Teachers don’t get enough credit.  Luckily, there are movies out there that shine the light on this noble profession…but Bad Teacher ain’t one of ‘em.  This movie goes for the comedic jugular, and gives you a teacher that’s more like a kid in juvie than an adult in the teacher’s lounge.  Thank god.

The story is simple, if you’ve seen the trailer you know the deal.  Elizabeth Halsey is a nightmare with teaching creds.  She did as little as humanly possible her first year of teaching, then decided to blow off her job because of her upcoming marriage to a stinkin’ rich dude.  But the guy changes his mind, and Elizabeth finds herself back behind a desk, where her “teaching” consists of playing movies to her students.  All’s well — for Elizabeth, at least — ‘til she finds out that the teacher whose students score highest on standardized tests gets a huge bonus.  A bonus that would help her pay for her dream; huge boobs.  Then Elizabeth gets the kids motivated the best way she knows how, by threats and intimidation.

Writers Gene Stupnitsky and Lee Eisenberg (The Office, Year One) do a fantastic job of keeping things hilarious without hitting the embarrassing cringe-worthy territory.  A nice change, with so many other films going for the gross out.  No wait, it doesn’t pull any punches, but it’s vulgar without being nasty.  Or is it nasty without being vulgar?  Whatever.  All you need to know is that it works.  Gives me hope that the upcoming Ghostbusters III — yeah, that’s happening — will be worthy of the original with these two on board to pen the script.  Director Jake Kasdan knows how to handle a school story, having proved that in the incredible Freaks and Geeks, but with this film he brings the comedy front and center, focusing on the adults while the kids take a back seat.  I wouldn’t say the students are props, but the title should clue moviegoers in on the main focus of this movie.  It’s not on the kids…and it’s not for ‘em either.  And oh boy are they gonna want to hit this.  Cameron Diaz’s carwash scene alone will have tween and teen boys lining up.  But the heavy-duty pot smoking, nudity (not Cameron’s, btw) and “sexual content” — translation: dry-humping, tons of innuendo and a drugged-out character in a position that goes way past compromising — should have parents who want to restrict the young one’s viewing putting the house on lockdown.  For the rest of us?  It’s an absolute hoot and not to be missed.  You like your humor off-color but don’t want to feel like you need to scrub your eyes clean afterward?  You’ve come to the right place.

The actors are as good as the writing, mostly because the casting is fantastic.  Character actors well known for their willingness to do just about anything for a laugh are paired with bigger named stars that are totally game for whatever comes.  Christopher Guest “troupe member” John Michael Higgins plays Principal Snur, and the scene where he talks about his love of dolphins is a scream. The Office’s Phyllis Smith plays teacher/Elizabeth’s BFF Lynn Davies, and though it’s not a far cry from Phyllis Vance, the Odd Couple vibe between the two characters is perfect.  But it’s Thomas Lennon as Carl Halabi that is the real side-story treat.  As the guy who is in charge of Chicago’s standardized tests, he comes up against Elizabeth’s determination to win at all costs.  Let’s just say he puts his years as Lieutenant Jim Dangle in Reno 911! to good use.

Cameron Diaz outdoes herself in this role, showing that the comic timing that has served her well in The Sweetest Thing and There’s Something About Mary is no fluke.  She’s the super cool chick that amazes everyone, but that nobody actually wants to be.  Her Elizabeth is rude, mean spirited, self-centered and shallow.  She thinks nothing of insulting people to their faces, and believes a big chest is all she needs to get herself “set for life”.  Perhaps in another actress’ hands this character could come off as totally unlikeable, sinking the film.  But instead Elizabeth is a character you watch in slack-jawed amazement, hoping she’ll wise up even when she’s at her most vile.  Because here, vile equals hilarious, which also holds hope for redemption.  Hey, this is a comedy, it’s not Long Day’s Journey Into Night.

Justin Timberlake is a hoot as Scott Delacorte, quite possibly the whitest dude in the city of Chicago and the object of Elizabeth’s determination.  Love between the two?  Not so much.  Though JT’s performance is something to adore.  Bonus points for his performance of Scott’s cringetastic song “Simpatico”, which had me hoping he’d team up with The Lonely Island on SNL again soon.  Jason Segel (Forgetting Sarah Marshall, How I Met Your Mother)  plays P.E. teacher Russell Gettis, and he has his likeable game face on, persistently following Elizabeth around hoping she’ll give in and date him instead of Scott.  Russell sees something in Elizabeth that she doesn’t see in herself, and as he starts up a friendship with her, you can see her let her guard down, making her a much more interesting (and dare I say likeable) character.  If Scott is Elizabeth’s Ashley, Russell is her Rhett.  And Lucy Punch’s too-sweet Amy Squirrel would be Melanie, the woman that could stand in Elizabeth’s way.

