Return of the Muppets: Why you should be excited
It might not be the most outrageously exciting franchise comeback ever, and considering it's only been three years since their last outing (the Muppets' Wizard of Oz made-for-TV dud), I probably shouldn't even call it a comeback. For some reason, though, it feels like a comeback. Last time these furry little creatures rocked my reel world was In Space, back in 1999, when I was, like, 5? (Actually, according to my TI-89+, I was 11 in 1999.)
What is surprising about this upcoming Muppets flick - besides the very fact that there's going to be a new Muppets flick - is that Jason Segel and Nick Stoller will be writing the script, with the latter attached to direct.
Haven't heard of them? Most people haven't. Segel got his break in current comedy god Judd Apatow's Freaks and Geeks television show, and he wrote and starred in the upcoming Forgetting Sarah Marshall (out April 18), produced by Apatow and directed by Stoller. Having seen Marshall, I'll take this moment to assure all Apatow fans that it's everything we expect a project with his name attached to be. Segel plays an L.A.-based schmuck whose uber-hot celebrity girlfriend trades him in for an upgrade in the form of a heartthrob Brit rock star. Then he ends up at the exact same Hawaiian vacation resort as they do three weeks later, with predictable hilarity ensuing. In all, it's a good 10 images of penis and breast away from "family fare."
"Family fare," however, is exactly what a Muppets movie is. Disney execs just must have been so moved by the inclusion of puppetry scene in Marshall - Segel's character stages a musical production of Dracula with Muppet-like characters (yeah, don't ask) - that they said to themselves, "Hey, why not let the guy who exposes his penis five times [in Marshall] write our next Muppets movie?"
Et voila, "Muppets F---g in Hawaii" is born. (Sorry, that was a bad joke. In my defense, I never said this was a "humor" column.) And I digress: While I might have laughed (and scoffed) at Variety's reporting of the "Segel-Stoller do Muppets" team, the puppet scene in Marshall was, surprisingly, spot-on. Nay, just not spot-on, but Bravo-style "Fah-bulous!" Segel's got an ear for catchy lyrics, and he does a brilliant kid-friendly Dracula impression. "But," you say, "He's no Jim Henson!" Congratulations. Give yourself a gold star for observation, and go back to Uruguay.
In other news: Grindhouse. Remember that overblown pile of pat-on-the-backing by Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez? If you do, that's probably either because (A) you hated it or (B) you remember those awesome fake trailers. Director Rodriguez (the Planet Terror half, and the much better Sin City) does too, and is pushing for a feature-length version of my favorite of the bunch, Machete. Danny Trejo (the star of the day laborer-turned-madman concept) was the definition of MexiCAN: CAN rip holes in flesh with his snarling howl, CAN chop off 50 limbs with a single hurl of his machete, CAN make little boys pee their pants without even trying.
'Nuff said.
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