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Wanderlust's Ken Marino and David Wain Dish on Jennifer Aniston and Their Film's Full-Frontal Nudity

Lindsay Miller — Fri, 24 Feb 2012 02:00:00 PST

Writers Ken Marino and David Wain may have come up with the story for Wanderlust, but when we chatted with the pair at a recent press day for the movie, they told us Paul Rudd and Jennifer Aniston were "everything" when it came to bringing the film to life. We asked the screenwriters to talk about the commune-like living situation they shared with the cast during the shoot, and they also weighed in on the movie's frequent male nudity. Watch the interview and catch Wanderlust in theaters starting today!

Link Time! 3/10

BuzzSugar — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 13:30:19 PDT

I'm sorry, maybe it makes me uncool, but I've now watched "The Woz"'s Dancing With the Stars dance at least five times. It just makes me so happy! - geeksugar
Beyonce talks world tours, new videos, etc. - Popwatch
What embarrassing things have you done because of television? - The TV Addict
One blogger's parents share what they thought of Watchmen. - Cinematical
The Office: Now the most romantic show on TV? - Monkey See
Director David Wain is looking to fashion a Role Models spinoff or sequel. - MTV Movies Blog
Check out Thom Yorke: marching band director. - Vulture
The L Word: worst series finale ever? - TV Filter

Role Models: Setting a Good Example For Comedic Movies

BuzzSugar — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 06:30:35 PST

For the second time in recent history, I left an R-rated comedy feeling really happy. First Kevin Smith's crass, dirty film about low-budget porn turns out to be rather sweet, and now Role Models. Though full of crude language and nasty jokes, the movie is really a twisted sort of coming-of-age story - for the adult characters more than the kids - that's ultimately heartwarming.

Danny (Paul Rudd) and Wheeler (Seann William Scott) are two energy drink reps who have been with the company for several years now. Danny has grown frustrated with what he sees as a dead-end career, while Wheeler is something of a frat-boyish slacker who rather enjoys his low-commitment lifestyle. One day, however, Danny's aggravation overwhelms him and he and Wheeler end up getting in trouble with the law. They choose to put in 150 hours of service at a mentoring program rather than go to jail, and they meet their charges: Augie (Christopher Mintz-Plasse) and Ronnie (Bobb'e J. Thompson). For more of the story and my thoughts on it all,

Paul Rudd and Seann William Scott make a great, well-cast team, but my favorite actor in the whole thing is Jane Lynch, who plays the ex-convict director of the mentoring program. She keeps a watchful (if not slightly twitchy) eye on the two men as they attempt to bond with Augie and Ronnie. These relationships are rocky at first (since the big joke here is that these two schlubs are allowed to be role models at all), but in the end, everyone learns a little something about himself.

I have paid attention to director David Wain's career ever since he was a member of MTV's awesome/bizarre sketch show The State, and though I love Wain's Wet Hot American Summer, I understand that it's something of an acquired taste. When his movie The Ten came out last year, though, I was disappointed. Now it seems Wain has struck a good balance: Taking a simple story (two guys who join a mentoring program and struggle to connect with their charges) and infusing it with his weird, sometimes awkward, sometimes crass sense of humor. This way, we're not overloading on the cheesy, mundane stuff of the ordinary mainstream comedy, but it's also not just one long string of bizarre jokes.

The message (if one is wont to look for such things), too, is particularly accessible to the 20- and 30-somethings of America. Danny experiences a specific kind of ennui, a sense of despair at not knowing what makes life meaningful. This idea that the key to happiness is community and helping others can been found in countless movies, but here it's coming all wrapped up in sarcasm and sex jokes and the cute, droll Paul Rudd. But then, of course, as soon as we realize that there might be a goopy central theme to all this, someone punches someone else in the crotch and we're back to just having a good time. It's both funny and satisfying.

Photos courtesy of Universal Pictures

Movie Preview: Role Models

BuzzSugar — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 15:30:31 PDT

Does the world need another one of these man-child comedies? Old School, Knocked Up, Forgetting Sarah Marshall, Drillbit Taylor, Step Brothers . . . it just keeps happening. There's the guy (or usually more than one guy) who's schlubby and immature and thinks behaving like an adult is akin to destroying one's soul. He "hilariously" messes up over and over again until the sensible killjoy female character frowningly sets him on his way down the Right Path. It's kinda been done. A lot.

Role Models finds Paul Rudd and Seann William Scott playing energy drink reps who mess up so much that they're told by sensible killjoy (played by Elizabeth Banks) that they need to become basically Big Brothers to some kids (one of whom is played by Superbad's Christopher Mintz-Plasse, who is pretty funny in the preview). The movie opens Nov. 14. To see the trailer,

Role Models - Theatrical Trailer | Movies & TV | SPIKE.com

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The Ten: Absurd, But Not Absurdly Funny

BuzzSugar — Mon, 06 Aug 2007 09:30:00 PDT

I think Paul Rudd is cute and funny. I think the concept of making a movie using ten vaguely intersecting comedic skits is potentially great and funny. So why, then, is The Ten just not that funny?