Love triangle?  Nope.  It’s not even a rivalry; consider it more of a competition to see who one-ups the other.  Elizabeth and Amy’s fight to come out on top twists and turns, moving the story along one hilarious battle  at a time.  It’s just the sort of all-out craziness that would get them both banned from a real teaching gig, but in Bad Teacher I just wished I had someone like Elizabeth when I was in school, if only for the sheer entertainment value it would have added to  the experience.

And while I’m at it, might as well give a shout-out to Mickey Avalon’s reboot of Billy Squire’s “Stroke Me”, the badass song you’re hearing over the trailer for Bad Teacher.  It’s just like this film; crazy, raunchy and too cool for school.

Do you like Jack Black? Do you like Jack Black as an enormous person in a land of small folk? Well Atomic Popcorn has the privilege of giving passes to those of you who do!

Jack Black, Jason Segel, Emily Blunt, Amanda Peet, Billy Connolly star in this upcoming adventure-comedy from 20^th Century Fox.

Synopsis:

In a contemporary re-imagining of the classic tale, Jack Black stars as Gulliver, a big-talking mailroom clerk who, after he’s mistakenly assigned a travel piece on the Bermuda Triangle, suddenly finds himself a giant among men when he washes ashore on the hidden island of Lilliput, home to a population of very tiny people.  At first enslaved by the diminutive and industrious Lilliputians, and later declared their hero, Gulliver comes to learn that it’s how big you are on the inside that counts.

Trailer:

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ATOMICZ8

Make sure you check out our other free screenings in the Baltimore Area.

Jason Segel (How I Met Your Mother) and Ed Helms (The Office) are joining the Duplass Brothers’ stoner comedy Jeff Who Lives At Home. Helms most recently made the successful jump from the small screen to the big screen in last Summer’s hit comedy The Hangover while Segel starred in I Love You, Man as well as the Judd Apatow comedies Knocked Up and Forgetting Sarah Marshall.

The Duplass Brothers’ directed the indie thriller Baghead and  soon to be released Cyrus starring John C. Reilly, Jonah Hill and Academy Award winner Marisa Tomei. Jeff Who Lives At Home is being produced byJohn Malkovich’s company Mr. Mudd and Jason Reitman’s Right of Way Films. I believe in jinxes but I also believe this movie can’t miss. Since we’re talking about the Duplass Brothers and television actors I have to say that The League on FX starring Mark Duplass is in my opinion one of the great new sitcoms joining the likes of Modern Family, Glee and Community.

What say you?

I Love You, Man

Judd Apatow is by all accounts the new Kevin Smith. For a time in the nineties, Smith had a stranglehold on the comedy world with Clerks, Chasing Amy and (to a lesser degree) Mallrats. His films may not have been high art, but it seemed like most comedies around that time tried to emulate Smith’s dialogue and crude humor. Apatow has now reached that status and I Love You, Man is the most prominent example of that yet. Outside of having Paul Rudd in the film, this movie is not associated with Judd or his compatriots.

The film opens with Peter Klaven (Rudd), a submissive, feminine relator proposing to his girlfriend Zooey (Rashida Jones) who agrees to marry him. So Zooey tells her friends Denise (Jamie Pressly)  and Hailey (Sarah Burns) while Peter can only celebrate with his gay brother Robbie (Andy Samburg) and his parents (Jane Curtain and the always delightful J. K. Simmons.) We see Peter has always had girls for friends and never had real guy friends. This poses a problem as Peter has to find a Best Man for his wedding. At an open house where Peter will sell Lou Ferrigno’s estate, Peter runs into Sydney Fife (Jason Segal) a metrosexual who is there just to have the food and who seems to connect very well with Peter. So the two hang out, a lot, and bond. It seems as if all of Peter’s troubles.

The prevalent problem with I Love You, Man stems from how nothing is really changed by the end of it nor does anything feel accomplished. That may have been the point, but in most good comedies these days the lead is usually changed and the main cast learned something about themselves. Here, everyone remains genuinely the same aside from Peter now having a friend. The filmmakers have opportunities to drive a point home and yet they don’t. Not to say that it would have been cheesy or anything, but it feels very empty once the final frame comes up.

