Entertainment In Brief
Longing to hear the words “I Love You”? Go to the movies. Plus, Barbie explores the final frontier
By Marni Weisz
Love is in the air
They say love comes in all shapes and sizes, and that’s never been so true. This year, no less than three movies begin with the words I Love You... but the similarities end there. We break them down for easy lovin’.
I Love You, Beth Cooper
(July 10)
The Love: Teen Sex
Story: Denis Cooverman (Paul Rust) is a quintessential nerd who, while giving the valedictory speech at his high school graduation, decides to declare his love for head cheerleader Beth Cooper (Hayden Panettiere), who has little knowledge of his existence. Much to his surprise, Beth shows up on his doorstep that night to deflower him.
What You Need to Know: It’s based on a novel by Larry Doyle, formerly a writer for The Simpsons and Beavis and Butt-Head, and a regular contributor to The New Yorker.
I Love You Phillip Morris
(TBD 2009)
The Love: Imprisoned Gay
Story: Jim Carrey is Steven Russell, a married Texas cop who comes out of the closet only to discover his new Miami lifestyle sure is expensive. So he becomes a conman...and gets caught. In jail, he falls for inmate Phillip Morris (Ewan McGregor) — a love so epic he’ll do anything to keep it alive.
What You Need to Know: Reviews at Sundance were good, but as of press time the movie was still waiting for a distributor, theory being no one’s sure how to market it. IMDB.com lists a dubious April 16 opening in the Czech Republic. Stay tuned.
I Love You, Man
(March 30)
The Love: Bromance
Story: Paul Rudd plays Peter Klaven, a sweet guy who realizes all his friends are women and he doesn’t have a single male friend to be best man at his wedding. So, he goes on a bunch of awkward man-dates looking for a new bud and bonds with Sydney Fife (Jason Segel), a crass guy’s guy who teaches Peter to loosen up via fart jokes, rock ’n’ roll and philosophies about dog poop.
What You Need to Know: Like Knocked Up, this one has a regular trailer and a restricted trailer. If you can, watch the restricted trailer.
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Artifact
This month’s objet de film
Star Trek Barbies
It was inevitable that the new Star Trek movie would spawn dolls — but Barbie dolls?
The contentious union of geek icons and little-girl fantasy has
Trekkies coming down on both sides of the argument. Some fear the dolls
foreshadow a dumbing-down of the series, and hope director J.J. Abrams’
film doesn’t follow suit. On the other side, Ain’t It Cool News founder
Harry Knowles suggests that inviting little girls to the party could
mean “in like 15 years all future geeks will have excellent geek
brides.”
Made in the likenesses of the new film’s stars — Chris Pine as Kirk,
Zachary Quinto as Spock and Zoe Saldana as Uhura — the dolls are meant
for children, but have a rather adult price tag of about $50 each. The
dolls are expected to land in stores sometime next month; Star Trek
hits theatres May 8th.
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