The Five-Year Engagement is cut from the same cloth as 2008′s Forgetting Sarah Marshall and shares many of the elements that made that film successful. It was co-written by Sarah Marshall writer/star Jason Segel and Nicholas Stoller (who directed both FSM and this movie), and has a cast that effortlessly embodies the movie’s characters. Along with a certain sweetness that permeates both films, there’s also something here that most romantic comedies are sorely lacking these days: characters that actually feel like real people. Thanks to Segel and Stoller’s writing and the easygoing and likeable cast, I can easily imagine life for these characters both before the film starts and long after it ends, a feat to which I’m not sure any movie in the “Katherine Heigl” subgenre of rom-coms could lay claim.

Emily Blunt and Jason Segel star as Violet and Tom, a couple one character later describes as being “almost perfect for each other.” Tom is a chef at a sleek San Francisco restaurant and works with Alex (Chris Pratt), who I swore was his character’s brother, but realized upon looking it up he’s just his best friend. Violet is applying to grad schools to become a psychologist, and in the opening scene, the two get engaged and take the audience through a flashback of the night they met. Violet quickly gets accepted to a graduate program, but much to the dismay of her sister (Alison Brie) and mother (Jacki Weaver), the new program is all the way in Michigan, so the wedding is delayed. Tom gives up a head chef position and ends up working at a local college sandwich shop while Violet studies with her new professor, an arrogant ladies’ man named Winton (Rhys Ifans), and with wedding plans perpetually pushed back, you can see where the conflicts would arise.

I don’t want to make this film out to sound groundbreaking or anything, because it definitely follows a standard formula for these kinds of movies. If you’ve seen four or five romantic comedies in your life, chances are pretty good you’ll be able to chart out every major plot point in this film before you see it. But the same thing could be said about a lot of action movies after watching their trailers, and ultimately, enjoyment comes down to the execution. Segel and Blunt are wonderful to watch (and, I suspect, inherently likeable in almost any role because of their infectious personalities). The supporting cast is made up of a ton of funny people, including Brian Posehn and Chris Parnell as Tom’s creepy and sometimes-inappropriate friends and Kevin Hart and Mindy Kaling as Violet’s co-workers who are obsessed with masturbation and gossip, respectively.

Pratt and Brie are especially hilarious, but I’ll admit that my fondness for them stems heavily from being an avid fan of their NBC shows “Parks and Recreation” and “Community.” (Despite the fact that I may be blinded by bias, Brie’s English accent is impressive and consistent throughout the movie, even during an adorable scene in which she and Blunt speak to each other in Sesame Street character voices because children are nearby.)

Stoller seems to have mastered the art of directing talented comedians, employing his typical reserved style and allowing the performances to outshine the flashiness of the direction. There’s always something authentic about his films that seems to justify their existence outside of a simple premise or one sentence synopsis, and if I were to pinpoint that specific element, I’d say it’s a sense of heart. We care about what these characters are doing because they’re so well-crafted and well-acted; as we watch them for two hours, their relationships matter. I’ve seen a few criticisms that point out this film’s thesis is basically “settling is good enough,” but I don’t actually think that’s what’s being said here at all. Yes, one of the characters might have said those words (or similar ones) in the movie, but if you look at the larger picture and see what these two mean to each other, I think a more positive message can be taken away from this experience.

The Five-Year Engagement deals with some complicated issues but never gets bogged down with them, always remembering that it’s a comedy first and foremost. A decent premise, honest characters, and a really funny script put this movie way above the average romantic comedy. Until next time…

Read similar posts to Review: The Five-Year Engagement on Filmonic

What’s cool about red band trailers is there’s basically no sugar-coating, you get a real, raw sample of the film and when that movie is rated R, a red band trailer is a must. With just 4 more days to go until the opening night, this is probably the last trailer for The Five-Year Engagement and dare I say it, the best.

Watch below:

The Five-Year Engagement is a film about the ups and downs in the relationship of an engaged couple that has to delay their wedding over and over again. It probably sounds like a chick flick but since Jason Segel and director Nicholas Stoller (Forgetting Sarah Marshall, Get Him to the Greek) co-wrote the screenplay, it should be a lot more. Also, quite a few genuine laughs are all but guaranteed when this duo is behind a flick.

Besides Jason Segel, the film stars Emily Blunt, Chris Pratt and Alison Brie.

