarily. The audience might want to shut off and have a great time, either naturally or enhanced naturally, and that does not mean that you don’t actually have to try. When I want to shut off, I like to be around good people and let the laughs roll. Watching PINEAPPLE EXPRESS is like hanging out with the guys and I already want to hang out with these guys again next weekend.

FORGETTING SARAH MARSHALL

Written by Jason Segel
Directed by Nicholas Stoller
Starring Jason Segel, Kristen Bell, Mila Kunis, Russell Brand, Jonah Hill, Paul Rudd & Bill Hader


The writer/star of FORGETTING SARAH MARSHALL, Jason Segel, is the kind of artist who isn’t afraid to let it all hang out there for everyone to see and subsequently appreciate or pick apart. He writes his pain on to the screen and isn’t afraid to get naked on the path to true understanding. In the writer’s world, naked is a fairly obvious metaphor for vulnerability but here it just means nude. And so, as Segal’s penis flaps back and forth against his painfully pale body, moments before Sarah Marshall (Kristen Bell) breaks up with him, the Judd Apatow movie machine unleashes its latest raw comedy from the mind of the modern male.

This particular male is Peter Bretter (Segel), a slob who can barely pick up after himself but somehow manages to maintain a serious relationship with a gorgeous actress girlfriend and holds down a job as a composer for schlock television. He’s not unattractive nor without his charms but he does raise the question as to how he ever managed to get himself this well positioned. He also has no trouble at all finding numerous beautiful women to help him take his mind off Sarah. And while forgetting Sarah Marshall proves much more complicated than Peter had hoped - it doesn’t help that they have found themselves both at the same Hawaiian resort – he can at least have the last laugh by vilifying her as a horrible human being before the credits role. Without giving too much away, he will have the option, as the sympathetic character, to walk away happy but Sarah, as the heartbreaker, has been doomed since Hester Prynne was sent to prison with that darn scarlet letter across her chest.


If I were Apatow, I would be a little tired of hearing my name being attached to all of these projects. If anything, he should make sure to have a firmer hand in the process in the future. FORGETTING SARAH MARSHALL is not without the hilarity and genuine character development that his past productions have captured so poignantly but its bizarre subplots and many rushed moments make it somewhat forgettable.

SUPERBAD

Written by Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg
Directed by Greg Mottola


Evan: I’m just sick of all the amateur stuff. If I’m paying top dollar, I want a little production value. Y’know, some editing, transitions, some music.

Seth: Well, I’m sorry, Evan, that the Coen brothers don’t direct the porn that I watch. They’re hard to get a hold of.

Ah, to be young and free. It was a simpler time when the pursuit of booze and babes was enough to drive a young man right through to adulthood. Alright, so this wasn’t my personal youth experience but it is the premise of director Greg Mottola’s SUPERBAD, a new breed of teenage sex comedy. Here, partying and getting naked with girls are exposed as a thinly veiled act of desperation to prove how grown up one is. The kids are speeding down a hill, screaming their excitement to the sky, but can see that they are also getting closer and closer to everything they’re afraid of, waiting for them at the bottom. Before they know it, high school will be over and Seth and Evan (Jonah Hill and Michael Cera), best friends since they were five, will find themselves going in separate directions to different colleges. While one raucous night finds them trying to score alcohol to impress the girls they each want to get with, it is what they learn about each other, their futures and themselves that will end up defining the night they thought would simply be the night they got some.


Whether Seth and Evan are trying on pants and debating what exactly is “too tight” or discussing the injustices of men having to hide their erections in shame from the rest of the world while buying drinks at the corner store, they are always hilarious. You could put these two in practically any scenario and the laughs would flow. They are drastically different but compliment each perfectly. Seth is loud and foul. Nearly every thought that comes out of his mouth is about sex and he is completely oblivious to the world around him. Meanwhile, Evan is mild mannered and meekly composed. He is constantly muttering sarcastic quips that most don’t hear and is acutely aware of his surroundings. The two are inseparable but one gets the impression their friendship is based more on its history than what they have in common. One thing they do have in common though is awkwardness. While one covers up his insecurity with obnoxious remarks and the other barely hides it at all, they both have each other to be themselves with. The beauty of their performances lies in the conveyance of the recently rising knowledge that the friendship that makes them feel safe is also now the friendship that is stopping them from going any further.


