Judd Apatow Developing New Apatow Movie

Posted by Dr. Cole Abaius (cole.abaius@filmschoolrejects.com) on April 23, 2008

It’s a dark day for me. A tragic, listless day that makes me want to watch Bloodrayne to remind myself that life isn’t that bad. But it is, because today’s the first day in my life that I’ve read about a new Judd Apatow movie and groaned instead of jumping for joy.

Maybe it’s because the market seems saturated with Apatow. Every month he’s either releasing a film he directed, produced, or announcing a new project. Or maybe I just fear his being prolific will make his movie career go the way of his television career.

Variety has the scoop on the latest incarnation of the Apatow recipe – a movie called Get Him to the Greek he’s producing with Forgetting Sarah Marshall writer/director Nick Stoller that features Jonah Hill and Russell Brand. The two play an odd-couple, buddy comedy pair; Hill is an insurance claims adjuster accompanying Brand’s wild rock star to a gig at the Greek Theater in L.A.

Our esteemed editor who won’t let me anywhere near the news desk usually wants positivity when it comes to movies, but I just can’t get happy about this one even with the Apatow name on it.

I fear that at some point, Apatow will go the way of Will Ferrell after the eighth straight announcement that he’s teaming up with Stoller, Segel, Johan Hill, Michael Cera and Universal Pictures to make a comedy about wacky antics taking place in a pedestrian or totally ridiculous set of circumstances.

Or perhaps it’s just necessary for Apatow to get back in the director’s seat to steer things the right way. Forgetting Sarah Marshall was decently funny, but tanked at the box office. Perhaps if Apatow straps on the headset and yells, “Action!”, he’ll make it commercially viable again for people to wet themselves in a public movie theater from laughing too much like he did (as Producer) with Superbad.

I hate to be cynical or sarcastic, but I’m a little surprised by my own reaction. I never thought there would come a day when I’d see “Apatow” in a news brief and roll my eyes and shrug my shoulders. Plus, the premise for this movie seems double plus bad, the title is unmarketable, and the movie demands Russell Brand to carry a lot of weight that I don’t think he can handle.

I swear I’ll be more optimistic in the next post even if I’m writing about Uwe Boll. What do you think? Am I wrong on this one? Does this movie excite anyone?

Read more articles by Dr. Cole Abaius