The Five-Year Engagement makes its theater debut on April 27th in North America and judging by the talent involved here, I have very high hopes for this one.

Read similar posts to New red band trailer for The Five-Year Engagement on Filmonic

Bad Teacher director Jake Kasdan has replaced Nicholas Stoller as director of Sex Tape, a comedy with Jason Segel attached to star. The story follows a married couple who decide to make a sex tape to spice up their relationship, but when they wake up the next morning, they find the tape is missing and they have to track it down before their kids or anyone else sees it.

The studio is still searching for the female lead to play the wife, and it looks like this could be a Bad Teacher reunion all the way around, because The Hollywood Reporter says Cameron Diaz’s name has come up in association with the part (though she hasn’t signed on quite yet). Sex Tape was set to be a reunion between Stoller and his Forgetting Sarah Marshall star and The Muppets co-writer Segel, but a deal never came together. (Stoller will go on to work on the next Muppet movie without Segel.) Recently, the “How I Met Your Mother” actor gave a terrific performance in the excellent Jeff, Who Lives at Home.

I’m a fan of Kasdan’s early work, including the underrated Zero Effect and 2002′s Orange County, but his recent work hasn’t made much of an impression on me. Sex Tape essentially sounds like a bit edgier rehash of Date Night, and since I’m not a Cameron Diaz fan, I’m personally hoping that someone else scores the lead female role for this one.

Read similar posts to Jake Kasdan to direct Sex Tape starring Jason Segel on Filmonic

I didn’t quite know what to expect from Jeff, Who Lives at Home. I haven’t seen the other directorial efforts of the Duplass brothers, but they’ve already built quite the reputation for themselves in the film world. Writer/directors of The Puffy Chair, Baghead, and Cyrus, the duo are widely acknowledged as key players in the mumblecore movement of the early 2000s. (Apart from being a writer, director, and producer, Mark Duplass has also broken out as an actor, starring in the FX series “The League” and one of my favorite films at the 2012 Sundance Film Festival, the time travel comedy/drama Safety Not Guaranteed.)

With established vets like Jason Segel, Ed Helms, and Susan Sarandon at their disposal, the brothers eschew brash, obvious studio comedy in favor of something a much more personal, and as a result they’ve crafted one of the most heartwarming films I’ve seen in a long time.

Jeff (Segel) is thirty years old, but he still lives in his mother’s (Sarandon) basement. He doesn’t have a job and spends most of his time smoking weed and watching infomercials. He’s perpetually waiting for a sign, something that will spur him into action or tell him the next path he should travel in life. His mom, Sharon, is a widow who works in a cubicle, her sense of humor worn down by her son’s seeming lack of motivation. Her other son, Pat (Helms), is a mid-level businessman whose marriage is falling apart, and she enlists his help to give Jeff the kick in the butt needed to get going. The brothers don’t talk much anymore, because Pat doesn’t take kindly to Jeff’s lackadaisical attitude and whimsical worldview. One day, when Sharon demands that Jeff go buy glue to fix a broken pantry door, Jeff begrudgingly complies. But thanks to what he deems “a sign,” he’s distracted from his mission and, through a series of random events, Jeff ends up getting wrapped up in Pat’s sinking marriage troubles and their family issues are explored in an adventures that takes place over the course of one day.

For a film starring two leads known for high profile comedies, this movie is surprisingly deliberate in its pacing and tone. Those searching for slapstick antics and over the top buffoonery should look elsewhere, because the brothers Duplass are far more interested in examining relationships than shenanigans. The film is often funny, but just as often, it touches on themes and ideas that have real resonance and feel genuine and truthful. A lot of movies serve as escapism, seeking to take the audience away from tangible issues and distract us from things that are possible in real life. Jeff, Who Lives at Home tackles those issues head on, but the escapist part comes in Jeff’s zen-like approach to everything. He lives the way some of us wish we could, blindly faithful that there’s some order to the chaos of the universe.

Running parallel to the brothers’ story, Sharon discovers she has a secret admirer at work. It reinvigorates her, and for the first time since her husband died, Sharon feels what it’s like to be desired again. We follow her courtship through conversations on AOL Instant Messenger, and much like the movie as a whole, the charm is in the simplicity of it; we’re just as interested as Sharon is to find out what’s going to pop up on her screen next.

