On the Zooey Deschanel-led New Girl, titular character Jess Day is an aloof, offbeat, and (let’s face it) awkward twenty-something, forced to move in with three random guys after a tough breakup. She wears thick-framed glasses, watches Dirty Dancing on a loop, and even weaves Lord of the Rings quotes into regular conversation at the blink of an eye. On paper, well, she’s not that far from myself- another Woody Allen-loving, Star Wars-quoting, sometimes bespectacled gal. So why is it that week after week, I find myself increasingly annoyed with her overly twee behavior?

We have had precious few comedies of quality made about high school students over the past ten years. Teen comedies used to be a staple of the multiplexes, the places where studios grub money from teens and tweens who have borrowed a twenty-spot from their moms, but they have been all but decimated in recent times by the merciless reign of the generic horror flick. Election came out in 1999, so what good ones did that leave us in the aughts? Only Mean Girls by my estimation. You did like Mean Girls right? Combining a great script from a pre-30 Rock Tina Fey and perhaps the most buxom cast of young actresses ever assembled made it one of my favorite comedies of the decade. One time I watched it with a room full of hung-over college friends mostly in slow motion. It took us about five hours, but it was worth it. Well, Paramount has decided to rob us of our treasured memories by creating a low budget, direct to basic cable/DVD sequel, and unleashing it upon the unsuspecting masses.  Mean Girls 2 debuted Sunday night, January 23rd on ABC Family, and until about 3 PM the next day the term “REGINA GEORGE” was trending on Twitter. Regina George is a character from the first film, played by Rachel McAdams, and one click on the trending topic revealed a steady stream of Twitter users who loved the first film bemoaning a sequel that doesn’t include the character. I can’t imagine [Due to Content Scraping and Theft, we have been forced to try abbreviated feeds. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause and woud very much appreciate you clicking through to view the full article on FilmSchoolRejects.com]

Tina Fey has had some shitty luck with movies. Her writing/acting turn in Mean Girls aside, she has been in some thoroughly average movies that almost refused to utilize her unique style as a comedian. That may or may not be the case with the next film the 30 Rock star is in talks for. Admission is an adaptation of the novel of the same name which focuses on a Princeton admissions officer who tells of all the quirky, funny idiosyncrasies of the gatekeepers making sure you don’t get in. This money quote from the less than stellar review of the book from the Wall Street Journal: “‘Admission’ is a worthy attempt to capture the absurdities of the admissions process in fictional form, but it includes too many wooden monologues explaining in detail how that process works. It is also an improbable love story that relies on coincidences of daytime-soap proportions to push its storyline forward.” Can’t Tina Fey just write something for herself?

When Jack insists that Liz see a therapist to deal with her relationship issues, she instead finds a willing ear in Kenneth, who despite his good intentions, develops his own neuroses from being unable to handle Liz’s emotional baggage. Kenneth in turn dumps his re-surfaced issues on Jack, who finds that his mental vice is unable to handle the burden after his daddy issues manifest in full force.  This doesn’t bode well for Tracy, who’s taking fatherly advice from Jack on how to financially cut off his son, who is dumping huge amounts of Tracy’s money into a failing themed restaurant called Staples. Meanwhile, Jenna has to re-evaluate her relationship with Paul (Will Forte) when the question he pops on their 6-month anniversary is not the kind where he asks her to make a sex tape they can leak online, but the kind where he wants her to meet his parents.

A few months ago I mentioned that, to me, all computer-animated films are measured against the insanely high standard that Pixar Animation Studios has set for the entire medium.  You’d think another studio making something at least close to comparable would be a good thing, but I submit otherwise. Enter Dreamworks, and their latest animated offering, Megamind. Megamind is the story of, well — Megamind (Will Ferrel), a perpetually plotting evil, alien genius who arrived on earth as an infant and is raised in the way of being a baddie. His foil is the ever perfect, always ahead of the game nemesis, Metro Man (Brad Pitt) – the hero of Metro City.

This week, Fat Guy Kevin Carr hits the road with Robert Downey Jr. and Zach Galifianakis to see if the new Todd Phillips comedy will be as funny as The Hangover. He also faces off with Will Ferrell and Brad Pitt in a very mega way. It’s the first official weekend of the holiday movie season, so Kevin will hand out the mid-term grades and let you know if these films are worth checking out.

