I have yet to embrace fully the mumblecore genre. I want to love it, having come of age as a filmmaker working on the indies of the late ‘90s and early ‘00s, but perhaps that is my problem: I see mumblecore as the natural progression of so many films on which I crewed that never saw the light of day. Like any other genre, simply creating a movie and actually executing a good movie are two different things, and too often mumblecore-type pics feel like a means to an end rather than well-crafted films. Which does not mean the best of the bunch are not good, entertaining films, exactly how I felt about Jeff, Who Lives At Home (and I was not a fan of the Duplass brothers’ break-out picture, The Puffy Chair).  Hit the jump for my review of the Blu-ray.

Brothers Jay and Mark Duplass, who burst onto the scene in 2005 with their well-received indie The Puffy Chair, are now looking to put their talents to work on a remake.  The Duplass brothers are in talks to write and possibly direct a redo of the 1978 rom-com Same Time, Next Year for Universal Pictures.  The original starred Alan Alda and Ellen Burstyn as two people who develop an extramarital affair with each other in which they meet up once a year to rekindle the sparks.  Over the years, the two catch up on each other’s lives and develop a deeper and more complex relationship.  Hit the jump for more.

Red Flag has released the first trailer for The Do-Deca-Pentathlon, the latest from Jay and Mark Duplass (Jeff Who Lives at Home).  Mark Kelly and Steve Zissis star as two grown brothers who secretly compete in a 25-part homemade Olympics during a family reunion: “When their fierce and disruptive competition is uncovered, the brothers must choose between their passion for beating the hell out of each other and the greater good of the family.”  The movie looks charming in that ultra low-key way that the Duplass brothers have mastered.  As someone who grew up challenging three brothers to thousands of competitions across a few dozen sports, I am the target audience.

Jennifer Lafleur, Julie Vorus, and Reid Williams also star.  The Do-Deca-Pentathlon is due in theaters on July 6.  Watch the trailer after the jump.

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.

At this year’s Toronto Film Festival, I was able to speak with The Duplass Brothers (Cyrus) about their new comedy Jeff, Who Lives At Home. The film stars Jason Segel, Ed Helms, Judy Greer, Susan Sarandon and Rae Dawn Chong.  The story centers on Jeff (Segel), a stay-at-home son who loves M. Night Shyamalan’s Signs.  While out on an errand for his mother (Sarandon), he gets an epiphany about his destiny and decides to see where it takes him.  I caught a screening after doing the interview and thought it was great.

During the interview, the brothers talked about what it’s like to premiere at TIFF instead of Sundance, the connection between Jeff, Who Lives at Home and M. Night Shyamalan’s Signs, how much of the film was scripted versus improvised, editing, video games, karaoke, and they also talked about future projects like The Do-Deca-Pentathalon.  Hit the jump to watch.  Jeff, Who Lives at Home gets released March 2, 2012.

The Duplass Brothers’ Jeff, Who Lives at Home opens on a terrific note by bashing the silliness of M. Night Shyamalan’s Signs.  Unfortunately, that’s about as hilarious and insightful as Jeff gets.  While the lead performances are solid and there are some funny jokes along the way, the film is saddled with a weak sub-plot and an even weaker subtext.  Jeff, Who Lives at Home ends up revering what it originally mocked.

Paramount Vantage has slated the comedy Jeff Who Lives At Home for March 2^nd, 2012 (per THR). Written and directed by Jay and Mark Duplass (Cyrus), the film stars Jason Segel, Ed Helms, Judy Greer, Susan Sarandon and Rae Dawn Chong. The story centers on Jeff (Segel), a stay-at-home son who gets an epiphany about his destiny while out on an errand for his mother. Helms plays his brother. The Duplass brothers are known for making thought provoking and slightly left-of-center films, and Jeff Who Lives At Home seems to be no exception. The comedy will have its world premiere this fall at the Toronto Film Festival. You can check out the first images from the film here.

Mark and Jay Dupplass are looking to continue their path towards more mainstream fare after last year’s dramedy Cyrus, starring Jonah Hill, opened to wildly positive reception. The writer/director duo will unveil their next film, the stoner comedy Jeff Who Lives at Home starring Jason Segel and Ed Helms, and produced by Jason Reitman, later this year, and now the pair are shopping the script for their next project, a dramatic thriller. 24 Frames reports that the new film, titled Pitchfork, centers on “the middle-aged mother of an indie rocker who, after her son is killed in a car accident, seeks vengeance on an online blogger who had peddled snark about her son [on the music site Pitchfork].” Things take a turn, however, when the bully turns out to be a teenager (which doesn’t necessarily count as a surprise).

Apparently Susan Sarandon is being sought to take on what is most certainly a very meaty role as the mother, and Hill has talked with the brothers Duplass about possibly playing the blogger. The pair broke onto the scene with 2005’s indie The Puffy Chair, and their subsequent films have been deemed part of the “mumblecore” aesthetic (low-budgets, improvised dialogue, etc.). Jeff Who Lives at Home currently doesn’t have a release date, but is expected to hit theaters later this year.