The movie has Paul Rudd playing Jeff, a kind of surreal host on a sparsely furnished "stage," of sorts, introducing each of the film's stories based on the Ten Commandments. Between each segment we get an update on the travails of Jeff's love life (the end of his rocky marriage, followed by his relationship with the bouncy young Liz (Jessica Alba), etc.). The stories themselves are moderately interesting. For the commandment about stealing we do indeed find Winona Ryder playing a young woman who steals a ventriloquist dummy with whom she's fallen in love. The piece featuring Adam Brody (based on the commandment about worshiping false gods) is a pretty funny commentary on the phenomena of American celebrity. Ten stories starts to feel like an awful lot, however, and when the mildly amusing musical finale comes, it arrives in the form of silly relief. For more on my perplexed "eh" reaction to this movie,

Writer/director David Wain and a bunch of his buddies from "The State" (many of whom make up the cast of "Reno: 911" as well as the movie Wet Hot American Summer) came up with this movie and roped in some big-time names (Alba, Brody, Ryder) to join them for the ride. I've always liked and respected "The State" because they did comedy the way they wanted to do comedy: strangely, and full of darkness and absurdity. Their skits were often awkward to watch - sometimes so awkward they weren't funny - but it always struck me that they did things on their own terms, as opposed to, say, "Saturday Night Live" - which can be called a lot of things but "edgy" or "weird-funny" are not among those things.

Yet watching The Ten I started to wonder if "The State" served a purpose during a time in my life that has since passed. In fact, in a recent interview with David Wain, he says he wanted the movie to be exactly the kind of movie he liked to watch as a college kid and alas, I am no college kid.

The Ten seems like one long inside joke that I am not a part of. It's not that I didn't understand the humor, it's that I got why it should be funny and it just wasn't. And like I found with "The State" from time to time, the absurdity often overwhelms everything else so you're stuck there sitting in awkward or stupefied silence rather than laughing out loud hilariously. If this is okay with you, and if you are also a fan of "The State," "Reno" or Wet Hot American Summer, then you'll probably kinda enjoy the movie like I did. Otherwise, don't bother because I shalt not lie: it will probably be an exercise in frustration.

Movie Preview: Diggers

BuzzSugar — Mon, 23 Apr 2007 04:00:35 PDT

We all know about my deep affection for Paul Rudd, "The State," and most things "Six Feet Under"-related. So I am loving the trailer for Diggers, a drama that a) focuses on a character played by Paul Rudd, b) was produced by David Wain and written by Ken Marino, both from "The State," and c) stars "Six Feet Under"'s sassy redhead Lauren Ambrose. Count me in!

The film is only out in limited release this Friday before moving into DVD release the following Tuesday, May 1. IMDB calls it a "coming-of-age story about four working-class friends growing up in Long Island, New York, as clam diggers. Their fathers were clam diggers as well as their grandfathers before them." The trailer, however, is a lot more intriguing than that. You can check it out and tell me what you think if you

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Music Video: Paul Rudd and David Wain Do Karaoke

BuzzSugar — Mon, 16 Apr 2007 17:00:13 PDT

I've been crushing on Paul Rudd ever since Clueless. I mean, he's cute, he's funny, he can act, and - as I learned today - he can also rock some serious karaoke. On Friday night, Of Montreal played a show at Studio B in Brooklyn, and the band took a break for a bit of hipster karaoke. Rudd was there, and he and David Wain (Wet Hot American Summer, "The State") treated the crowd to a rollicking rendition of Boston's "More Than a Feeling."

Idolator graciously posted a video of the performance, which is pretty hilarious and also not half bad. I highly recommend you check it out, so

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The Ten Premieres at Sundance

PopSugar — Mon, 22 Jan 2007 12:44:31 PST

Winona Ryder, Adam Brody and Paul Rudd were just some of the stars who were on hand for the premiere of director David Wain's The Ten. Jessica Alba is also in the film but evidently she didn't make it to the festival. Love that Adam Brody wouldn't put down his burger for the promo pics! But it's all in good fun, just like the film itself, which is composed of ten interrelated short films, each one based on one of the Ten Commandments. Even before it premiered it was getting buzz for its impressive cast and dark but silly humor. For instance, Winona's story involves her being romantically infatuated with a ventriloquist dummy. Sounds a little odd but we're just psyched she'll be back on the big screen soon.

For more pics including Cheryl Hines, David Wain, Famke Janssen, Gretchen Mol and Justin Theroux just

View 15 Photos ›

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Wanderlust: Could Have Used Some More Direction

Shannon Vestal — Fri, 24 Feb 2012 03:05:02 PST

Many of the characters in Wanderlust preach about freedom, whether it's in relation to work, love, or clothing, and the philosophy seems like it was over-applied to the making of this film, because it ends up completely lost. Paul Rudd and Jennifer Aniston play married couple George and Linda, Manhattanites who have just put all their money into buying a home in the city when George loses his job, and thus, their new apartment. On their way to stay with family, they get derailed at Elysium Bed & Breakfast, a property that's more hippie than hospitable. George and Linda like their taste of living on the commune, so they decide to try out the lifestyle and challenge their uptight sensibilities. The setup is rife for humor, but Wanderlust is too thin on story and character development to be the fun romp that it could be.

Wanderlust has so much promise onscreen and off (writer/director David Wain is also behind Wet Hot American Summer and Role Models), but even with an occasionally funny script, Rudd and Aniston's shared charm can't save a movie that would have been better suited for a five-minute sketch. To find out my other problems with the film, just keep reading.

Jennifer Aniston and Justin Theroux Show Love at a Movie Date

Allie Merriam — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 18:27:25 PST

Jennifer Aniston and Justin Theroux held hands yesterday when they walked out of a movie theater in LA. Both Jen and Justin have been laying low on the West Coast for a few weeks, ever since they wrapped up a holiday vacation in Colorado. New Year's Eve usually calls Jennifer - and her bikini - down to Cabo, but she decided to switch things up and vacation in a colder climate to see in 2012. Jen and Justin have even been selective about their socializing, and have been photographed rarely so far this year. They did, though, step out for a screening of HBO's Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory with Orlando Bloom recently. The downtime should be good for Jen and Justin before they start a press tour for their next movie. Wanderlust, which is directed by David Wain and stars Justin and Jen, comes out on Feb 24.