The performances are excellent – not career-defining work from anyone, just a group of actors really embodying their characters in a fun and interesting way. (If I had to choose a standout, it would be Judy Greer, who plays Pat’s wife.) By the end of the movie, each character goes through a change that captures an almost ineffable zest for life that makes you want to hug those you love and gives you the feeling that everything in your own life is going to be okay. The flighty, xylophone-inspired score by Michael Andrews (who also did the moody cover of Tears For Fears’ “Mad World” with Gary Jules on the Donnie Darko soundtrack) is equally inquisitive and playful, underscoring the hope and optimism the movie ultimately evokes.

Jeff, Who Lives at Home made me feel good…and sometimes, that’s all I need from a movie. Until next time…

Read similar posts to Review: Jeff, Who Lives at Home on Filmonic

A few days ago, I wrote about how The Muppets writer and star Jason Segel wouldn’t be returning to write the upcoming sequel. Since then, Collider had a chance to sit down with the busy actor and get some clarification on his involvement with the next installment. Read what he had to say after the jump.

When asked about not coming back to write, Segel said:

It’s true but it’s totally amicable. My goal was to bring The Muppets back and I did that leaving them in very good hands, my writing partner and James Bobin the director. I did what I set out to do, and now I wanna pursue more human-related projects. All I wanted to do was to set the stage for them to do whatever they wanted. I’m sure I’ll return in some capacity here and there, but that was half a decade of my life. Five years of hard work. I’m ready for a little puppet break.

While I absolutely understand Segel’s reasoning at not coming back to star, I’m still a bit saddened by the news. His childlike enthusiasm perfectly fit into the Muppets universe, and it’ll be interesting to see who they cast in a sequel that can match that spirit.

Is this a dealbreaker for you? Or can the Muppets make it without Segel on screen?

Read similar posts to Jason Segel won’t star in The Muppets sequel, either on Filmonic

I suppose the more accurate headline would be Jason Segel “can’t” write the Muppets sequel. With his busy schedule filming TV’s “How I Met Your Mother” and press obligations for his films, including this year’s Five Year Engagement and Judd Apatow’s This Is Forty, there simply isn’t enough time for the busy actor/writer to fit another project into the mix. More details on who WILL be involved after the jump.

Vulture has the scoop, and their insiders say a sequel is officially moving forward with The Muppets director James Bobin and Segel’s co-writer on the original, Nicholas Stoller, sharing writing duties for the further adventures of Kermit and Company. I loved The Muppets, and Segel’s passion (as evidenced in the puppet scene in Forgetting Sarah Marshall) was a big part of the film’s success. There’s still a chance the actor could star in the movie, but without him holding a pen, I’m not sure if that same Muppet magic will play out in future installments. What do you think?

Read similar posts to Jason Segel won’t write the Muppets sequel on Filmonic

Universal has released the first trailer for The Five-Year Engagement, which re-teams Jason Segel with Forgetting Sarah Marshall director Nicholas Stoller. The movie looks at what happens when an engaged couple (Jason Segel and Emily Blunt) keeps getting tripped up on the long walk down the aisle.

Watch the trailer below:

The script was written by both Jason Segel and Nicholas Stoller, and is produced by Judd Apatow (Knocked Up, The 40-Year-Old Virgin). Universal will release The Five-Year Engagement on April 27th, 2012.

Read similar posts to First trailer for The Five-Year Engagement on Filmonic

Jason Segel has been passionate about getting the Muppets back together for a long time. Using his breakout film Forgetting Sarah Marshall as an audition of sorts (that film features a vampire puppet show), Segel teamed with Sarah Marshall director Nicholas Stoller and successfully pitched the concept to Disney. The result is one of the most heartwarming films of the year: an old school Muppet adventure for the modern world.

Gary (Segel) and his brother Walter have been best friends since childhood, but because Walter is a Muppet, he’s always been a bit of an outcast. When Walter discovers The Muppet Show on television, he becomes their biggest fan, obsessing over the famed Muppet Studios in Los Angeles and dreaming to visit one day. Years later, when Gary and his girlfriend Mary (Amy Adams) decide to celebrate their tenth anniversary by taking a vacation to Los Angeles, they leave Smalltown, USA – in keeping with the classic Muppet charm, “Smalltown” is actually the name of their town – and they bring Walter along for the ride. But they’re shocked to discover the Muppet Studios have been abandoned for years, about to be bought by oil baron Tex Richman (Chris Cooper). Walter overhears a secret plot to destroy the theater to dig for oil underneath, and the movie really gets started as our trio attempts to reunite the Muppets so they can rejuvenate their old act to make the $10 million necessary to save the theater.

