Jennifer Westfeldt And Her 'Friends With Kids'

To some people this girl-next-door hottie might be best known as Jon Hamm's arm candy, but you would be doing yourself a great injustice if that is as far as you looked.  Jennifer Westfeldt's film Friends With Kids just premiered at the Toronto Film Festival and was purchased by Lionsgate.  Friends With Kids marks Westfeldt's directorial debut, but that is not the only role she undertook as she also produced, wrote, and stars in this little Indie gem.

Click to read more ...

Brace Yourself for the Ultimate Chick Flick List

I'm no expert, so it's hard for me to say what makes a good chick flick. I know this much: Every genre has highlights and low points, but these movies, generally speaking, seem to move the needle less than others.

Why is that? I guess it's because, so long as there's the ending the audience expects, anything, no matter how stupid or cloying that comes before it, is forgiven. Maybe I'm being too hard on chick flicks, but I don't think so. I am the guy who admired the first Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, after all, and thought The Notebook was decent, despite the saccharine infusion, because it had four really good performances. SheKnows.com has unveiled a list of chick flicks "that never get old," and I'll give the list credit for that much, although I do doubt whether The Princess Bride is really a chick flick. Anyway, here's the list. Supposedly, if you're a guy, you can't miss with these. But if you're leaning on Titanic on a first or second date, you're a loser.

Click to read more ...

Five Clips from Jennifer Aniston's 'The Switch'

It's a slow news week over at Fox when they can't even cook up a story with more meat to it than Bill O'Reilly's recent calling out of Jennifer Aniston. He didn't completely bash the idea of single parenthood but said that Aniston's recent comments that women can rely on means of conception other than having a husband/father were "destructive to our society."

Why is it a subject in the first place? Aniston's new movie, The Switch, a comedy about artificial insemination. O'Reilly said that Aniston's permissive attitude about sisters doing it for themselves could creep into the minds of 12- and 13-year-old girls and give them the idea that boys were unnecessary after the deed. While research shows that single-parent households have increased risks for criminal activity, poverty, and a bunch of other things that underscore part of O'Reilly's point, I think the criticism aimed at a comedy is probably misdirected. And it's not exactly the spirit in which Aniston meant it, since her movie is about a chick in her 40s who can't find a man and wants a kid. Speaking of her movie, here are five clips from The Switch, and if you see the movie when it hits theaters this weekend, chances are you won't need to bring a copy of The O'Reilly Factor for Kids to get it signed.

Click to read more ...

Trailer - The Rom-Com 'Love and Other Drugs'

Anne Hathaway and romantic comedies are a bad mixture in my book, except for The Devil Wears Prada. And Edward Zwick's last three movies are the lovefest The Last Samurai, Blood Diamond, and Defiance. Pair 'em up with Jake Gyllenhaal, who clearly is in last resort mode now, and you get Love and Other Drugs.

It's difficult not to be cynical about meat grinder rom-coms; most of them are very bland. This, though, looks...well, just as bland, but probably with more sex. At least that's what they're selling in the new trailer, and early test screenings apparently contained a fair amount of skin. The movie's based on a book about a Viagra salesman when the drug arrived on the scene, so that provides the sub-plot for this, but I have no idea if a relationship like the one portrayed in this trailer is in the book or if that's where creative license takes over. These two crazy kids played a married couple in Brokeback Mountain, although this probably has a slightly happier ending.

Click to read more ...

The Distance for 'Going the Distance' Gets Longer

Here's some refreshing honesty from a movie studio about a swapped release date. The company is Warner Bros.; the movie is Going the Distance, a Drew Barrymore-Justin Long romantic comedy that looks wholly predictable.

The studio has decided that August 27th is not a good weekend for the film, and so it's being bumped back to September 3rd. A whole week? Yes, a whole week. Here's the official word from Dan Fellman, Warner Bros. domestic distribution president:

“Moving to the Labor Day weekend not only allows us to take advantage of the long holiday weekend, but gives us some distance from the other female-driven films releasing in August. Additionally, we have an opportunity to build more awareness and word-of-mouth for a movie we believe has strong appeal for a broad audience.”

Click to read more ...