A bit over a month after the first trailer for long-lost-sibling drama People Like Us debuted online, a sizzle reel (fancy industry talk for “featurette”) has followed. Basically, it’s a lot of the stuff we’ve seen before (plus some new bits), mixed with footage of first-time director Alex Kurtzman (co-writer of Star Trek and Transformers) and stars Chris Pine and Elizabeth Banks discussing the film. Co-written by Kurtzman, frequent collaborator Roberto Orci and Jody Lambert, the film sees a debt-ridden salesman (Pine) who must split a sizeable inheritance with a sister (Banks) he didn’t know about; as he struggles with the “But it’s so much money!” quandary, he forges a relationship with his unsuspecting sis and her young son.

If you thought the first trailer betrayed a bit too much schmaltz, this one won’t do much to sway you. But, at the very least, it improves upon its predecessor by cutting the line “Sometimes the past is a present.” Shudder. Hit the jump to check it out. People Like Us (previously titled Welcome to the People) also stars Michelle Pfeiffer, Olivia Wilde, Jon Favreau, and Mark Duplass. It will hit theaters on June 29.

Back in February, we learned that The Hangover director Todd Phillips was developing four projects at Warner Bros. as possible directorial vehicles.  One of said projects was an adaptation of Tony D’Souza’s novel Mule.  The story centers on a couple who decide to traffic drugs as a result of the economic downturn and the wife’s unexpected pregnancy. The husband quickly rises up the drug trafficking ladder to become a drug boss and the two find themselves way over their heads.  At the time, Phillips and producer Scott Budnick were looking for a writer to put on the project.  Now it appears that Mark and Jay Duplass have been tapped to pen the adaptation.  Hit the jump for more, including a synopsis for the book.

The first trailer for Your Sister’s Sister has gone online.  The film stars Mark Duplass as a man still mourning his brother’s death who retreats to a cabin on Puget Sound at the behest of his best friend (Emily Blunt).  When he finds Blunt’s sister (Rosemarie Dewitt) at the cabin, the two sleep together after a tequila fueled night, only to wake up and find that Blunt has decided to join them at the cabin.  Though the premise could easily devolve into a by-the-numbers romantic comedy, director Lynn Shelton looks to have crafted a thoughtful drama that plays out the scenario in the most human, and realistic, of fashions.  I’m a big fan of the cast here, and Matt enjoyed the film at Sundance, so I’m looking forward to checking it out.

Hit the jump to watch the trailer.  The film opens on June 15th.  If you missed them, you can also check out Steve’s interviews with Duplass and Dewitt at Sundance.

The first trailer for the drama People Like Us (formerly titled Welcome to People) has gone online. The film marks the directorial debut of screenwriter Alex Kurtzman (Star Trek, Transformers) from a script he co-wrote with writing partner Roberto Orci and relative newcomer Jody Lambert. The story centers on a man (Chris Pine) who inherits $150,000 upon his father’s death, but must deliver the money to a sister he never met (Elizabeth Banks). Despite the grating pop-rock song, the trailer doesn’t look half bad. Though the story could turn sappy really fast, there look to be some swell performances from the film’s impressive cast. The plot device comes off a bit too Pay it Forward-like for my taste, but hopefully that’s just a result of trying to sell the story in a two-minute trailer. Nevertheless, the film does look to be walking a very fine line between cheese-fest and solid character drama, but I’m sincerely pulling for the latter.

Hit the jump to watch the trailer. The film also stars Olivia Wilde, Michelle Pfeiffer, Mark Duplass and Jon Favreau. People Like Us opens on June 29th.

FilmDistrict has released a trailer and poster for Colin Trevorrow‘s indie comedy Safety Not Guaranteed.  The movie stars Aubrey Plaza as a magazine intern who goes undercover to investigate a man (Mark Duplass) who placed an ad looking for a time-traveling partner.  The movie was based on a real newspaper ad that was passed around the Internet in 2005.  I caught the film at Sundance and thought it was slight but still charming and funny.  The trailer goes a bit too far in revealing the plot, but it also shows that Plaza can absolutely kill in a lead role.

Hit the jump to check out the trailer and poster.  The film also stars Jake Johnson and Karan Soni.  Safety Not Guaranteed opens June 8th.

Previously known as Welcome to People, the familial drama from debut director Alex Kurtzman (Star Trek) is now titled, People Like Us. Written by Kurtzman, Roberto Orci (Star Trek) and relative newcomer Jody Lambert, People Like Us stars Chris Pine (Star Trek) as a man who inherits $150,000 upon his father’s death, but must deliver the money to a sister he has never met. Elizabeth Banks (The Hunger Games) stars as the sister in question, an alcoholic with a 12-year-old son, who Pine’s character befriends. Olivia Wilde (Cowboys and Aliens) also stars in People Like Us as Pine’s girlfriend, Hannah. Pine spoke on the project during a previous interview,  as did Mark Duplass (The League) in a more recent interview that you can read here. Michelle Pfeiffer (Batman Returns) also stars as Pine’s widowed mother. The DreamWorks picture, partially set up by Steven Spielberg himself, will open June 29th of this year.

Jay and Mark Duplass don’t really go dark or deep with their movies.  Most of their films look at a family dynamic by introducing a strange but not outlandish hook, and then let the performances and heartwarming story carry the day.  Their latest film, The Do-Deca-Pentathlon, is no different.  While the movie rarely challenges the audience and slightly stumbles on a forced conflict using a stock character, The Do-Deca-Pentathlon is cute and funny and another nice addition to the Duplass’ filmography.

