There is a Richard Curtis-shaped hole in British comedy. After "Love, Actually" – and to a lesser extent, 'Bridget Jones 2,' and the best-forgotten "The Boat That Rocked" – the genre has been somewhat adrift, and as we wait to see if "About Time" will return him to his former glory, there are some other efforts on the way that will potentially fill the void.
Case in point: "I Give it A Year" suggests a hitherto unsuspected Britcom 2.0 may be on the horizon. Director Dan Mazer, a writing partner of Sacha Baron Cohen who has remained impressively anonymous despite the street cred and Oscar nomination earned for co-writing "Borat," has aggregated an ensemble of under- or around-the-radar British comics, alongside Rose Byrne (the least annoying one from "Bridesmaids") and Anna Faris (the most annoying one from "Lost in Translation").
And a couple more new clips give another taste of what we can expect. Stephen Merchant looks to be recovering nicely after the “Citizen Kane of awful,” "Movie 43" (Richard Roeper’s words, not mine), which holds a magnificent 4% on Rotten Tomatoes. Meanwhile, Simon Baker's attemps to woo Byrne with some doves starts off saccharine and ends up disastrous.
Due for release in the U.K. on February 8th, it appears that the British are, sort of, coming — the movie is still without a U.S. date.
