Drew Barrymore to Direct 'How To Be Single'

If you're like me and were pleasantly surprised with just how good Drew Barrymore's directorial debut movie Whip It was then you'll be glad to know she has a follow-up project in the works.  THR reports today that Barrymore's sophmore effort will be in the form of a romantic comedy called How To Be Single, which will highlight the lives or relationships/breakups of a group of New Yorkers over the course of 10 years.  Hmm...haven't we seen this kind of movie before? 

The studio hopes that How To Be Single will be cut from the same cloth as the popular romantic comedies He's Just Not That Into You and

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Forbes List of 10 Most Overpaid Actors

Forbes has released their annual list of the "10 Most Overpaid Actors" in Hollywood and for a second year in a row, Will Ferrell finds himself in the number one spot.

To compile the list, Forbes estimates how much an actor earns on a film, then they analyze the film's gross to determine how much of a return studios get on their investment in a particular actor. They look at actors last three films, then divide the "operating income on those films ... by the star’s total compensation to come up with a return-on-investment number. The final number represents an average of how much a studio earns for every dollar paid."

Most of the names on the list aren't very surprising. Will Ferrell and Eddie Murphy claim the top two spots and names you'd expect like Tom Cruise, Vince Vaughn and Jim Carrey round out the list. (You can see the complete top 10 after the cut.)

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Box Office - 'American' Wins Slow Holiday Weekend

There were conflicting reports about the Friday box office, some saying The American won with $3.9 million and others saying Machete got the nod with the same amount. It really only matters for that one day, I guess, because in either case, the margin of victory was about $100,000.

However, it looks like The American will win the traditional three-day weekend, even though there's a big discrepancy in the numbers for Machete depending on where you look, and with Labor Day counting on the tail end, the four-day, as well. And since it was released on Wednesday, The American gets the rare six-day weekend to tout, even though the overall numbers still won't be that big. It's a surprise that it will win, though, because there wasn't nearly the amount of attention paid to this film as some of George Clooney's projects and because Machete had so much buzz. The American, according to the Sunday estimates, will draw nearly $13 million over the three-day period, and going back to Wednesday, that's a little more than $16 million. Counting Labor Day, The American will almost be in the black in terms of recouping the budget costs.

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Box Office - 'American' Tops 'Machete' on Slow Friday

Another internet-created movie phenomenon will remain exactly that: Machete took a leisurely stroll on Friday, and while it could still be the top movie of the weekend, it won't be a big number at all. With only $3.8 million on Friday, the exploitation flick lost to George Clooney's The American, which really isn't trying all that hard.

Clooney's latest opened on Wednesday and has been number one ever since, but its overall total through three days is only about $7 million, including $3.9 million yesterday. Again, that's a narrow victory over Machete, but it's doing slightly better than was expected and the opposite is true of the Robert Rodriguez movie. It is Labor Day weekend, as you know, and that's almost always a bad frame for the studios, which you may not have known. Whichever movie takes the crown will be lucky to get to $14 million, a bad result for a number one movie.

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Movie Review - 'Going The Distance'

Going The Distance Starring Drew Barrymore and Justin Long Directed by Nanette Burstein Rated R

A filmmaker myself, I always try to remain impartial when going to see a movie. Despite my wildest efforts, however, my expectations for Going The Distance, the story of a couple who have a six-week summer romance in New York City, and then attempt a prolonged long-distance relationship across the country, were pretty low.  The upside about this film, directed by Nanette Burstein, who produced, wrote, directed, and edited the fabulous adolescent documentary American Teen, is that if you walk in to the theater like I did, you might be pleasantly surprised.

Drew Barrymore’s character, Erin, is a spunky, modern, every-woman, who despite her short-comings in terms of career, does not take the obvious, depressive turn for the melodramatic. Writer Geoff LaTulippe does a wonderful job developing Erin’s intricacies, desires, and indulgences and crafts a character that is as imperfect as she is likable. Barrymore, of course, deserves her credit for this as well, and it is nice to finally see her in a role that audiences can actually care about. Her love interest, Garret, played by Justin Long, is a less dimensional character, but Long’s charm overcomes the text, and the on-screen romance between the two really does work.

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