From writers/directors Jay and Mark Duplass (Cyrus) comes Jeff Who Lives at Home, a coming of age comedy for two men who are already well beyond their youth.  Starring Jason Segel (The Muppets) and Ed Helms (The Hangover) as two brothers, with Susan Sarandon (Thelma & Louise) as their mother, Jeff Who Lives at Home follows Jeff (Segel) as he searches for meaning in his life and inadvertently helps his brother, Pat (Helms) discover a truth of his own. We have three clips from the film that highlight the very funny rapport between Helms and his onscreen wife Judy Greer, a fairly awkward phone conversation between Segel and Sarandon, and the giant Segel uncomfortably riding in a tiny Porche. I was already pretty sold on the dramatic stuff from the trailers, but these clips focus on the lighter side of things and the jokes land solidly, so hopefully that carries over through the entirety of the movie. Jeff Who Lives at Home opens March 16^th.  Hit the jump to check out the clips.

We’re happy to debut the first poster for the drama Darling Companion.  The film stars Diane Keaton as woman who saves a lost dog and quickly forms a bond with the debraggled animal.  When her self-involved husband, played by Kevin Kline, loses the dog, they form a search party with a few remaining guests at their house and set out to find the animal.  The crux of the plot comes from how the members of the search party are affected by the rescue adventure, and the impressive cast includes Mark Duplass, Richard Jenkins, Elizabeth Moss, Dianne Wiest, and Sam Shepard.  Given that The Big Chill director Lawrence Kasdan is behind the pic, I think we can safely assume we’re in for an ensemble film that’s equal parts drama and comedy.

Hit the jump to check out the poster debut.  Darling Companion opens in limited release on April 20th.

Paramount has released a batch of new images from the upcoming dramedy Jeff, Who Lives At Home. Written and directed by Jay and Mark Duplass, the film stars Jason Segel as an adult still living with his mother who, through a series of comedic and unexpected events, crosses paths with his family in the strangest of locations and circumstances. While the logline sounds a bit vague, the trailer for the film is excellent. Segel has shown shades of his dramatic talent in Forgetting Sarah Marshall and How I Met Your Mother, but it looks as though he’ll really get a chance to shine in Jeff, Who Lives at Home. You can read Matt’s review of the film here.

Hit the jump to check out the images. The film also stars Ed Helms, Judy Greer, and Susan Sarandon. Jeff, Who Lives at Home opens on March 16th.

It’s remarkable how much you can class up a Jerry Springer-esque conflict if you cast its characters as thoughtful, funny, lovably flawed people.  Your Sister’s Sister takes a premise worthy of a “Jerry” chant and imbues it with warmth and compassion through charming performances by its lead cast.  However, the heavy reliance on dialogue to the expense of other cinematic elements leaves the film only as good as its conversation, and also makes the audience feel like voyeurs who are intruding on the characters’ personal lives.

Even without the magic of nostalgia, there’s a belief we can find love not by looking forward but by looking to our past.  The past has the love we were guaranteed, or at least the love we thought we could have if we hadn’t made mistakes.  The future only holds uncertainty and heartbreak.  Colin Trevorrow‘s Safety Not Guaranteed shows its characters indulging their fantasies to turn past love into present love.  Sadly, that’s about as deep as the film goes, but the film still works thanks to the charming performances, light humor, and a tinge of melancholy.

The first trailer for director Lawrence Kasdan’s (The Big Chill) latest feature Darling Companion has gone online. The story centers on a woman (Diane Keaton) who saves an abandoned dog on the side of the highway. She brings the dog back to her home, where her husband (Kevin Kline) proceeds to lose it. The two round up a few remaining guests staying at their home and set out on a search. This is one of the strangest and most perplexing trailers I’ve come across in quite some time. The tone is all over the place, and I can’t pin down what the story is really about. Is it more in the vein of Marley and Me, Something’s Gotta Give, or Homeward Bound? I genuinely don’t know. The cast is fantastic, which gives me hope, but I’m a bit baffled by this trailer.

Hit the jump to check it out for yourself. The film also stars Mark Duplass, Richard Jenkins, Elizabeth Moss, Dianne Wiest, and Sam Shepard. Darling Companion opens in limited release April 20th.

Slashers are classified as horror, but they’re really more about the thrills.  There’s nothing truly horrifying about the situation because in all likelihood, our camping trip is not to end up with everyone getting slaughtered.  Truly horrifying events happen in our world.  It’s the all-too-common horror we become desensitized to.  Women are beaten and abused and raped every day but we don’t want to stop and dwell on that.  It’s too awful to confront if it’s not happening to you or someone you know.  In her new film Black Rock, director Katie Aselton makes us face that horror head-on and then she steers away to the safety of the hunter-hunted thriller we’ve seen countless times before.  The film can only muster horror in its violence, but then it negates that horror through clichés.

Paramount Vantage has released the first trailer for Jeff, Who Lives at Home, the latest from Jay and Mark Duplass (Cyrus).  Jason Segel stars as the titular character searching for the meaning of life: “A series of comedic and unexpected events leads him to cross paths with his family in the strangest of locations and circumstances.” As expected, the movie looks excellent. Segel has been poised for a breakout dramatic role for a while now, and he looks expertly cast in this “dramedy” from the immensely talented Duplass duo. Ed Helms seems to be in fine form as Segel’s slightly more successful brother, and the two have their fair share of dramatic and comedic moments. I’m very encouraged by what this trailer shows of Segel’s performance, and I can’t wait to see more.

The film also stars Judy Greer and Susan Sarandon. Jeff, Who Lives at Home is scheduled for release on March 2, 2012.  Watch the trailer after the jump.