Daily Design. Saw ‘The Artist’ last night, definitely an experience.
Hey ladies and gents it’s that time again, Trailer Tuesday. This week we’re going to explore a very common occurrence in the movie biz, comedic actors showing off their serious acting chops. The best example of this is Jim Carey’s brilliant performance in the film Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. Ironically Jim Carey also holds the trophy for one of the worst examples of this in the overwrought thriller Number 23. Plenty of comedic actors have done this throughout the years including Will Ferrell in Stranger Than Fiction, Adam Sandler in Punch Drunk Love and Steve Carrell in Little Miss Sunshine and now after years of mediocre comedies Ben Stiller is giving it a stab. Check out Greenberg below.
Now Stiller doesn’t seem to be going as dramatic as some of the comedic actors of the past. I’m thinking more Steve Carrell in Little Miss Sunshine and less Robin Williams in Good Will Hunting. It is nice to see him stretch his talent a bit instead of doing another Night at the Museum movie. Greenberg does appear to be a clever little movie about a unmotivated middle aged man wit little-to-no aspirations. The acting seems sharp, the writing looks quick-witted and the director has a solid record in the indie film category.
Now the big question is will this be able to get Stiller out of an endless cycle of rehashes and sequels? Probably not seeing how he’s currently filming a third Meet the Parents movie. I do however believe it will give Stiller a little indie cred and a smart, corky comedy to help balance out his resume of forgettable comedies.
If you have any comments about this weeks pick or suggestions for future Trailer Tuesday picks please email me, send me a message via twitter or simply comment below. Thanks for reading and I hope to hear from you soon.
Director Jason Reitman, son of classic comedy directory Ivan Reitman, is responsible for two of the biggest indie hits of the last decade. In 2005 he took Christopher Buckley’s hit book Thank You for Smoking and turned it into a clever, funny, charming and dark comedy. The film shot Aaron Eckhart into the A-list as well as getting rave reviews from critics. Flash two years later to the summer of 2007. Ellen Page was best known for the cult film Hard Candy and Diablo Cody was just another blogger, then came Juno. The film grossed over 35 times its 6.5 million dollar budget and won an Academy Award for Diablo Cody’s screenplay. So what do you do next, grab George Clooney and grow up a bit, check it.
As you can see it looks like Jason Reitman has ditched the corky, fun and trendy attitude of Juno and to a lesser extent Thank You for Smoking, for a more serious and mature tone. George Clooney looks to be doing a typically solid performance as a man that travels across the country to fire corporate employees as well as deliver the occasional motivational speech. Other actors include Jason Bateman and the always-fantastic J.K. Simons. I’m pretty excited for this movie; it seems like a nice introspective film about a single man examining his life. Will it hit the mainstream like Juno? I’m thinking no. I do however think it will probably do well with the older, mom and dad, crowd as well as the just want to see a solid film about people and not giant robots, me, crowd.
If you have any comments about this weeks pick or suggestions for future Trailer Tuesday picks please email me, send me a message via twitter or simply comment below. Thanks for reading and I hope to hear from you soon.
