We can’t say much for mumblecore so far. It sure earned itself a lot of press last year and got film bloggers with an indie agenda all up in a tizzy, but it’s either ok and charming or terrible. Nothing so far has been flat out great (then again, to be honest we haven’t seen it all because some of it heavily turned us off). That said, Hollywood is banking on them improving and is giving them the keys to better actors and bigger budgets.
The Duplass Brothers, the writer/directors behind “The Puffy Chair” and “Baghead” (one that we almost consciously skipped this year), have gone bigtime-ish and will pen and helm, the intergenerational comedy “Safety Men” for Fox Searchlight (ok, so it’s not that bigtime per se) according to the Hollywood Reporter. In talks to star are Marisa Tomei, John C. Reilly and Jonah Hill which is certainly a step up from the normally, fairly amateurish-pool of actors they’ve worked with in the past.
Being that Searchlight is so indie friendly, it’s no surprise they’re one the first major studio to give these guys a shot (Sony Pictures Classics put out “Baghead”). Someone will probably tell us we should inform ourselves a bit more about mumblecore films and to that we respond with: but we’re just so loathe to spend our time with their work and we’d probably rather watch anything else.
