Somewhere along the line R-rated comedies found themselves overrun with dicks. Not real ones, although there’s too goddamn many of those these days too, but instead I’m talking about the lead characters who cause a film’s “comedic” and consequence-free conflict without concern for the welfare of anyone or anything else only to be rewarded for their efforts with audience laughs and a happy ending. Say hello to the pricks at the center of the new film, 21 & Over. Miller (Miles Teller) and Casey (Skylar Astin) arrive on the campus of Northern Pacific University intent on surprising their good friend Jeff Chang (Justin Chon) for his 21st birthday. The plan is to take him out to celebrate, “fuck him with alcohol” and have him back home in time for his demanding father to take him to a med school interview in the morning. Of course the night goes almost immediately awry as Jeff Chang ends up imbibing ludicrous amounts of alcohol, peeing on a few girls, puking (in slow motion) atop a mechanical bull, passing out and being generally abused by friends and strangers alike. His meant-to-be-hilarious state of unconsciousness and inebriation leaves the other two stuck trying to find their way back to his house and encountering all manner of wacky interruptions and obstacles along the way.

There are two kinds of people who go to high school: those who love every second of it, and those who cannot wait to get out. In The Spectacular Now, Sutter Keely (Miles Teller) is a charming screw-up who falls in the first group, but he is also acutely aware that this is the best time of his life. And he is living that life to the fullest, embracing and living in every moment, but unfortunately doing so with a super-size booze-filled slurpee clutched in his grasp at every turn. When he sits down to start writing his college essay (pulling on a PBR as he does), he uses the question about the biggest hardship he has had to overcome to unload about his recent break up. After yet another party and another night getting loaded, Sutter finds himself waking up on the lawn of Aimee (Shailene Woodley), a pretty girl from his school that he has never quite noticed before because she does not have a specific “thing” that defines her from the pack.

It is time to say goodbye. Some of us have already left, some of us have a few more days, but the festival is officially winding down as quickly as the brief snowfall from two days ago is melting on the ground. (I’m getting deep, y’all, get ready.) The end of Sundance is always bittersweet; you are ready to get back home, but at the same time the idea of leaving friends, movies, and popcorn (okay, that’s not true — we are all more than sick of the popcorn) is sad. The final few days of the festival are always a bit different since the pack of people you know has whittled down and the majority of the movies have been watched. I started the day actually getting to sleep in (even I don’t understand how I pulled this off) and these extra few hours somehow helped me stay alert enough to take things in as I went through the day, a task I have never been able to attempt before due to exhaustion and the perpetual “end of the fest” daze. I spent the morning working at the Bloggeratti Condo and relishing the fact that I can crack jokes and fact check with colleagues in person instead of over social media (although Eric Snider and William Goss’s jokes are hilarious both in person and on the Internet).

Generally people in the hip hop world like to be seen as more than just rappers, or DJs, or whatever. In order to make it big in the hip hop world you have to be seen as a triple, quadruple, or fivetuple threat. So seeing as he’s already branched out from making hip hop, to producing hip hop, to having a rock band, to acting in TV’s How to Make It in America, Kid Cudi (aka Scott Mescudi) should be well on his way to being the next big mogul, especially now that he’s taking his acting career further by seeking out film roles. The latest part he’s landed is in debut director Max Nichol’s upcoming romantic comedy Two Night Stand, which tells the story of two people who agree to have a sleazy one night stand finding themselves put in the awkward position of being snowed in and having to spend more time together. No, Cudi isn’t playing the lead—as a matter of fact his role as the boyfriend of the female protagonist’s best friend doesn’t sound like it will probably amount to much screen time at all—but there are a couple x-factors here that point to the fact that Two Night Stand might be the perfect vehicle for Cudi to dip his toe into the film world and show off what he has to offer as a comedic actor.

Let us hope that this announcement ushers in a new wave of talented romantic comedy stars that people actually want to watch fall in love on screen. Variety reports that rising stars Analeigh Tipton (Damsels in Distress, Crazy, Stupid, Love.) and Miles Teller (Rabbit Hole, Footloose, the upcoming The Spectacular Now) will star in Max Nichols‘ feature debut Two Night Stand. The film comes from Mark Hammer‘s 2011 Black List script of the same name, which centers on a pair of non-lovebirds trapped together by a sudden blizzard after an ill-advised one night stand. Back when the film appeared on the Black List, it came with the somewhat extended logline: “After an extremely regrettable one night stand, two strangers wake up to find themselves snowed in after sleeping through a blizzard that put all of Manhattan on ice. They’re now trapped together in a tiny apartment, forced to get to know each other way more than any one night stand should.”