It’s weird to think about and say, but I’ve attended a wedding where the best man was in fact a woman. In that instance I have to ask why couldn’t Peter find one of his gal pals to be there for him? If it was to be more traditional then fine, but the film never says that or even hints at that as a possibility. What also doesn’t help is that it takes way too long for Sydney and Peter to finally hook-up. Sure, there’s a series of funny dates but it feels as if an hour passes before these two actually meet. Then, ironically, the film speeds through everything else. As seems to be a staple of these flicks, Zooey and Peter break-up until to reconcile ten minutes later. Like much of the film, there’s no real build-up to that – or anything else that happens.

There are a ton of laughs to be had though, and that’s where the film succeeds. Paul Rudd seemed born to play the role of Peter who’s more feminine than his wife is. He’s a treat to watch as he tries to be masculine but comes off as awkward. Jason Segal is the complete opposite, but never feels as loud or obnoxious as essentially the Seth Rogen character. He’s more reserved than Rogen’s character but is still macho and portrays himself as ‘the man’. A nice little touch, though, is that Sydney comes off very metrosexual. When he discusses porking a nurse you wonder if he means male or female until we’re actually shown which team he plays for. It helped add a level of depth to what is an otherwise selfish character.

Rashida Jones is decent as Zooey, but is way too accepting of what happens between Syndey and Paul at first. She doesn’t question it, and just takes it like “oh yay, now I don’t have this schlub around when I’m with the girls.” Even when she should be mad about her husband spending too much time with his new friend, Jones just plays it as more of an opinion rather than concern. In fact, that sort of defeats the film’s purpose. So much time is spent trying to find Peter the perfect male friend and yet when he finally finds his mate, she gets upset. Wouldn’t be a problem except most of Zooey’s scenes consist of her with her friends, like she’s putting her friends over Peter.

The supporting characters range from ok to fun. The standouts are Jamie Pressly and Jon Faverau as a married couple that epitomizes two people who are in it just for the sex. Pressly’s Diane is the perfect stuck-up bitch who has no right to be and Faverau is the ultimate alpha male in Barry. Watching him blow up in front of his friends when Peter schools him in a game of poker is one of the best laugh’s the film has. Sarah Burns is serviceable as Hailey, but like her character she’s too bland. The standouts are the dates Peter has, notably Doug (Thomas Lennon) and Mel Stein (Murray Gershnez). Doug is full-on homosexual and lays one of the funniest ever on-screen male kisses on Peter. Mel is a foul-mouthed old man who’s looking for any sort of companionship he can find. Plus, when’s the last time we’ve had an eighty-plus year old man sprout the f-word left and right?

I Love You, Man does it’s job, but ultimately feels like a big missed opportunity. The leads have great chemistry and come off as two best buds, but the film doesn’t feel like it’s out to accomplish anything after the two get together. They could have easily ended the film right after Sydney and Peter hang out and it would have come across with the same effect. They only shoot for laughs, and they do get them but the story has no merit and could have just as easily not happened. It’s a success, but only on the scale that it’s audience will laugh. Otherwise, it’s not going to hold up in future years.

Rating: ★★½☆☆ 

Paul Rudd and Jason Segel are slowly becoming leading men on the big screen. Each has come out of the background as the second fiddle and found a niche in the “every guy” leading man. Last year we saw Jason Segel break out in the very funny Forgetting Sarah Marshall and Paul Rudd break out in Role Models. Director John Hamburg has managed to put together a cast that captivates guy interests – making I Love You Man a movie that you will be proud to take your significant other to see as it is a romantic romedy that is for both him and her.

Paul Rudd and Jason Segel

Paul Rudd plays real estate agent Peter Klaven who is about to marry his 8-month girlfriend Zooey played by Rashida Jones. They have found true love and have a plan to be together forever. Zooey has tons of friends and six of them are to be her Maids of Honor. Peter, on the other hand, doesn’t have any guy friends. He is only close to his family and neither his brother, played by Andy Samberg, nor his father, played by J. K.  Simmons, fit the bill as “best friend” to be Peter’s Best Man.

Enter Sydney Fife played by Jason Segel. Sydney meets Peter at the open house of TV Star Lou Ferrigno, a house that Peter is currently selling. Peter and Sydney become friends and start to hang out on a daily basis. Their friendship blooms over a bond they have for fish tacos, Canadian music sensation Rush, and playing guitar and bass to Rush’s music. Zooey loves that Peter now has a friend that he is close to.

