The 2010 MTV Movie awards airs live from the Gibson Ampitheater in Universal City, CA on Sunday, June 6, 2010 at 9pm EST.

Christina Aguilera is set to perform her new single “Not Myself Tonight.” The awards ceremony will be aired just a few days before her new album Bionic comes out in stores on June 8. The album will include collaborations with Sia, Tricky Stewart, Polow Da Don, Le Tigre, Hill & Switch, and Ladytron.

Aguilera holds the prestigious honor of being the only artist under the age of 30 that has been included in Rolling Stone Magazine’s list of the 100 greatest singers of all-time. She has won five Grammy Awards.

Presenters include Tom Cruise, Cameron Diaz, Zac Efron, Jonah Hill, Jessica Biel, Bradley Cooper, Steve Carell, Miranda Cosgrove, Olympian Shaun White, Vanessa Hudgens, Sean “Diddy” Combs, and Russel Brand.

Actor/comedian Aziz Ansari (Parks & Recreation) will carry on hosting duties.

This year’s show features three entirely new categories:  Biggest Bad-ass Star, Best Scared-As-S**t Performance, and Global Superstar. Voting in previous years was domestic, only allowed by viewers living in the United States. However, this year voting will be done internationally for the Global Superstar category. International viewers can vote by vising their local MTV websites.

Fans chose the nominees between March 29 – April 9. The winner voting period will begin on May 12 and go through June 5. For one special category, Best Movie, voting will continue during the live taping.

Check out this sneak peak, where host Aziz Ansari watches The Hurt Locker in 4-D with Kristen Bell in his apartment:

Why is it so hard to deliver a competent and entertaining romantic comedy? In a time when we are getting a record number of grim, post apocalyptic thrillers and action-heavy spectacles, why is a lighter-than-air genre proving near impossible to pull off?

I don’t know the answer, and it’s clear that When in Rome doesn’t either. It sputters out just as its getting started and nothing it tries—including an out of place but amusing Napoleon Dynamite gag—can ever get it up and running again. Right about now, Leap Year is looking pretty darn good. At least there the leads had chemistry.

It seems to be a law with modern rom-coms that they require a quirky central conceit upon which to hang the romance. When In Rome is all too happy to oblige this with the story of Beth, a New York museum curator (at the Guggenheim no less) who flies to Rome for her sister’s wedding and meets Nick, a dreamy NY sportswriter also at there for the big day. When she thinks this potential Mr. Right is with someone else, she gets desperate and starts scooping coins out of a fountain of Venus in the plaza.

The fantasy trope here is that when Beth returns to New York with five coins in her pocket, she has also waylaid the romantic destinies of the five men to whom the coins belong. Now Danny Devito, Jon Heder, Dax Shepherd, and Will Arnett are following her around New York (they all just happen to live there) like would-be stalkers. No extra credit for guessing the owner of that fifth coin. If you don’t know by now, it probably means you haven’t seen the trailers or this is your first romantic comedy.

Cobbled together by the screenwriting team that brought us Old Dogs (just kill me now), Rome takes what could be a clever and cute concept and then runs it right through the generic story factory, sucking out most of the cute and almost all of the clever. The four enchanted suitors are played completely for zany laughs, and each one falls flat in his own way.

Shepherd as a sassy self-absorbed model is by far the worst of the bunch, although Heder predictably strands his Criss Angel-esque magician with unconvincing quirk. There’s just not enough for Will Arnett to do here so he comes off more manic then he might otherwise. Devito, however, is a pro and he does manage to actually inject some character into his role, albeit not much.

Fortunately for anyone that might end up getting dragged to this by their significant other, it’s not a complete misery to watch. The reason for that lies entirely with the adorable and charming Kristen Bell, who gives each scene her all, even when that scene includes being groped by Danny Devito while he spews bizarre facts about sausage.

Bell has a natural perkiness to her personality and Rome is mercifully free of any straining on her part to sell us Beth’s cuteness. She also finds a way to navigate the myriad of slapstick sight gags without making us roll our eyes. She’s the best reason for the movie to exist, and I’m more than ready to follow her in a film that actually cares about her character. By the time Heder and Pedro (yes, ND’s Effrain Rameriez as Pedro) are breaking into her apartment, director Mark Steven Johnston (Ghost Rider) is throwing more at her than even she can chew.

Surprisingly, relative newcomer Josh Duhamel has enough self-effacing charm himself that he isn’t lost in the insane shuffle of late third act events. There’s not a completely convincing chemistry between he and Bell, but they do have an easy rapport that allows them both to catch the audience’s sympathy. Whether this comes from embodying their character’s unlucky-in-love foibles or from simply being likable stars in a daft movie is anyone’s guess.

You could do worse this weekend than When In Rome, but then you could do much better too. My advice is that if you are looking for a romantic comedy and happen to be at a theater still showing it, try Leap Year. If you have the benefit of time, rent Roman Holiday instead. There’s a bit of enchantment I can get behind.

Rating: ★★☆☆☆ 

It’s possible that I’m just not enough of a girly-girl to really appreciate the upcoming romantic comedy When in Rome, or it could be that the trailers for the movie look just a bit too cheesy to pique my interest.