Written by KNOCKED UP star, Seth Rogen and long time friend, Evan Goldberg, SUPERBAD is at times genius in its subtlety. This is no easy feat considering how outrageous it is most of the time. Loosely basing Seth and Evan on themselves (sorry fellas but the names give it away), they manage to pinpoint the moment these boys become aware of their co-dependence. The two characters are so well drawn that you never want them to leave the screen. Only they do to make room for a third friend, Fogell (Christopher Mintz-Plasse). Fogell is somehow even more socially retarded than Seth and Evan and is himself a funny enough secondary character despite his entire existence being based on one-off joke that is given away in the preview (McLovin!). It is the direction his character takes the film in that is an unnecessary distraction. Fogell/McLovin spends his night riding around in the back of a police cruiser with two of the worst police officers ever to walk the beat (played by Rogen and Bill Hader, whom I would sooner never see on film again). The cops are such screw-ups that all they do is make every scenario they’re in worse than it was before they got there. With most of their humour falling flat and not coming close to measuring up to Seth and Evan, they have a similar effect on the film itself. Filler is rarely fun and here it exposes the writers’ insecurity regarding their own abilities.


So this is the story of how Seth Rogen is both his best friend and worst enemy at the same time. Alongside Goldberg, the two have stated publicly how they never want to grow up. While that gives them a particular insight into the pivotal crossroads Seth and Evan, the characters, find themselves at, it also makes SUPERBAD, a movie about maturity which is meant to be immature at times, less mature than it actually should be. For the most part, SUPERBAD is surprisingly mature, while still maintaining its youthful glow. Seems to me that Seth and Evan, the writers, could stand to learn a thing a two about evolution from the characters they created in their own image. Growing up isn’t all that bad and it can still be freackin’ hilarious.

KNOCKED UP

Written and Directed by Judd Apatow


Pete: Isn’t it weird when you have a kid and all your dreams go out the window?

Judd Apatow is something of a contemporary creative hero. He is a man who works within a rigid system and delivers consistently hilarious fare that manages to remain oddly honest and revealing. The director of THE 40 YEAR OLD VIRGIN returns this summer with KNOCKED UP, a comedy about dealing with the unexpected that lives up to all its expectations. After one night of drunken, messy sex, Alison and Ben (Katherine Heigl and Seth Rogen) find themselves in a situation many have found themselves in before, pregnant. Alison is fresh from a promotion while Ben is busy doing nothing at all. Neither expected to see the other ever again, much less raise a child together. This is horrible timing for both of them but both must learn that nothing makes two people grow up faster than having a baby. And what do two grown-ups do when faced with a less than ideal scenario like this one? Why they give up on looking for love and force a relationship to form between each other for the sake of their child and in the interest of being responsible human beings. The idea that they could actually be successful is hilarious enough in itself.

Apatow sets us up from the start. We meet Ben in the middle of a stoned back yard boxing match of enormous proportions. Moments later, we meet Alison waking to her alarm so that she can prepare for her responsible day as a functional member of society. They meet each other in a bar later that day. Alison is there to celebrate her promotion and Ben is there to drink. Alison is young and vibrant; Ben is a pudgy stoner. He is not without charm but social hierarchies would keep him way out of her league. And so KNOCKED UP begins its journey into the male fantasy. In this fantasy, a male nobody can get with a female somebody with absolutely no explanation that would give it any sort of rational sense. Without it though, there would be no premise to develop. Further to this, Alison decides that she and Ben should do their best to be together. This successful woman who already has a supportive family that could help her through her pregnancy and raise the child suddenly sees no chance of finding her own happiness and learns to settle.


Are you laughing yet? C’mon, this is funny stuff. The funniest thing about KNOCKED UP is that it actually is funny. Heigl and Rogen both turn in fantastic performances that will certainly leave audiences wanting even more of them. They are also surrounded by a number of supporting players who may be one-sided but make the most of their limited depth. On Alison’s side, Leslie Mann and Paul Rudd play Alison’s sister and her husband. They too found themselves unexpectedly pregnant when they were younger and decided to take a shot at happiness together. Only, all these years later, he makes excuses to be out of the house to clear his head and she doesn’t trust that he’s being faithful. On Ben’s side, he’s got a pack of stoner buddies (Jason Segel, Jay Baruchel, Jonah Hill and Martin Starr) who help him keep it real. They also stop him from becoming the man he needs to be if he’s going to be a good father. Where Apatow’s talent steps in is in making all of this symbolism apparent without being the least bit obvious or overwrought. The entire cast is clearly having a blast with their characters and with each other, making it impossible not to laugh along with them. There are also more pop culture references than you can shake a “Gilmore Girls” series finale at.


Despite all their chemistry though, Heigl and Rogen never fully convince me that they have actually fallen in love. Sure they each learn a thing or two about themselves and how to be better to each other but in the end, Apatow does more damage than good. One walks away from KNOCKED UP thinking that a baby can bring people together or save a relationship. One also walks away thinking that to grow up means to leave your dreams and frivolity behind you, to settle in to a potential life of boredom and disappointment. Finally, and fortunately for all involved, one also walks away from KNOCKED UP laughing one’s ass off and not caring one bit about convention and the dangers that stem from it.