According to a press release, CBS Films has rounded up a fantastic cast for the upcoming movie Get A Job – which taps into the zeitgeist with frightening precision to tell the story of a group of college graduates struggling to find work alongside a father who is, surprise, also trying to find work. Why is it so exciting? For one, Bryan Cranston will be playing that father. For two, it’s being directed by Dylan Kidd – who may not be a household name, but should be after his hip indie flick Roger Dodger which paired a young Jesse Eisenberg with a brilliant Campbell Scott. For three, the rest of the cast features Anna Kendrick, Miles Teller (Rabbit Hole, Project X, How’s that for diversity?), Alison Brie, Brandon T. Jackson, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Nick Braun, and comedian Jay Pharaoh. That’s three great reasons to get excited about this project. Some are even multi-partite. That’s how serious this is. Also, Pharaoh’s character is named Skeezy D, so there is clearly genius at work here. Great to see CBS Films pull something excellent out of the hat here.

This week, Fat Guy Kevin Carr grabs his camcorder and tries to find the biggest all-night party in Pasadena, filled with slutty, dancing high school girls who looks amazingly like they’re in their early twenties. Of course, he never finds that because this sort of 15-year-old wet dream fantasy doesn’t exist. So he sets his sights on finding something far more realistic than any of the events that take place in Project X: the short, hairy peanut with a mustache and Danny DeVito’s voice known as The Lorax.

This week, Fat Guy Kevin Carr gets ready to celebrate Halloween in style with some horror releases… and he’s not just thinking of Footloose. Unhappy with his life, he follows the bucket list path of Steve Martin, Owen Wilson and Jack Black, traveling to the bottom of the world where he finds himself in a small Antarctic town that has outlawed dancing. So Kevin takes it upon himself to help the people get their groove on only to discover they’ve been taken over an alien species that duplicate human form. Later, he takes a trip back to the heartland where he finds a feral woman chained in a cellar… pretty standard for some of the towns he’s been to. Finally, not being able to find a theater that is still playing Human Centipede 2 (Full Sequence), he checks it out On Demand and promptly throws up.

When Craig Brewer was announced to direct the Footloose remake, there were a more than a few heads being scratched. The director behind the fantastic Hustle & Flow as well as the excellent fable Black Snake Moan taking on material which is considered by most to be cheesy was a surface-level surprise. But once you dig deep into the original, there are more than a few themes that tie to Brewer’s work — expressing yourself through art, family issues, sexuality, etc. There are some mature themes in the original. Themes that didn’t quite hit their mark. However, Brewer managed to make those themes fly. The 1984 film had major tonal issues. After witnessing Chris Penn have a five-minute dance montage, you see Ariel (now played by Julianne Hough) get beaten by her boyfriend. Dance montages and girlfriend beatings usually don’t go hand in hand, tonally speaking. This time around, there’s a real care for tone. Footloose is a movie that has its cake and eats it too. Apologies for that dreadful expression, but it’s true. It strives for a seriousness, which is earned. Brewer also aims to make a great crowd-pleaser, and that’s where the film exceeds wonderfully. As someone who despises not only High School kids, but also dancing, I never thought I’d say, “That’s cool,” when the two joined forces.

Rabbit Hole takes on one of the oldest artistic subjects – a family’s struggle to find some way of moving on from a devastating death. Yet, as adapted by David Lindsay-Abaire from his own Pulitzer Prize-winning play, the film avoids the overt sentimentalizing and easy stabs at the tear ducts –what one might deem “grief porn” – that have wrecked so many of its predecessors. Instead, director John Cameron Mitchell has assembled an affecting, well-acted portrait of a couple stuck in stasis, trying to reclaim normalcy where there is none to be had. The Hedwig and the Angry Inch creator demonstrates an eye for the intricacies of a strained relationship, the complex psychological burden of the lingering, pervasive specter of a terrible loss and the eerie quality of a home once occupied by a child, now hauntingly quieted.