Mark Wahlberg has always been something of a metronome when it comes to his acting choices, bouncing back and forth between serious and comedic roles over the course of a pretty impressive career. Lately, the former Funky Bunch leader has been in some high-profile comedies: The Other Guys, Seth MacFarlane’s Ted, a small part in Date Night, and some might even consider the M. Night Shyamalan film The Happening to be a comedy. In any case, Wahlberg is looking to keep audiences laughing with another comedy; this one’s called Avon Man and, if Deadline’s summary is correct, it sounds pretty ridiculous.

Here’s the plot synopsis:

A group of guys are laid off from an auto dealership, and one reluctantly becomes an Avon salesman. He survives the emasculation, relies on his charm and becomes a top seller. He then tries to save his town and help his struggling family by pulling in his macho unemployed pals to hawk beauty products so they can win a regional contest.

Wahlberg selling makeup door to door? I never thought I’d see the day. But that unexpected feeling from audiences is exactly what the filmmakers are going for, and there’s certainly the potential for a lot of embarrassing comedy in there somewhere. Originally this role was set for Hugh Jackman and director Kevin Lima, but both have moved on and now the movie is being rewritten by Michael McCullers (Austin Powers) and doesn’t have a director in place yet. Any suggestions from the crowd?

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Will Ferrell and Mark Wahlberg have been wanting to make another movie together since they collaborated on The Other Guys, and they’ve had their sights set on a movie called 3 Mississippi for some time now. The Hollywood Reporter says that film is one step closer to reality now, because the writer/director team of John Morris and Sean Anders has signed on to rewrite the script. Anders, who directed the underrated comedy Sex Drive, will direct this movie. More after the jump.

The movie, which has also been referred to as Turkey Bowl, follows two feuding families who are bitter rivals in a game of touch football every Thanksgiving. The actors will play the leads of the respective households, and they hope filming will begin in September of this year.

I loved the dynamic between Wahlberg and Ferrell in The Other Guys, and I can’t wait to see them reunite for a project as ridiculous as this one. It sounds like it could be an entire movie taken from that football sequence in Wedding Crashers, and I’m OK with that. Are you interested in seeing these actors star opposite each other again?

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Looks like Marky Mark is heading from the gym to the courtroom. The actor/producer/former musician is currently filming Michael Bay’s Pain and Gain alongside Dwayne Johnson, but according to Variety, Wahlberg is in early talks to star in and produce The Partner, based on acclaimed novelist John Grisham’s 2005 book. More details after the jump.

If the deal goes through, Wahlberg will play “Patrick Lanigan, a young partner in a prominent law firm who fakes his own death to steal a fortune from his company before starting a new life in Brazil.” Sounds like a tiny departure from the generally straight-laced protagonists in Grisham’s work, and with Wahlberg’s famously rocky history growing up in Boston, perhaps he’ll be able to bring a certain reality to the part that other actors lack.

Grisham’s law-based dramas have been adapted for film with big names in the leads before: Tom Cruise in The Firm; Julia Roberts and Denzel Washington in The Pelican Brief; Tommy Lee Jones in The Client; Matthew McConaughey, Sandra Bullock, and Samuel L. Jackson in A Time To Kill; Chris O’Donnell in The Chamber; Matt Damon in The Rainmaker; and John Cusack in Runaway Jury.

The Blind Side director John Lee Hancock was at one point attached to write and direct The Partner, but he ended up stepping away from the project to direct Saving Mr. Banks for Disney so writers and directors are still being courted for this one. Wahlberg will next be seen on the big screen in Seth MacFarlane’s directorial debut, Ted.

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Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol star Paula Patton has just signed on to star opposite Denzel Washington and Mark Walhberg in the undercover DEA heist film 2 Guns. More below.

For those of you just joining us, here’s the plot synopsis of 2 Guns, taken from the comic’s official website:

In the vein of Ocean’s Eleven and The Italian Job, Two Guns is a pulp story about cops and thieves and the men that are something in between. Trench has targeted a local bank to rob, and asked Steadman in on the job. Trench figures it’s a great way to score – considering it’s a cover for mob money. They’ll be thieves ripping off thieves. But what Steadman doesn’t know is that Trench is a DEA agent. And what Trench doesn’t know is that Steadman’s got his own secret and isn’t who he appears to be… Classic two gun safe-robbing action delivered with wit and charm from the writer-creator of Whisper!

