The Farrelly Brothers have exhausted any goodwill they built up during the 90s.  They once were modestly successful with gross-out humor that was disgusting but also slightly clever.  Most gross-out comedies don’t go for a bull semen joke, but Kingpin just casually threw one into the mix.  Unfortunately, the glory days of that film and There’s Something About Mary are well behind them and their 2007 remake of The Heartbreak Kid was unbearable.  With their latest effort, Hall Pass, they regain some of their footing, but the laziness of the humor combined with the inability to find what works makes for a film that’s barely passable.

Warner Bros. has released the first trailer for Hall Pass, the latest comedy from the Farrelly brothers (There’s Something About Mary).  Owen Wilson (Marley and Me) and Jason Sudeikis (Saturday Night Live) star as two best friends whose wives “take a bold approach to revitalizing their individual marriages: granting them a ‘hall pass,’ one week of freedom to do whatever they want…no questions asked.”  Christina Applegate (Going the Distance) and Jenna Fischer (The Office) star as the wives.  Hit the jump to check out the trailer and synopsis.

Touchstone Pictures has released the first trailer for their upcoming animated film, Gnomeo and Juliet.  As you’ve probably already guessed, the film is a retelling of William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet… only with gnomes.  The film will feature music by Elton John and the voice cast includes James McAvoy, Emily Blunt, Michael Caine, Jason Statham, Maggie Smith, Patrick Stewart, Ashley Jensen, Stephen Merchant, Matt Lucas, Jim Cummings, Julie Walters, Richard Wilson, and Ozzy Osbourne.  You can hit the jump to watch the trailer and to see the first image from the film.

The trailer for Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant’s newest television show is now online.  An Idiot Abroad sends “Global Idiot” Karl Pilkington on a quest to visit the Seven Wonders of the World.  It looks to be quite amusing and should appeal to fans of The Ricky Gervais Show and of Gervais’ podcasts, both of which feature Pilkington’s odd musings about the world.  An Idiot Abroad is scheduled to premiere this month on Sky1.

The trailer and an official description of the series can be found after the jump.

If Ricky Gervais has a home anywhere in America, it has got to be at HBO.   The premium cable station has already aired both seasons of Gervais’ comedy series Extras, his stand-up special Out of England and the animated Ricky Gervais Show, which will be coming back for a second season next year.  Now Variety is reporting that Gervais will be appearing alongside his pal Larry David in the next season of Curb Your Enthusiasm. Gervais will play himself – which should surprise no one who watches Curb - in the 8th episode of the new season.

It is also expected that Gervais will have another series of his own airing on HBO next year.  He is currently gearing up to begin shooting his third comedy series, Life’s Too Short, for the BBC and it seems most likely that it will air on HBO when it finally makes it across the ocean.  Life’s Too Short will “document” the life of a show-biz dwarf and will star Warwick Davis, with Gervais, and Gervais’ writing partner Stephen Merchant in minor (no pun intended) roles.

Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant have cast Warwick Davis to star in their new TV series Life’s Too Short.  Davis, who was in the Daniel Radcliffe episode of Gervais and Merchant’s series Extras, will be the center of, “an observation comedy which follows Warwick’s day-to-day life in a small world where big things happen.”  Says Gervais, “We’re having so much fun working with Warwick.  Pound for pound he is one of the funniest men I know.”  According to Variety, Gervais and Merchant will appear in minor roles.

The 3′ 6″ actor’s previous roles include Wicket in Return of the Jedi, Marvin in A Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (2005),  Charms instructor Filius Flitwick in the Harry Potter films, and most importantly, he is the star of all six Leprechaun films.

Despite lackluster ratings, HBO has ordered a second season of The Ricky Gervais Show. Michael Lombardo, president of HBO programming, told the BBC that it was renewing the show because it has “sparked a loyal and enthusiastic following that is growing steadily.”

The show adds animation to old audio from Gervais’ record-breaking podcasts.  Also appearing with Gervais are Stephen Merchant, Gervais’ longtime collaborator (The Office, Extras), and Karl Pilkington, whose nonsensical musings have caused Gervais to dub him “a global village idiot”.

Gervais and Merchant’s first film collaboration, Cemetery Junction, will be released in the UK on April 14th.

The cast of The Farrelly Brothers’ next comedy, Hall Pass, continues to grow as Christina Applegate, Alyssa Milano, Larry Campbell, and Vanessa Angel have all signed on to co-star.  They will join Owen Wilson, Jason Sudeikis, Jenna Fischer, Amanda Bynes, Stephen Merchant, J.B. Smoove, Nickey Whelan, and Derek Waters.  All this casting is surprising when you stop to consider that the Farrelly Brothers’ previous film, a remake of The Heartbreak Kid, was one of the worst things ever to happen to mankind.

Their new comedy, which they co-wrote with Pete Jones and Kevin Barnett, revolves around two husbands who are given permission to go outside their marriages for guilt-free romantic liaisons for one week.  If J.B. Smoove doesn’t tell one of the lead characters to “Get in dat ass,” this whole project will be a waste.

The chances that the Farrelly brothers deliver something funny with their latest flick, Hall Pass, keep increasing as they add seriously funny people to the cast.

With shooting set to start Tuesday in Atlanta, the brothers have added to a cast that already included Owen Wilson, Jenna Fischer and Jason Sudeikis two names that will be very familiar to anyone who watches HBO: Stephen Merchant and J.B. Smoove. Merchant, of course, is Ricky Gervais’ main partner in comical crime and most visibly played his incredibly incompetent agent on Extras. And Smoove played Larry David’s extremely unlikely brother-in-law, one of “the Blacks,” on Curb Your Enthusiasm.