If you’re a fan of NBC’s Thursday night line-up, chances are you’ve had a date night with Steve Carell and Tina Fey. If you want to make a new date night official, you can check out their latest comedy Date Night, available now on DVD and Blu-ray. So join the comedy duo in New York City and get some drinks at the new trendy night spot, Claw.

The Streep/Tucci love affair rolls on… Per THR, Meryl Streep will be starring in the new film, Mommy & Me, for director Stanley Tucci. Streep will play the mommy, and Tina Fey will obviously play me. The story specifics haven’t been revealed yet aside from a general and generic description that it explores “the thorny and funny sides of mother-daughter relationships.” Hard to get excited based off that alone, but the pairing of Streep and Fey is actually pretty exciting. Streep has recently found a career resurgence (of sorts) in more comedic roles like Mamma Mia!, It’s Complicated, and Julie & Julia, and Fey is simply one of the funniest people working in TV and film right now. This is Tucci’s fifth feature behind the camera, but odds are it will be seen by more people than his other four combined. It’ll also be his third film with Streep. He played one of her underlings in The Devil Wears Prada and was most recently seen as her husband (and one of the film’s highlights) in Julie & Julia. There’s no word yet if Tucci with actually appear in Mommy & Me or just direct, but I can easily envision him in a small role as a perverted neighbor who kidnaps and kills Streep’s daughter. Or not.

After spilling into Hall H, the first panel of Comic-Con 2010 saw director Todd McGrath presenting a short featurette for Megamind that completely spoiled the opening of the movie. It was spoiled, but it’s an interesting concept, one that takes a bit of courage to go all the way with, and it finally made the film stand out amongst the rabel of other 3D, animated family films. The rest of the panel was an improv practice class with Will Ferrell, Tina Fey and Jonah Hill passing the comedy baton around, trying to pour as much dry wit on every answer they gave. Of course, this was juxtaposed by Ferrell wearing a home-made Megamind costume that looked more like he was dressing up as Tobias Funke on his way to a Blue Man Group audition.

Jack finally decides whether he wants to be with Nancy (Julianne Moore) or Avery (Elizabeth Banks) while Liz accidentally runs into a man whom she believes is the answer to settling for Wesley (Michael Sheen): a pilot named Carol (Matt Damon).

It’s clear from this first full trailer for Dreamworks’ upcoming animated superhero film Megamind that the similarities to Pixar’s The Incredibles are on purpose. That said, it isn’t exactly a bad thing.

The love triangle between Jack, Avery and Nancy becomes further complicated when an unexpected visit leads to some unexpected results. Meanwhile, on the eve of Floyd’s wedding, Liz re-visits all of her significant ex-boyfriends hoping that maybe she missed something and one of them really was Mr. Right.

When the moms of the TGIS crew all come together for a special Mother’s Day tribute episode, Liz, Jack, Tracy and Jenna must deal with the meddling women.

After the contents of Don Geiss’ will are announced, Jack finds himself the owner of his ex-mentor’s peacock, Argus. Meanwhile, Liz must not only help settle the dispute between Dot Com and Tracy over who will be Grizz’s best man, but she must also uncover what secret Jenna’s new boyfriend, Paul (Will Forte) might be hiding.

Date Night works because it isn’t really trying too hard. That sounds terrible doesn’t it? But in a way that’s the brilliance of the movie. (Yeah, I’ll be hearing about that choice of words.) Why struggle to emulate the genius misadventures of After Hours when you can aim for the decidedly lighter but still entertaining Adventures In Babysitting?

This week, Fat Guy Kevin Carr woos the FSR audience on a Date Night before giving a grade to the high school rockers in The Runaways

We are in for a fairly light weekend as far as new movies are concerned, but the actual box office race promises to be no less interesting, because Clash of the Titans faces a stiff challenge from Date Night.

Dreamworks Animation has released the first teaser trailer for their upcoming film Megamind, which will release on November 5, 2010. The film — like so many Dreamworks releases — sports a pretty big name voice cast. Will Ferrell will voice the title character, an evil mastermind bent on world destruction.

When Frank moves in with Liz after a fire at his place, they each vow to help the other kick their bad habits: eating unhealthily for Liz and smoking for Frank. Jenna turns to Jack for help when her unfit mother, Verna (Jan Hooks) shows up, but Jack is skeptical when it appears she’s turned over a new leaf.

When Liz suggests taking TGS on the road to counter bouts of winter madness, Jack approves as long they take the show to Boston where he can be close to Nancy (Julianne Moore).