It’s no coincidence that the only other film that’s given me this much pure joy in a theater this year is another one that’s related to Jim Henson: it’s called Being Elmo: A Puppeteer’s Journey, a documentary about Kevin Clash, the guy who voices and “plays” Elmo on Sesame Street. (Read my review of that film here.) I guess that means I’m a sucker for Muppets, and I’m OK with that label. We recorded a podcast a few months ago in which we discussed The Muppet Movie, The Great Muppet Caper, and The Muppets Take Manhattan (listen here), and Segel’s newest take on the material has elements from all three: it has a touch of the sadness found in Manhattan in the “everyone’s gone their separate ways” storyline, has a similar “brother” joke to the Fozzie/Kermit relationship in Caper, but overall it’s mostly reminiscent of The Muppet Movie (my favorite of the series). Segel and Stoller really nailed the tone, and they did a great job of bringing this brand of nostalgia back to the big screen in a way that makes us feel as if the Muppets should always be in the zeitgeist.

The comedy is pitch-perfect, from the celebrity cameos, to Fozzie’s awful-on-purpose one-liners, to the sight gags this series is known for. My favorite of these moments involves Kermit’s intro, in which he approaches our heroes bathed in light with a choir of angels singing in the background, and then the camera pans out to reveal Kermit was just in the headlights of a passing bus full of singing choir members. I don’t want to give away the best gags of the film, but if the promise of Academy Award winner Chris Cooper rapping isn’t enough to get you in the theater, I don’t know what is.

As is typically the case for Muppet productions, the music is fantastic. Flight of the Conchords’ Bret McKenzie wrote many of the songs, including the highlights “Life’s A Happy Song,” “Me Party,” and “Man or Muppet?” The dance numbers work wonderfully, and the song-and-dance aspects of it add to the timeless feel of the movie. With the exception of an unnecessary Cee Lo Green parody near the end, this could have been made any time in the past ten years.

If you’re even remotely interested in Henson’s loveable creatures, The Muppets is a must-see. Its unbridled enthusiasm and genuine heart provides a stark contrast to dark material like The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo coming up this holiday season, so if you’re looking for a family-friendly option that will please kids but has more jokes for adults, look no further than Kermit and Co. as they come back for one last hurrah. Let’s hope there’s more where that came from. Until next time…

Read similar posts to Review: The Muppets on Filmonic

Sony has announced that Bad Teacher, starring Cameron Diaz, Justin Timerlake and Jason Segel, will be released on DVD and Blu-ray on October 18, 2011.

Bad Teacher continued the successful trend of R-rated comedies this summer by making $192 million worldwide on a budget of just $20 million. Cameron Diaz also joined the Bridesmaids gang in proving female-driven comedies can be funny, and people will turn out to watch.

The unrated version will have over 6 additional minutes of footage, but the theatrical version will also be available.

Special features include:

- Deleted scenes
- Outtakes
- Way Behind The Scenes with Jason and Justin featurette
- Raising More Than Funds featurette
- Gag reel (Blu-Ray only)
- JAMS Interactive Yearbook (Blu-Ray only)
- A Very Odd Blacksmith Story featurette (Blu-Ray only)
- Swimming With The Dolphins featurette (Blu-Ray only)
- Good Teacher featurette (Blu-Ray only)

The film follows a foul-mouthed, junior high teacher (Cameron) who, after being dumped by her sugar daddy, begins to woo a colleague.

Read similar posts to Bad Teacher hitting DVD and Blu-ray in October on Filmonic

The plot may not be as clever as a Bad Santa per se; but the blunt, crude & heartless dialogue keeps this predictable romp from going limp.  And the timely placed fun bags, erections, drug use and dry-humping sequences served a purpose in providing the audience with a series of hearty chuckles.

Bad Teacher is exactly what you’d expect to be.  It’s 92 minutes of characters saying what they’ve always wanted to, set in a middle-school atmosphere, where every teacher has their own unique persona.  Cohesive storytelling & character development are tossed aside to make room for sudden bursts of F-bombs while degrading an innocent student.  Although the balance of all these elements is about as smooth as a fat kid trying to run on an inclining treadmill, the script – which is a more-or-less series of comedic bits – is the kind of light, immature thinking we all need every now and then.