Walt Disney studios and MPM Digital Marketing have recently released a clip from the film, as well as a featurette, and frankly, the new video for When in Rome doesn’t do much to help the already over-the-top feel of the film’s earlier trailers.

For some reason, there is a man in a straitjacket hanging upside down from the ceiling of Kristen Bell’s apartment. Makes perfect sense, right?

From what I’ve gathered from the earlier trailers, the plot of When in Rome involves Kristen Bell’s character taking coins out of Rome’s Fountain of Love, which causes men to instantly fall in love with her.

The mummy-esque man in the new clip is one such man, attempting to perform one of Harry Houdini’s famous escapes in order to win the love of his infatuation.

Yes, it is as ridiculous as it sounds. Don’t believe me? Check it out for yourself here.

To get a closer look at the stars of When in Love, Kristen Bell and Josh Duhamel, make sure to take a gander at their faux personal ad where they talk about everything from favorite food to favorite thing about each other. You can get up close and personal with the stars here.

When in Rome hits theaters January 29th.

This past weekend saw the opening of Universal Studios’ latest film, Couples Retreat, which quickly took Zombieland‘s place as number one at the box office.Bringing in over $35 million in its first weekend, Couples Retreat not only ousted Zombieland from the number one position, but also took the title of being the highest grossing Columbus Day weekend opener in Hollywood history, a distinction formerly held by Meet the Parents.

The opening success of Couples Retreat comes as a welcome treat for Universal Studios, whose previous two releases, Land of the Lost and Public Enemies met with relatively lukewarm response. Perhaps it was the big name cast featuring Vince Vaughn, Jason Bateman, and Kristen Bell, or maybe it was the matter of a more grown-up comedy opening in juxtaposition to two children’s films, a horror flick, and a zombie comedy, but whatever it was, it worked for Couples Retreat.

While Zombieland was bumped to number two, Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs held steady at number three, and Paranormal Activity jumped up to number five from being twentieth the weekend before, thanks in large part to the expansion of its release. .

Disney’s double feature of Toy Story and Toy Story 2 in 3D maintained its place at number four, and the studio will soon be announcing whether they’ll be extending the run of the cartoons beyond the originally planned two-weeks.

I’m going to do something I usually don’t do for my reviews… I’m going to start with my rating: 5 stars!  That’s right, this movie written by John Favreau, Vince Vaughn, and Dana Fox and directed by Peter Billingsley (long-time friend and business partner of Vince Vaughn but better known as Ralphie in A Christmas Story) had me ROTFLOL with a big ol’ Simpsons grin all over my face. Produced by Vaughn’s Wild West Picture Show, Couples Retreat doesn’t go overboard with crude, rude, or lewd humor. It delivers on humor gained from life and doesn’t take itself too seriously about marriage and long-lasting relationships. What Couples Retreat manages to do is present a caricature of four types of couples we all know well, and lets us look at life from their perspective.

After an opening montage of marriages from the 50′s through 2009, we meet the four couples that are featured in the movie. For fun I’ll list the couples as if this were The Newlywed Game:

• Couple #1 – Dave and Ronnie, played by Vince Vaughn (The Break-Up) and Malin Akerman (Watchmen); this is the couple that doesn’t realize they are looking at their marriage like a job and both just happen to be “working” in the same relationship with the same children, extended family and friends.
• Couple #2 – Joey and Lucy, played by John Favreau (I Love You Man) and Kristin Davis (Sex And the City); this is the couple that was high school sweethearts. She got pregnant at 18, then got married so they could raise their daughter together. Eventually they realize that they don’t love each other as much as they originally thought they did and are only still “married” just for their daughter.
• Couple #3 – Jason and Cynthia, played by Jason Bateman (Hancock) and Kristen Bell (Forgetting Sarah Marshall); this is the hard-working, does-everything-by-the-book, over-thinking couple that eventually realizes that they may not be as compatible as they thought. They are working on saving their marriage and have a business plan in place to dictate how their lives should be lived.
• Couple #4 – Shane and Trudy, played by Faizon Love (Who’s Your Caddy) and Kali Hawk (this is her first co-starring role in a movie); This is the newest couple in the movie as Shane is recently divorced and dating a younger woman. Only time will tell if he is happy and can move on or is still in shock from the divorce.

Now that the table is set, lets look at the main course – the plot. Jason and Cynthia are having marital problems as she is not able to get pregnant. The stress of this is causing a split in their marriage so they are going to make one last effort and try to save their marriage. Jason and Cynthia know of a tropical place called Eden that has the best couples’ therapy in the world. The only catch is they can’t afford it on their own so if they can get their friends to come along, the costs is cut in half. Reluctantly the other couples agree as a way to show support, get a free trip, and leave to start the journey with their friends. Each couple embodies someone we know and we can laugh with as events unfold at the Eden Resort.

