Will Jason Bateman ever have a hit Comedy Movie again?

What happened to Jason Bateman? His film career was flourishing with hits like the fantastic Oscar nominees  Juno  and Up in the Air and even the dreadful but high grossing Couples Retreat… Then all of a sudden, he’s like the comedy kiss of death. He’s had three big bombs in a row: Extract, The Switch and the absolutely horrendous and offensive Paul from earlier this year. So, the question is… will he ever have a hit comedy film again? Well, this summer he has two more films coming to theatres that could help his cause. The first and I think more promising film is called Horrible Bosses and stars Bateman alongside Jason Sudekis (Saturday Night Live) and Charlie Day (It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia) as three guys who hate their horrific bosses so much they decide to kill them. Sounds pretty interesting so far. And it only gets better when you find out actors playing the bosses: Kevin Spacey, Colin Farrell and Jennifer Aniston. Color me intrigued. Unfortunately, no trailer is yet available for this film which hits theatres on July 8th, but I’ll post one as soon as I see it… Bateman’s second film due August 5th is called The Change Up and features Bateman and Ryan Reynolds as a frustrated married guy and a swinging bachelor who end up switching bodies. It’s like Big except with adults, hehe… Kinda lame. However, it’s an R rated comedy from the kids who brought us The Hangover and costars Olivia Wilde (Tron Legacy, Cowboys and Aliens), Leslie Mann (Knocked Up) and Oscar winner Alan Arkin (Little Miss Sunshine). So that bodes well. What doesn’t bode well is the fact that it’s a Universal picture and practically all of their films for the past few years have been terrible films and big failures and the new totally unfunny trailer. Check it out below.

The Change Up

Now, don’t fret Bateman fans. If both of these films strike out, he still has the highly anticipated Arrested Development movie in the works. At least we know that one will be funny…

Limitless leads a Lackluster Weekend

Perhaps it was the rain, the impending war, or March Madness that made is such a lackluster weekend at the Box Office. However, I blame the lackluster new releases for another down weekend at the movies. Opening best of the three new entries was Bradley Cooper’s ridiculous “take a pill and all your problems will be solved” drama Limitless (my grade: C) which took in a decent $19 million holding off Rango in its third week and Battle LA which dropped a big 59% in week two. Coming in fourth was the best reviewed film of the new movies, Matthew McConaughy’s The Lincoln Lawyer, (I’m seeing it later today and will update my grade later) which grabbed $13.4 million while the utterly dreadful homophobic offensive and plain unfunny new “comedy” Paul (my grade: F) rounded out the top five with $13.1 million…. There was good news farther down the chart as the wonderful art house release Jane Eyre (my grade: A-) which grabbed a big per screen average ($18,385) to land in the top 20 despite only being in 26 theatres…. For more numbers, head to Box Office Mojo here, and check out the new top ten below.

TW	LW	Title (click to view)	Studio	Weekend Gross	% Change	Theater Count / Change		Average	Total Gross	Budget*	Week #
1	N	Limitless	Rela.	$19,000,000	-	2,756	-	$6,894	$19,000,000	$27	1
2	2	Rango	Par.	$15,315,000	-32.2%	3,843	-80	$3,985	$92,577,000	$135	3
3	1	Battle: Los Angeles	Sony	$14,600,000	-59.0%	3,417	-	$4,273	$60,602,000	$70	2
4	N	The Lincoln Lawyer	LGF	$13,400,000	-	2,707	-	$4,950	$13,400,000	$40	1
5	N	Paul	Uni.	$13,155,000	-	2,802	-	$4,695	$13,155,000	$40	1
6	3	Red Riding Hood	WB	$7,255,000	-48.2%	3,030	-	$2,394	$25,962,000	$42	2
7	4	The Adjustment Bureau	Uni.	$5,932,000	-48.9%	2,660	-187	$2,230	$48,779,000	$62	3
8	5	Mars Needs Moms	BV	$5,317,000	-23.1%	3,117	-	$1,706	$15,401,000	$150	2
9	6	Beastly	CBS	$3,260,000	-35.1%	1,810	-149	$1,801	$22,245,000	$17	3
10	7	Hall Pass	WB (NL)	$2,600,000	-48.1%	1,905	-650	$1,365	$39,590,000	$36	4

Jane Eyre is the First Good Movie of 2011

So far this year, I have not wanted to go to the movies at all. There has been so much dreck (The Dilema, Drive Angry, Just Go With It) offered up, I have only seen a couple of films and those were for free. First was a screening of The Adjustment Bureau that was just a muddled sci-fi romance thriller mess that was saved by the appealing performances of its leads Matt Damon and Emily Blunt (Grade: B-). Next, I saw every studio executive’s wish fulfilment fantasy drama Limitless that basically says drugs are good and you don’t have any consequences if you’re a bad guy as pretty as Bradley Cooper (Grade: C). And finally, I somehow sat through the awful, moronic, homophobic and most importantly, not funny, “comedy” Paul that just made me plain angry. (Grade: D-)….

 So thank goodness, I finally got to see a good film when I went to a screening of the lovely Jane Eyre on Wed night. This latest update of the Charlotte Bronte literary classic stars the incandescent Mia Wasakowska (The Kids are Alright, Alice in Wonderland) as the titular character who survives a difficult childhood to become the governess for a rich, dashing and brooding man played with great heat and heart by Inglorious Basterd’s Michael Fassbender. From there, you have an epic romance full of tragic mysteries, class struggles, and female empowerment. The film is wonderfully and skillfully rendered by director Cary Fukanaga who also directed the dark and fantastic film Sin Nombre. All of the elements are great from the sweeping score by Dario Marianelli to the gorgeous cinematography by Adriano Goldman and the wonderful supporting performances by Sally Hawkins, Jamie Bell and Oscar winner Judi Dench. But the film belongs to Wasakowska who gives the first award worthy performance of the year. She displays so many layers of vulnerability, strength, intelligence and yearning that you’re always completely engaged and enamored by her. I actually wished the film had been a tad longer because it felt a bit rushed condensing all of the material from the book into two hours. Regardless, I highly recommend the film as the first good movie of 2011. (Grade: A-) … Jane Eyre hits theatres tomorrow.

Jane Eyre (2011) trailer