• Jeffrey Wells posts a reader review of James L. Brooks’s “How Do You Know” that claims Paul Rudd is a sure-fire Best Supporting Actor nominee, but I’d expect a lead campaign for him and buzz for Jack Nicholson in support. [Hollywood Elsewhere]
• Steve Rose on the secret of the Winkelvi from David Fincher’s “The Social Network.” [The Guardian]
• Roger Ebert still high on “Secretariat,” sits down with the source material’s author, Bill Nack. [Chicago Sun-Times]
It’s difficult to discount someone from the Oscar race when he has a 60% track record with the Academy. Then again, James L. Brooks has only directed five films to date and his last, 2004’s “Spanglish” (which, full disclosure, I’ve always quite liked) went nowhere. His sixth is set to hit theaters this fall from Columbia Pictures and may be a return to awards season form or not, but a new trailer from Yahoo! Movies reveals it as frothy and harmless with a fun performance from Paul Rudd, if nothing else. Click on the image below to have a look or watch the embed on the jump.
I guess I should listen to the murmurs. Nicolas Cage’s sci-fi extravaganza “Knowing” took the top spot at the box office this weekend with $24.8 million. In terms of Cage’s career, it’s no “National Treasure” and can’t compete with the holy trifecta of Cage action — “The Rock,” “Face/Off” and “Con Air” — but it does help wipe away some of the bad taste left in the mouth by “Bangkok Dangerous” and “Next.”
Long story short, this guy’s career is the very definition of inconsistent. The result is doubly impressive given that Disney could only manage a similar result for their much more heavily marketed sci-fi adventure last week. I can’t imagine reviews, word of mouth or legs will be great so the big debut is a massive boost for Summit Entertainment, a company still finding its feet and identity.
Second place goes to the Apatow-less “I Love You, Man.” $18 million is pretty much the exact same amount as “Forgetting Sarah Marshall” and “Role Models” debuted with and since reviews are in the same ballpark, this should do comparable overall business as well. Incidentally, I saw the film last night and found it to be pretty worthless aside from a charming performance by Paul Rudd and one inspired joke involving iTunes. If you want to see an amazing and hilarious “bromantic” comedy, wait for “Humpday” in July.
Our third and final opener is the Clive Owen/Julia Roberts caper “Duplicity.” Adult-targeted films never stand a chance against shit that blows up, so $14.4 million is a respectable enough place to start. Star power ain’t what it used to be but the pedigree of the talent in front of and behind the camera should ensure that this one sticks around for a couple of weeks. In the comedic heist sub-genre, “Out of Sight” debuted with $18.5 million in the summer of 1998 and “Bandits” did $16.6 million in 2001. Both finished around $55 million.