Elizabeth Halsey (Cameron Diaz) somehow became a middle-school teacher in a suburban Chicago school.  She cares nothing about the students or staff; and the only reason she went for this gig is to land a rich guy to put a ring on her finger and spoil her self-imposed trophy-wife booty (sounds like my town).  Her plan seemed to be working just fine until she is kicked to the curb by her recent loaded fiancée.  Left with absolutely nothing, she has to move into a shanty apartment with some guy from Craigslist (Eric Stonestreet) – who still wears zumba pants – and crawls back to her teaching job that she recently ditched.

Completely miserable, she avoids dealing with the faculty and simply plays movies such as Dangerous Minds, for her students, all while taking shots of bourbon from her desk drawer and smoking some “medicinal” marijuana in her POS car.  She’s not completely unmotivated though, for her goal to land another sugar daddy revolves around earning roughly 10K to buy a new pair of tits (very resourceful).  And for whatever reason, she is cool sharing this with the other teachers: the naïve Lynn (Phyllis Smith from The Office); the secure down-to-earth, gym-teacher (Jason Segel); and the over-bubbly, star faculty member in Ms. Squirrel (Lucy Punch).

She begins to perk up a bit more at her duties when a new substitute – with family money – begins teaching in Mr. Delacorte (Justin Timberlake).  Trying to lure the sophisticated, sensitive, well-dressed guy becomes her main priority.  At this point, the plot shifts to seeing if Elizabeth will be able to keep up the charade – with Ms. Squirrel watching her every move – while trying to seduce the new teach.  And enhance her chest, of course.

Cameron Diaz doesn’t necessarily rock this stage as Billy Bob Thornton did as a drunken Santa.  (She does rock some sexy attire though).   She’s more of a solid riffing rhythm guitarist who compliments all the other players quite well, and even gets to do a few lead solos that will resonate with audience.  The supporting players are the ones that steal a lot of the show here.  Jason Segel is the drummer in this band.  He doesn’t have much stage presence, but whenever his “instrument” is featured, he brings the house down with his pitch perfect delivery.  Taking the helm as the closest thing to a front man, well, in this case, woman, is Lucy Punch.  Now a few “lyrics” do not get the reaction from the crowd the writers were hoping for.  That said, her spontaneous performance ignited every scene she was a part of.  (Think I just described Motley Crue by the way).

Since there’s a true musician in this cast, Justin Timberlake had the hardest challenge of all…looking so un-cool.  It’s tough to completely buy his character, because he naturally has a stigma that surrounds from his other endeavors.  The guy makes it work despite being overshadowed by all the other relatable performances.

A lot of the sequences – and some of the characters to a certain extent – were missed opportunities.  A butch teacher (Jillian Armenante) and the scantly used Principal (John Michael Higgins) could have been placed in more creative moments.  The fail-safe of this script was to just have these, and all the above mentioned performers, to enact a tourette’s-like episode and start cursing or struggle with Diaz‘s character‘s obnoxious antics.  It is funny, because it happens in the environment of a school.  But the viewer can kind of see it coming, so these actions aren’t all that shocking as they were intended to be.

This script isn’t clichéd as it could have been and the raucous dialogue made sure it wouldn’t falter in that respect.  Having said that, the intelligence of the scenarios Cameron Diaz is positioned in (no pun) is perhaps too fundamental and could have been better.  The reason they work is because her character doesn’t lose the R-rated edge even with the foreshadowed themes the flick is obviously building toward.  She still swears like a pirate and her unapologetic persona keeps the viewer casually waiting for what she’ll do next.  The one-liners hit more than they miss (barely), but there is an awkward silence on a few of them.  As in, not funny at all.  As in why were they left in the final cut?  Solution:  Quick, pan to hard-on or somebody swear.

Overall, Bad Teacher isn’t destined to be a comedy treasure as the trailer suggested.  The jagged, under-developed script sealed the deal on that.  The flick will find a place in people’s minds though, thanks to its desire to stay “Bad” the entire way through.

RATING: 3 out of 5

Read similar posts to Review: Bad Teacher on Filmonic