Upon arrival to the resort they learn that there are two parts of Eden: Eden West, where the couples retreat is located and Eden East, where the singles retreat and parties are located. The couples’ retreat is run by Mr Marcel played by Jean Reno (The Pink Panther 2) who is the world’s leading couples spiritualist.  The resort’s job is to make sure that there are no distractions for the couples and allow them to re-learn why they married in the first place and find the missing spark of their marriage. Needless to say hilarity ensues as we watch the couples partake in the couple-building exercises.

Couples Retreat is a comedy that has romance as part of the plot; I would not classify this movie as a Rom-Com (Romantic Comedy for those that aren’t up on their movie ling0).  And boy-howdy do the jokes start flying fast and funny. There are some scenes in this movie that will have you laughing so hard that you’ll want to go back and see the movie again JUST to catch the jokes you missed the first time.  I want to go into detail of the jokes and humor but I’m afraid that if I do I’ll ruin the fun and surprises.  This is the type of comedy where the delivery of the humor is in the words and life situations and not related to pratfalls and sight gags. I won’t ruin the fun but I will say that the younger child of Dave and Ronnie (Vaughn and Akerman) steals the movie in two scenes involving a Home Depot-type store.

As for the main characters, the script was written in such a way as to showcase each couple and their specific problems without taking away from the overall plot.  With this type of movie comes similarities to previous movies such as Parenthood (which itself is now the basis for two TV shows) The Break-Up,  Forgetting Sarah Marshall, and I Love You Man. All five of these movies show the funnier side of marriage, relationships, and life. With that, I will say that both Vaughn and Favreau  have great comedy timing and play off of each other with relaxed ease making the comedy flow as if natural and not being pushed. The same is true of the script – it allows everyone to shine through the words and situation and again, no rude or lewd sight gags are needed.  I keep bringing this up as too many movies rely very heavily on crude and/or scatalogical humor, or setup gags that have a cruel punchline. Couples Retreat manages to deliver the humor with a great cast while being real to itself and not talking down to the audience.

Only adding to the humor are the secondary characters, the “quirks” that are always needed to help sell the story. One face you’ll recognize is that of Dr Ken Jeong (The Hangover) who plays the Therapist that Jason and Cynthia talk to at the resort. His soft hands / soft heart approach adds to the quirkiness as he is there to help the hard-nose straight-laced couple try to fix their marriage.  Another character that the audience loved was Stanley [as he says in the movie, "Stanley with a C"] played by Peter Serafinowicz (Shaun of the Dead). Stanley is the concierge of the resort and Mr Marcel’s right-hand man. Serafinowicz’s portrayal of Stanley reminded me of a very young Christopher Walken in style and appearance. A scene near the end of the film will have you laughing as Dave and Stanley battle each other in Guitar Hero. Yes, another movie works Guitar Hero into the plot it but does add some fun to the style in which used. (This has nothing to do with the review but can you name two other movies that  also used Guitar Hero?  That would be Rain Wilson’s The Rocker and Kevin James’ Paul Blart: Mall Cop.)

The humor (which I keep mentioning but can’t give too many details as it would ruin the fun) and the characters are worth the time to see Couples Retreat. Vaughn and company do a great job in delivering one of the funniest movies I’ve seen in a long time. With a running time of 107 minutes, this PG-13 movie distributed by Universal is a movie I’d recommend seeing on Date Night or with a bunch of friends. You will get your money and time’s worth in seeing this movie.

Rating: ★★★★★ 

Straight from the folks at Trailer Addict is the newest clip from the upcoming film from Summit Entertainment and Imagi Animation Studios, Astro Boy. In this clip Astro Boy is still new to his powers, yet what he quickly discovers is that others wants him, or his parts, to themselves. Starring the voice talents of Freddie Highmore, Kristen Bell, Donald Sutherland, Nicolas Cage and many others, this manga adaptation will blast into theaters on October 23rd of this year. Check out the clip below:

From what I previous reported back at Comic-Con we finally get the trailer for the upcoming anime adaptation of Astro Boy. Starring the voice talents of Freddie Highmore, Kristen Bell, Donald Sutherland, Nicolas Cage just to name a few, and directed by David Bowers, this beloved anime classic is blasting his way onto the big screen on October 23rd. Stop twiddling your thumbs and check out one of the bigger pieces that you missed at this year’s Comic-Con!

Let us know what you thought about the trailer. I sure enjoyed what I saw. Enjoy the newest trailer below:

Written up by the super great Jon Farveau and directed by Peter Billingsley, aka Ralphie from A Christmas Story if you must know, comes the latest comedy to spawn out, Couple’s Retreat. Starring Vince Vaughn, Kristen Bell, Malin Akerman, Jason Bateman and many others, the story follows four midwestern couples who embark on a journey to a tropical island resort. While one of the couples is there to work on their marriage, the other three set out to jet ski, spa and enjoy some fun in the sun. They soon discover that participation in the resort’s couples therapy is not optional. Suddenly, their group-rate vacation comes at a price. What follows is a hilarious look at real world problems.

Being coughed out by Stuber and Wild West Picture Show Productions, with the help of Universal Pictures, the film will set to be released on October 9th of this year. Stop reading this already, watch the trailer below: