The last year has been a very good one for high profile comedies, with several new movies that have been both hilarious and very profitable. When that magic mixture is achieved you can be sure that the principles are going to be getting a lot more work.

Two of the more surprising successes of the year were Bridesmaids and Horrible Bosses and now it looks like key members from both films are joining forces on their next project. Deadline is exclusively reporting that director Seth Gordon has tapped Melissa McCarthy to star along side his Horrible Bosses star Jason Bateman in his next film, Identity Theft.

McCarthy was one of the best parts of Bridesmaids and has made a lot of strides towards mainstream popularity in the last twelve months. Between an Emmy for her work in Mike & Molly and stealing the show on a recent Saturday Night Live, it will be interesting to see if she can parlay that momentum into starring role success.

Seth Gordon, on the other hand, is finally showing off why people were excited about his vision after his great debut documentary The King of Kong. Hopefully working together will bring their careers to new levels of greatness, because the world can always use great female comedy leads and strong comedy directors.

Arrested Development is one of those series not really appreciated in its time. When it was on the air originally, it had rather low ratings and was cancelled by Fox after three seasons. It was a great show but sadly, a lot of people just didn’t “get it.”

Since its original run, the show has enjoyed newfound success in reruns as well as on DVD and Netflix and has attained cult status among those who appreciate great TV. There’s also been talk of a movie version of the series for years as well and now it seems those plans are finally coming to fruition.

But wait, there’s more. According to reports the show’s creator, Mitch Hurtwitz, plans to bring the Emmy-winning series back to television for 9 or 10 episodes before making movie. That’s right, a new series and a movie. Awesome.

Hurwitz didn’t say where the potential series would air but reportedly the two front runners are Netflix, which is looking for original programming, and Showtime, whose new entertainment president David Nevins used to work at Imagine TV and served as an executive producer on the original series.

Original series star Jason Bateman also confirmed the news on Twitter. “It’s true,” he posted. “We will do 10 episodes and the movie. Probably shoot them all together next summer for a release in early ’13. VERY excited!”

Pretty sure he’s not the only one.

Probably the best thing you can say about The Change-Up is that it’s not as bad as it looks. Actually, no, the best thing you can say is that there’s a lot of surprising and sweet nudity.

But I’m getting ahead of myself. The plot is largely what’s laid out in the trailer: Jason Bateman and Ryan Reynolds are two friends, one’s married, one’s a swinging bachelor, respectively. One night they get drunk and take a quick squirt in an enchanted fountain while simultaneously declaring their mutual desire to be the other.

Morning comes, and they get their wish. Hi-jinx ensue as Reynolds struggles with the pressures of fatherhood and the big, lawyer-ish-looking account that’s looming, and Bateman rediscovers the downsides of bachelor life. A plot recap is unnecessary because it’s just something on which a string of gags involving baby excretions, pregnant women, masturbation, baby nudity, dancing vegetables, and silly walks to make you grow at least six pairs of hands.

Director David Dobkin (The Wedding Crashers) tries to get a laugh from nearly everything and, for the audience I saw it with, it worked. To the extent that their reaction to film became more interesting than the film itself. At first I was fascinated by the comic beats they ate up and the extent to which they were involved.

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If The New York Times were to break the story that the NEA has been generously funding an ongoing study of manhood and brotherhood among everyday schmoes in contemporary culture, that sure would explain a lot. Surely few phenomena have been as comprehensively documented of late as the dilemma of nondescript modern men (usually lifelong buddies) forced by extreme circumstances beyond their control (roofies, bad bosses) into the type of reckless behavior (murder, breaking-and-entering, walking into a bar in the bad part of town) they would never normally contemplate.

Almost always the upshot involves:

• •  illegal drug usage (usually unintentional)
• •  first-ever encounters with law enforcement (cue bickering recrimination scene in the back seat of a squad car)
• •  uneasy encounters with The Other (usually hip, powerful, sometimes grotesque black men against whom the protagonists’ manhoods are implicitly contrasted and found vastly wanting. In the case of Hangover The Other is represented by both Mike Tyson and Ken Jeong as an Asian Mafioso. Here, it’s a very funny Jamie Foxx.)
• •  flashes of homosexual anxiety
• •  all countered by elaborate vulgarity, gross-out humor and scatological references, as well as
• •  forced interaction with that other Other: frighteningly gorgeous and overtly sexual women who positively demand to be serviced.

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Todd Phillips may have control of the box office this June with Hangover Part 2, but this July definitely has Seth Gordon’s Horrible Bosses written all over it.

With a ginormous cast including Jason Bateman, Charlie Day, Jason Sudeikis, Jennifer Aniston, Colin Farrell, Kevin Spacey, and Jamie Foxx, you can expect lots of great things from this upcoming raunchy comedy. Here’s the synopsis:

For Nick, Kurt and Dale, the only thing that would make the daily grind more tolerable would be to grind their intolerable bosses into dust. Quitting is not an option, so, with the benefit of a few-too-many drinks and some dubious advice from a hustling ex-con, the three friends devise a convoluted and seemingly foolproof plan to rid themselves of their respective employers…permanently. There’s only one problem: even the best laid plans are only as foolproof as the brains behind them.

Like Office Space meets The Perfect Crime, you can expect some great moments with this outrageous cast. Check out the full trailer after the jump, and catch Horrible Bosses in theaters on July 8th.

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We haven’t seen any of these body-switch comedies in the last couple years but I guess it was inevitable they would return. And, they have with Universal’s newest entry into the genre The Change-Up.

Late yesterday the company released a brand new Red Band trailer for the raunchy body-switching comedy where Ryan Reynolds and Jason Bateman switch identities and have to deal with the ramifications. Written by Jon Lucas and Scott Moore, the team that brought us The Hangover, and directed by Wedding Crashers helmer David Dobkin, this new film takes the somewhat tired formula and seems to give it a bit of new life.

Yes, the trailer actually has a few funny bits — although that’s not always a good indicator of anything. Still, these two actors are very appealing and it could be good.

Take a look at the trailer after the jump. By clicking through you certify you are old enough to know better blah, blah, blah. The Change-Up hits theaters on August 5th.

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I’m a shameful(less?) Anglophile, which in turn makes me an unabashed(ful) Francophobe, and some of the tenderest English patches of my otherwise iron heart are reserved for Simon Pegg, Nick Frost, and, of course, Edgar Wright, the three gents who, through their collaborations in such fine works as the sitcom Spaced, and the films, Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz, demonstrated a mutual respect, appreciation, love for American pop-culture—something I’ve seen very seldomly outside of America.

In fact, it’s so rare, I don’t think there’s actually a term for it (Americaphile? Colonialphile? Washingtonian-a-philia?). So when there’s a project featuring at least two of three, I take notice.

And now we have Paul wherein another favorite, Seth Rogen, voices the titular Paul, an alien who came crashing to earth some 60 years ago and was immediately kidnapped by the US and taken to mysterious Area 51, never to be heard from again…

…until 60 years later, specifically while two British, alien-obsessed Americaphiles Graeme (Pegg) and Clive (Frost) are making a tour across the US on their way to Comic-Con, simultaneously hitting every E.T.-related point of interest along the way.

Naturally that leads them through the (evidently) lone highway toward Area 51, with the only other car on the road being piloted by the freshly escaped Paul. Crashes ensue, and the boys meet Paul, who explains he’s fleeing from government agents and asks, his ride being totaled, to tag along.

He does, of course, and farther along the way they attracted the attention/pick up a collection of equally strange and terrible characters, including flighty Bible-thumper Ruth (Kristen Wiig), her truck-driving, shotgun-wielding father (John Carroll Lynch), and a handful of spooky government agents (Jason Bateman, Bill Hader among them), the collection of which all builds up for the big cameo at the end.

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A few months ago, we first brought you the trailer for Simon Pegg and Nick Frost’s newest comedy, this time taking place in the US, titled Paul. Fanboys (especially those who attended Comic-Con this year) had heard nothing but great things about this upcoming film, and when the first trailer hit, we got anything but tickled with humor. The trailer showed us all of our favorite actors and actresses that could make a good flick, but was cut in a way that was lacking in any comedic payoff whatsoever. It looks like things have changed with a brand new trailer, however.

This new International trailer finally gives us the goods. For those who don’t know, the film follows Pegg and Frost’s characters across country to their first ever San Diego Comic-Con. On the way, they decide to pass through the famed Area 51 and come across Paul, an escaped alien, voiced by Seth Rogen. After choosing to befriend the little guy, they are forced to keep him safe from a shadowy government figure (Sigourney Weaver) who sends her best men after him (Bill Hader & Jason Bateman).

The flick has plenty more cameos, nods to other geeky franchises, and yes, alien nudity. Check out the full trailer after the jump and catch Paul in theaters on March 18th.

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Nerds everywhere have been hearing more and more about the next big Simon Pegg & Nick Frost (stars of Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz) film called Paul. All we really knew was that it starred our favorite English duo plus Bill Hader, Jason Bateman, Sigourney Weaver, Kristin Wiig, and Seth Rogen. That is until a little show called San Diego Comic-Con happened, and now all we want is more from the film.