As for the movie itself, it’s about a pair of married couples  who decide to experiment with a free pass for the husbands to engage in guilt-free romantic encounters. Wilson and Sudeikis are the two lucky guys, and Merchant and Smoove will play two of their buddies.  Do funny people automatically lead to funny movies? Of course not, but here’s hoping that’s the case here. Hit the jump to find out what else Merchant and Smoove are up to on screens big and small.

A trailer for the upcoming coming-of-age comedy Cemetery Junction has popped up online.  Written and directed by The Office and Extras creators Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant, it’s hard to locate their style of comedy in the trailer.  Perhaps that’s because the film isn’t shot documentary-style or Gervais and Merchant aren’t the stars.  But the writing and one-liners still lack that subtle bite of Gervais/Merchant comedy.  I’m not really sure what to make of this trailer since it’s hard to get any sense of the characters or plot beyond Christian Cooke’s character wanting to run away with his girlfriend and the importance of getting out of a small town.  Oh, and the movie takes place in the 60s. I’m sure Gervais and Merchant’s stamp is on the film, but it’s hard to find it within this one minute and forty-four seconds.

Hit the jump to see the trailer and along with the official synopsis.  Cemetery Junction opens on April 7th in the UK.

Thanks to rickygervais.com, Facebook and sky movies, a ton of new images from Cemetery Junction have hit the net.  If you aren’t excited for this film…you should be.  The reason is it’s the first film to be written and directed by Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant (The Office, Extras).  If you’ve seen either show, you know what I’m talking about.

When I spoke to Gervais when he was out promoting The Invention of Lying, he said Cemetery Junction is “set in the early 70′s and it’s about a group of twenty something’s that try to escape that stifling small town sort of mentality.”   He also called the movie his Saturday Night Fever.

While the main characters in the film are played by unknowns, they’ve cast Ralph Fiennes, Emily Watson, Matthew Goode, and Felicity Jones in supporting roles.  Hit the jump to see the first teaser trailer, a set visit by Sky News, and all the images that have hit the net so far.

Opening on January 22 is Dwayne Johnson’s new family film The Tooth Fairy.  If you’re looking for another Rundown, this is definitely not for you.  But if you’ve enjoyed Johnson in films like Race to Witch Mountain and The Game Plan, this is another in the family friendly genre.  Here’s the synopsis:

Dwayne Johnson is The Tooth Fairy, also known as Derek Thompson, a hard-charging hockey player whose nickname comes from his habit of separating opposing players from their bicuspids. When Derek discourages a youngster’s dreams, he’s sentenced to one week’s hard labor as a real tooth fairy, complete with the requisite tutu, wings and magic wand. At first, Derek “can’t handle the tooth” – bumbling and stumbling as he tries to furtively wing his way through strangers’ homes…doing what tooth fairies do. But as Derek slowly adapts to his new position, he begins to rediscover his own forgotten dreams.

To help promote the film, we’ve been given six clips and they’re after the jump.  The Tooth Fairy also stars Julie Andrews, Ashley Judd, Stephen Merchant and Billy Crystal has a small cameo.

A few days ago, I attended the press conference for Ricky Gervais’ new film “The Invention of Lying” at the Toronto Film Festival. While you usually have to wait for the stars to arrive, Ricky showed up a few minutes early and when I went to put my recorder down, I managed to ask him a number of questions about his next project with Stephen Merchant called “Cemetery Junction”. If you’re a fan of “Extras” or the British version of “The Office”, Ricky and Stephen Merchant created the shows together and “Cemetery Junction” is the first film they’ve written and directed together.

Anyway, he told me while filming only recently finished, they’ve already done a friends and family screening and it turned out quite well. He also called the movie his “Saturday Night Fever”. For more on the project and his new HBO animated series “The Ricky Gervais Show”, it’s after the jump:

While this brief promo for Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant’s  upcoming film “Cemetery Junction” tells you absolutely nothing about the film and is slightly misleading because it doesn’t actually star Gervais or Merchant (it stars Christian Cooke, Tom Hughes, and Jack Doolan as three blue-collar friends in a coming-of-age comedy), it does feature Ralph Fiennes.  As Gervais notes, Fiennes–not exactly known for his comedy.  Known more for dramas.  No amusing anecdotes from the set of “Schindler’s List”, sadly.  Nobody putting a little “Hook” lunchbox in the background of one of the concentration camps.  That’s a shame.  I guess “Schindler’s List” isn’t just missing subtlety, but easter eggs as well.

Hit the jump to check out the promo.  “Cemetery Junction” is slated to hit theatres some time next year.

From his official website, writer/director/actor Ricky Gervais has released details about his upcoming film, “Cemetery Junction” which began filming last Tuesday in London.  Co-written and co-directed by Gervais and Stephen Merchant (who also collaborated with Gervais on “The Office” and “Extras”), “Junction” tells the story of being trapped in a small town and dreaming of escape.

In 1970s England, three blue-collar friends, Freddie (Christian Cooke), Bruce (Tom Hughes), and Snork (Jack Doolan), spend their days joking, drinking, fighting and chasing girls.  When Freddie gets a new job as a door-to-door salesman and bumps into his old school sweetheart Julie (Felicity Jones), the gang are forced to make choices that will change their lives for ever.  The lesson of the film: never ever bump into old school sweethearts.  Avoid them at all costs.  In fact, just to be on the safe side, go and shut down your Facebook page.

“Cemetery Junction” also stars Gervais, Ralph Fiennes, Emily Watson, and Matthew Goode.  It’s set to hit theatres sometime in 2010.