There are some funny lines in this movie as Peter is constantly trying to come up with a cool nickname for Sydney. Early in the movie Peter’s mom and brother are trying to help out by setting Peter up on blind dates with guys to see if there is a connection. This does cause for some awkward moments and funny tension between Peter and the men he is out with.

This movie follows the life and friendship of Peter and Sydney and how they must act with Zooey. Can the three of them come to terms to have a happy marriage? Only time and, I’m sure, a sequel will tell.

With that, what did I think of the movie? It had some funny moments and situations. It tries very hard at being a romantic comedy that everyone will agree on while also keeping the humor neither over-the-top nor muted. This movies manages to show that guys have feelings too and sometimes we need a friend of our own to just hang out and do guy things with. I thought the pace of the movie was fast and didn’t drag or try to give us a setup for the crude punchline. “I Love You Man” is worth seeing this with a crowd that will get the jokes and laugh with you making it a great time to be had by all.

“I Love You Man” is rated R with a runtime of 104 minutes.

Rating: ★★★☆☆ 

Normally, watching a wacky actor vomit into someone’s face would make me roll my eyes and brace for another lame, predictable farce. But when it happens in I Love You, Man, a new comedy starring Paul Rudd and Jason Segel, it sort of works.

Of course, the story is still predictable. Peter Klaven (Rudd) is a great boyfriend without any friends. When Klaven overhears his new fiancé (Rashida Jones) and her friends worrying about his lack of guy pals, he goes on a mission to find a best friend and best man for his wedding.

I’m pretty sure you can guess the rest — a comical group of failed friendships leads right to Sydney Fife (Segal), the friend of Klaven’s dreams, and the two engage in a series of hilarious hijinks together. Like I said, it’s a predictable story that includes the tired vomit-in-the-face gag. But it works for two reasons.

1. Director John Hamburg and writer Larry Levin tell a real story. It’s predictable, but it’s something that could have actually happened to your cousin’s friend’s co-worker who actually almost vomited in some guy’s face and then exaggerated the story over time. It’s funny. It’s just a real, predictable, funny story.
2. Rudd and Segel completely nail it. Rudd plays the calm, quirky guy who reminds you of someone you know, cool but a bit socially awkward. Segel, meanwhile, plays off of it perfectly by being a slightly over-the-top but totally lovable wild guy.

And while the supporting cast were mostly overshadowed by Rudd and Segel, there were a few performances worth mentioning. Rashida Jones is great as Rudd’s conflicted fiancé, in her first major film role, and Andy Samberg doesn’t overdo it as Rudd’s gay, body-building brother. And who can forget Lou Ferrigno’s stunning performance as himself? In fact, the supporting cast played their roles perfectly by staying out of the way, something that seems surprisingly hard to do.

But as these two strong characters begin to build their friendship, the dialogue does take a turn toward the kind of conversation you’d expect to hear in a garage known as “The Man Cave”. If you’re offended by even the brief mention of a “masturbation station,” you’ll probably find yourself wincing in more than a few places. But if you’ve made it through an episode of The Family Guy lately, you shouldn’t worry. I Love You, Man is far less ridiculous and a whole lot funnier.

As a friend of mine described it, I Love You, Man is a romantic comedy for guys. And it’s true, but that’s not a bad thing. It’s the best comedy of the year so far.

Rating: ★★★★½ 

Jason Segel and Paul Rudd

One of the years most anticipated movies, at least in my eyes, is I Love You, Man. And the in your face, blunt humor is why. Check out the Red Band Trailer below and let me know what you think.

This may be the comedy of the year. Would you agree?

What did you think about the trailer? Were your sides splitting or is this just another raunchy comedy?

“I Love You, Man” written by Larry Levin and directed by John Hamburg is scheduled to hit theaters on March 20th, 2009.

DreamWorks has debuted the trailer for Paul Rudd’s newest comedy I Love You, Man. I love you, Man stars the likes of Andy Samberg, Jason Segel, and Thomas Lennon. With Role Models not far removed, we see Rudd bringing the laughs once again in his unique way.

One of the guys at the office is calling this the funniest movies of ’09 already. He claims his sides literally hurt after leaving the screening. While this trailer didn’t actually make me laugh that much, it could lend itself to a very funny film.

You can also watch the I Love You, Man trailer in HD over at Yahoo.

I Love You, Man opens nationwide on March 20, 2009.

What do you think? Talkback and let us know!