The premise of the film has Pegg and Frost as two Brits traveling across the country on their way to Comic-Con. Along the way they come across a rogue alien escaping from Area 51. Rogen lends his voice as the titular Paul, the alien, with Bateman and Hader as the Men in Black-style FBI agents who are sent to retrieve him.

From what we hear, the footage they showed during the Comic-Con panel did the film more justice, but this will appeal to the mass audience. Expect to see plenty of fan service throughout the film, as just about everyone involved in it has some bit of geek cred to their name.

Check out the first trailer for the film after the jump. Catch Pegg and Frost in Paul on March 18th of next year.

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Come on, we all know the drill with romantic comedies.  Two star-crossed lovers are completely oblivious to the fact that they are perfect for one another, then one or both has an epiphany in the last 15 minutes of the film, usually resulting in a sprint to an airport/train station/cab or other mode of transport to confess their true feelings.  Cue happy ending.

There’s just not that much to it, and the genre has been done to death.  The only thing separating romantic-comedies from one another is the story that articulates how the couple eventually ends up together. Sometimes that journey is dull and joyless, but The Switch was actually a sweet movie that made me want to share the journey with the characters. It was a notch above most romantic comedies, particularly this year’s offerings.

Jennifer Aniston plays Kassie, a New York professional who has suddenly realized that she has a biological clock that is not so much ticking as it is screaming at her to have a baby, stat. Her best friend Wally (who names their kid Wally, for chrissakes?), played by Jason Bateman, warily listens to Kassie effuse about how wonderful it will be to be a single parent, and tries to snap her back to reality.

God forbid someone tell Kassie something she doesn’t want to hear. Kassie dismisses his concern as lack of support, and promptly tells him that she is putting their friendship in a time out (get it, she is already thinking in Mommy terms!)

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Here at The Flickcast, we probably haven’t mourned the loss of any show more than Arrested Development, the quirky comedy that stole our hearts (but not the ratings) and was canceled after three short seasons. Adding further to this deep emotional blow is the fact that the film adaptation of the series has been so on-again off-again that most fans of the show have been pretty much convinced that it’s just not happening.

However, according to Arrested Development cast member Will Arnett and show created Mitch Hurwitz, the film is still definitely on. In a recent interview with GQ, Arnett and Hurwitz confirmed that the movie was still a go, and that the script was still being worked on.

“We’re changing some of the Bush references to Obama because we started it awhile ago,” said Hurwitz. “And the Bluths may not be vacationing in the Gulf of Mexico anymore. We also might have to recast the part of Uncle Mel, the former action movie star. But other than that we have a clear path.”

Arnett and Hurwitz are collaborating on another television show called “Running Wild”, but once that’s up and running,  Arrested Development will be their top priority.

“Believe it or not,” Hurwitz says, “I do not enjoy teasing our wonderful and devoted audience, which is one reason it appears that I’ve been so cagey about this. It’s just that I don’t want to promise what I can’t deliver.”

It’s great to finally get some details on this movie after so long, as well as a confirmation that it’s still happening. Good things come to those who wait, and in this case, an Arrested Development movie would be a great thing indeed.

Ryan Reynolds and Jason Bateman are both very handsome men. Both are very funny men, too.  If you put them together, would the result be a comedy that melts the screen in sheer charisma? We’ll find out, because according to Variety, Bateman and Reynolds are set to star in Universal’s Change-Up.

Directed by David Dobkin and penned by Jon Lucas and Scott Moore, the two nuts behind The Hangover, the film centers on a comedic trope as old as the hills — body swapping. The plot centers on a responsible family man (Bateman, of course) who switches bodies with his best friend.  Naturally, his best friend is the polar opposite of his buttoned-up self, and is lazy, childless, and immature.  There will be lessons learned, and hilarious misunderstandings.

I worry it could be another Role Models (another film that had a pretty good comedy pair at its core, but just didn’t gel), but I’m hoping that The Hangover duo can make this work. I didn’t think that the film was the second coming of comedy, but there’s no doubt that it was nicely balanced between three very funny guys.  Besides, Bateman and Reynolds can sell even the thinnest role and they’ve been the highlight of just about everything they have played in.

The film is set to begin shooting in September.  Sounds like just the thing for the Green Lantern to have some downtime in, and is far enough away that we’ll have forgotten Bateman swapped something else for Jennifer Aniston in Disney’s The Switch.