Contraband director Baltasar Kormakur will be reuniting with Mark Wahlberg for this one, and the excitement I felt when Denzel joined the cast was almost enough to offset how much I didn’t care for Contraband. Patton is an excellent addition to the cast, and I’m definitely interested in seeing what she can do up against a different set of A-listers after she held her own in Ghost Protocol. Deadline reports that she’s set to play Washington’s love interest, but I’m hoping there’s much more to her character than that.

Have you read 2 Guns? Interested in the movie version? What do you think about Paula Patton as an actress?

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When we got our first look at Seth Macfarlane’s first film Ted earlier this week, it was filled with that signature raunchy humor that can only be contained in a red-band trailer. However, with the new green-band trailer, we get a look at how the foul-mouthed teddy bear actually came to be after a wish from a young boy, only to show how he’s overstaying his welcome years later, setting up the plot.

While it’s milder than the first one, this trailer still manages to get the point acrossed, with some down-right hilarious new content. Ted stars Mark Wahlberg, Mila Kunis, MacFarlane as the voice of Ted, Giovanni Ribisi, and Joel Mchale, among others.

Ted hits theatres on July 13, 2012.

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Today we have our first look at the trailer for Seth MacFarlane’s first movie Ted, showing off its zany and raunchy humor in typical red band fashion. It’s great to see an idea like this taken to the “hard R” extreme instead of becoming just a wasted opportunity, and honestly it’s actually pretty darn funny.

Fans of Family Guy will no doubt love that signature brand of humor that only MacFarlane can pull off, but newcomers will most likely be drawn by a long overdue original (well kind of) comedy, rather than just another sequel. Ted stars Mark Wahlberg, Mila Kunis, MacFarlane as the voice of Ted, Giovanni Ribisi, and Joel Mchale, among others.

Check it out below:

A story centered on a man and his teddy bear, who comes to life as the result of a childhood wish.

Ted will be released by Universal on July 13, 2012.

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For a project that was once slated to be a buddy comedy starring Vince Vaughn and Owen Wilson, 2 Guns has come a long way. Contraband director Baltasar Kormakur is now directing, and though Mark Wahlberg has been attached for a long time, it looks like an even bigger star will be teaming up with him.

Deadline reports that Denzel Washington is in talks to star. Washington next appears in Safe House this weekend and recently wrapped filming on Flight, Robert Zemeckis’ return to live action filmmaking for Paramount.

2 Guns is based on a comic book written by Steven Grant. From the comic’s official website:

In the vein of Ocean’s Eleven and The Italian Job, Two Guns is a pulp story about cops and thieves and the men that are something in between. Trench has targeted a local bank to rob, and asked Steadman in on the job. Trench figures it’s a great way to score – considering it’s a cover for mob money. They’ll be thieves ripping off thieves. But what Steadman doesn’t know is that Trench is a DEA agent. And what Trench doesn’t know is that Steadman’s got his own secret and isn’t who he appears to be… Classic two gun safe-robbing action delivered with wit and charm from the writer-creator of Whisper!

I actually read the first issue of the comic a few years ago, and to be honest, it seemed pretty run-of-the-mill. I’m mixed about a movie version, though: Denzel and Wahlberg could make for an explosive combination, but Kormakur didn’t impress me at all with Contraband. What do you all think? Does 2 Guns sound good to you, especially with this cast?

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Ed Harris is about to reunite with the director of The Rock while starring opposite The Rock. The veteran actor is reportedly joining Michael Bay’s Pain and Gain, the director’s smaller budget departure from the Transformers franchise.

Vulture has the story, and a pretty good rundown of the plot:

[It's] about several boneheaded Miami bodybuilders whose plot to kidnap, rob and murder a wealthy businessman yields decidedly mixed results: The left-for-dead victim recuperates in secret, and then hires a private detective to track down his kidnappers and exact revenge.

Harris is in talks for the detective role. This could very well turn into a situation in which Paramount gives Bay the funding for this passion project in return for the director helming another Transformers film afterwards. Bay has said before that the third film would be his last when it came to the robotic action flicks, but I’d imagine you can only say no for so long when they dump millions of dollars on your lawn as incentive. (Metaphorically, of course. Then again, we ARE talking about Michael Bay, so maybe he’d actually have them do that.)

Johnson is set as one of the bodybuilders. Mark Wahlberg was once in talks to play the other bodybuilder, but there’s no word yet on whether that part has been filled. Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely (Captain America: The First Avenger) wrote the script, and with a spring shoot date lined up, we’ll know more about casting soon.

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Contraband is a typical January release. Which is to say, it’s a movie – and that’s about it. It meets all the qualifications necessary to be a movie, and does absolutely nothing interesting along the way.

