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Paul Feig

Film

Watch the Trailer for Sandra Bullock and Melissa McCarthy’s Buddy Cop Movie

By Caroline Stanley on

Sandra Bullock and Melissa McCarthy have to be two of the most well-liked actresses in Hollywood, so we can only imagine how overjoyed studio execs were to have them team up in The Heat, Paul Feig’s highly-anticipated followup to Bridesmaids. Instant box office success! But here’s the thing: casting two female leads in a buddy cop comedy isn’t enough to make the material feel fresh. Sure, there’s something kind of amusing about watching McCarthy threaten people with physical harm, but we were hoping for a movie with a little more edge. Instead, this looks more like Miss Congeniality 3, complete with a wacky dance number and a joke about Spanx. We can only hope that they’re saving all of the good stuff for the red band version. Click through to see for yourself, and let us know what you think in the comments. … Read More

Television

Paul Feig Is Plotting a ‘Freaks & Geeks’-Inspired Return TV

By Caroline Stanley on

Given the overwhelming success of Bridesmaids (complete with rumblings of a sequel), we were wondering if the film’s director, Paul Feig — the creator of a short-lived little show that you might have heard of called Freaks and Geeks — would forsake the world of TV for good. While he has spent the last few… Read More

Pop Culture

What We Learned at Kristen Wiig and Paul Feig’s TimesTalk Panel

By Caroline Stanley on

Last night, thanks to our friends at UGG Australia, we had the opportunity to attend a TimesTalks panel with Bridesmaids collaborators Kristen Wiig and Paul Feig, which was moderated by Melena Ryzik of The Carpetbagger as part of the 11th annual New York Times Arts and Leisure Weekend. From the beginning, we knew this wasn’t going to be your typical Q&A session; everyone on stage was holding a glass of red wine as opposed to a water bottle, and within minutes Feig had introduced a drinking game that involved taking a sip anytime someone said the word “asshole” — which happened more frequently than you might assume. But the night wasn’t all about debauchery. Click through for a few of the evening’s highlights, and if you’re interested in watching the talk in its entirety, check out a video of the interview here. … Read More

Film

WTF: Universal May Make ‘Bridesmaids’ Sequel Without Kristen Wiig

By Judy Berman on

We assumed it would be impossible to take all the joy out of Bridesmaids, but the latest news on last year’s all-girl ensemble comedy blockbuster has us worried about just that. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Universal is planning to make a sequel — without Kristen Wiig. It seems the film’s co-writer and… Read More

Web

What’s On at Flavorpill: The Links That Made the Rounds in Our Office

By Caroline Stanley on

Today at Flavorpill, we decided that Jennifer Lawrence makes a more convincing Katniss than we orignally thought she would. We argued over who is the best book villain of all time. We read about what Aaron Sorkin reads. We discovered one creative way to claim a parking… Read More

Film

Open Thread: Let’s Talk About the Ending of ‘Bridesmaids’

By Jason Bailey on

Last weekend, we (and many of you, it seems) plunked down our hard-earned cash to see Bridesmaids — partially out of sheer mad love for Kristen Wiig, partially to do our bit to, as Salon put it, “send a bracing message to a business that has become increasingly oppressive for the women who work within it as well as for those who consume its product.” (In other words: if you’re tired of the sum total of female-driven comedies being soppy Katherine Hiegl vehicles, cast your vote for Bridesmaids in the form of a contribution to its opening weekend box office.)

Point is, we saw it. And it’s funny! It’s not a perfect movie — the pace is a little draggy in spots, and this viewer frankly wouldn’t have minded a little more of the collective bridesmaids (the film’s best comic set pieces are those big group scenes, and a couple more of those wouldn’t have hurt — as it is, we don’t get near enough of Ellie Kemper or Wendi McLendon-Covey). But that’s not why we’re here. We’re here to talk about the ending, and if it disappointed you the way it did me. And just to be safe and spoiler-free, we’re not going to talk about it until after the jump. … Read More

News

The Morning’s Top 5 Pop Culture Stories

By Caroline Stanley on

1. SNL‘s Kristen Wiig is set to star in a movie that she co-wrote about women competing to plan a wedding party; it will be directed by Judd Apatow and produced by Paul Feig — their first time working together since Freaks and Geeks. [via Defamer]
2. Sarah and Bristol Palin are angry… Read More

Web

Quit Trying to Make Meh Happen, Internet

By Caroline Stanley on

Paul Feig is one of our favorite funny filmmakers; he wrote a bunch of episodes of Freaks and Geeks, and along with the final episode of that series directed a handful episodes for shows like Arrested Development, Weeds, and The Office. He also has a fantastic memoir called Kick Me: Adventures in Adolescence that makes it obvious that Freaks and Geeks is 100 percent not made up and that he is totally Bill Haverchuck. But all of this is just our really long winded way of introducing you to his Twitter feed, which is one of our favorite daily reads. … Read More