In fact, the most interesting thing about this movie is who is behind the camera. Baltasar Kormakur was the star of an Icelandic action film called Reykjavik-Rotterdam back in 2008, and now he’s directing Contraband, which is a remake of that film. And…that’s about the extent of anything fascinating you’ll find in this movie. The film itself is a by-the-numbers thriller about a former smuggler (Wahlberg) and his best friend (Foster) who get called back for “one last job” to save Wahlberg’s screw-up brother-in-law from a local drug dealer (Ribisi). Wahlberg’s wife (Kate Beckinsale) is threated for leverage, blah blah blah. You’ve seen this movie before. It’s basically Gone in 60 Seconds without the cars.

Wahlberg hooks up with a team of guys to smuggle millions of dollars in counterfeit money from Panama on a freight ship, and for a while, the movie desperately wants to be like The Italian Job or Ocean’s 11. But the main characters’ situation is so robbed of significance that it fails on every level. We know Wahlberg is going to make it back to protect his threatened wife, so every tumultuous scenario that happens in Panama is mind-numbingly boring because we already know the outcome. And the secondary guys on his team – including Lukas Haas, whose talent is totally wasted here – are given a piss poor introduction (in one of the most mundane montages I’ve seen in a while) and aren’t fleshed out as real characters, so I didn’t care if they lived or died. I barely knew who they were. There’s no emotional connection in this film, and even the stuff with the wife back home feels contrived just so we’ll root for the hero.

The setting was another missed opportunity to do something to make the film stand out. Set in a post-Katrina New Orleans, Kormakur occasionally provides us with a few shots of the city, but never turns it into a character the way, for example, Ben Affleck does with Boston in Gone Baby Gone or The Town. Same thing with Panama when the story eventually gets there: it seems as if the filmmakers are trying to evoke Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol (or similar big budget blockbusters) in the way they depict the skyline here – brief helicopter shots that paint the city from the side – but, like the rest of this movie, it’s a half-assed effort that ends up meaning nothing.

There was one point in the film where I thought it had a chance to elevate beyond it’s mediocrity. A main character nearly dies – something that was shocking, ballsy, and an actual twist that I didn’t see coming – but it’s immediately revealed that this character is still alive, deflating all the excitement I felt as the film returned to its boring conclusion. If you watch two or three movies a year, you might think Contraband is good. Otherwise, you’ll see everything coming as it plays out in the most banal way possible.

For those of you who hated the ending to The Town, this is way worse. Contraband apparently can’t be bothered to deal with things like “consequences.” It ends exactly the way you think it will, and doesn’t care to explain how the main characters get around some pretty major problems that would arise if this movie cared about plot holes. (I’m dancing around the ending to avoid spoilers). Put it this way – “Breaking Bad” devotes a multi-episode story arc to something that isn’t even addressed in this film. It’s not mentioned here because these people are the most basic of action movie characters, given such minimal characterization that it ultimately doesn’t matter what happens to any of them. Contraband? More like Contra-bored. (Sorry. That had to be done.) Until next time…

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Universal Pictures has released the official trailer for the neo-noir/heist thriller Contraband. The film catapults Mark Wahlberg into tough guy hero mode (a role that’s recently become his signature), with this going back to his Italian Job roots. The film also stars Kate Beckinsale, Giovanni Ribisi, Caleb Landry Jones, J.K. Simmons and Ben Foster.

Watch the trailer below:

Chris Farraday (Wahlberg) long ago abandoned his life of crime, but after his brother-in-law, Andy (Jones), botches a drug deal for his ruthless boss, Tim Briggs (Ribisi), Chris is forced back into doing what he does best—running contraband—to settle Andy’s debt. Chris is a legendary smuggler and quickly assembles a crew with the help of his best friend, Sebastian (Foster), to head to Panama and return with millions in counterfeit bills. Things quickly fall apart and with only hours to reach the cash, Chris must use his rusty skills to successfully navigate a treacherous criminal network of brutal drug lords, cops and hit men before his wife, Kate (Beckinsale), and sons become their target.

Contraband seems to be going for a potent cocktail of a dark and gritty crime thriller mixed with multiple surges of heist action that puts all players involved at high risk. As mentioned above, Wahlberg is paying his usual self, so don’t expect big life changing character acting to occur, especially when the action and bloody conflicts seem to be the main attraction here.

The movie is actually a remake of the 2008 Icelandic thriller Reykjavik-Rotterdam, and it looks like it’s getting an American makeover (similar to the contemporary makeover that the Italian job spawned in 2003). Regardless, there hasn’t been many decent heist thrillers recently,so hopefully Contraband will satisfy in that department.

Contraband hits theaters on January 13, 2012.

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