Currently playing in limited release is Cyrus.  Written and directed by Jay Duplass & Mark Duplass (The Puffy Chair, Baghead), the movie centers on John (John C. Reilly), a film editor who’s down on his luck and still emotionally attached to his soon-to-be remarried ex-wife, Jamie (Catherine Keener).  John’s prospects take a turn when he meets Molly (Marisa Tomei) at a party. However, when her 21 year-old son/housemate Cyrus (Jonah Hill) enters the picture, he becomes an unexpected saboteur of John’s attempts at Molly’s heart.

While you might think making a studio movie with Fox Searchlight might change who The Duplass Brothers are, they stayed indie by filming the movie in order and using a ton of improv.  What they ended up with was a touching, original story that blends humor & heartbreak.  Definitely recommended.

Anyway, I recently got to speak with the brothers and we talked about filming in order, the improv, using the RED camera, what might be on the DVD/Blu-ray, their next film Jeff Who Lives At Home, and a lot more.  Hit the jump to check it out:

I’ve been a fan of Jason Segel’s work for a long time.  While some of you still haven’t seen Freaks and Geeks and Undeclared, if you haven’t, you’re missing out on great television and some fantastic work by Segel.  But even though both of those shows died well before their time, Segel’s landed on his feet, as he’s one of the stars of the very popular CBS show How I Met Your Mother, and he’s even been the leading man in a big Hollywood movie – Forgetting Sarah Marshall.

Anyway, with the 3D CGI movie Despicable Me opening tomorrow, I was able to talk with Segel as a reporter for our partners at Omelete.  During the almost 6 minute interview, we talked about Brazil, the World Cup, what got him involved in Despicable Me, his next film Jeff Who Lives at Home (directed by The Duplass Brothers), and he gave me updates on The Muppet Movie and Nicholas Stoller’s Five-Year Engagement - which he said is about the fluidity of relationships in your 20′s.  He also said he hopes to shoot this next spring as his hiatus movie.  It’s a great interview, so hit the jump to check it out:

Over the last few days I’ve posted video interviews with the cast of Cyrus (John C. Reilly and Marisa Tomei) and in each one I’ve mentioned how well The Duplass Brothers moved into studio filmmaking.  Rather than try to make their movies in a new way, their kept their indie roots by filming Cyrus in order and having the cast do a ton of improvising.  What they ended up with was an original story that blends humor & heartbreak.  It’s definitely recommended.

Anyway, at the press junket I was also able to speak with Jonah Hill and we talked about making Cyrus, Steven Spielberg, how have the last few weeks been as I just spoke to him for Get Him to the Greek, and Hill reminisces about being in The 40-Year Old Virgin with Catherine Keener and how that one scene changed his life.  It’s a great interview.  Hit the jump to check it out:

Currently playing in limited release and expanding into more theaters this week is Cyrus.  Written and directed by Jay Duplass & Mark Duplass (The Puffy Chair, Baghead), the movie centers on John (John C. Reilly), a film editor who’s down on his luck and still emotionally attached to his soon-to-be remarried ex-wife, Jamie (Catherine Keener).  John’s prospects take a turn when he meets Molly (Marisa Tomei) at a party. However, when her 21 year-old son/housemate Cyrus (Jonah Hill) enters the picture, he becomes an unexpected saboteur of John’s attempts at Molly’s heart.  While you might think making a studio movie might somehow change who The Duplass Brothers are, they stuck to their indie roots and delivered a touching, original story that blends humor & heartbreak.  Definitely recommended.

Yesterday I posted my video interview with John C. Reilly, and tonight I’ve got Marisa Tomei. During the interview we talked about making Cyrus, what it was like to film the movie in order, and what it was like to do so much improv.  We also talked about working with Jonah Hill and John C. Reilly and a lot more.  Hit the jump to check it out:

Currently playing in limited release and expanding into more theaters this week is Cyrus.  Written and directed by Jay Duplass & Mark Duplass (The Puffy Chair, Baghead), the movie centers on John (John C. Reilly), a film editor who’s down on his luck and still emotionally attached to his soon-to-be remarried ex-wife, Jamie (Catherine Keener).  John’s prospects take a turn when he meets Molly (Marisa Tomei) at a party. However, when her 21 year-old son/housemate Cyrus (Jonah Hill) enters the picture, he becomes an unexpected saboteur of John’s attempts at Molly’s heart.

While you might think going down the studio road might somehow change who The Duplass Brothers are, they stuck to their indie tricks.  The way they did that was to film the movie in order and to improvise much of the dialogue. What they ended up with was a touching, original story that blends humor & heartbreak.  Definitely recommended.

Anyway, I recently got to talk with John C. Reilly about how he got involved in the project and what it was like to work for the Duplass Brothers.  I also asked him about his future projects like Cedar Rapids and We Need to Talk About Kevin, as well as what will it take to get him paired up again with Will Ferrell.  Hit the jump to see what he had to say:

Jay and Mark Duplass’ steady professional climb just hit another peak.  Their first two features, The Puffy Chair and Baghead, won enough critical praise and independent film fans to get a green light for their first studio feature, Cyrus.  The aforementioned peak comes this weekend as the film kicks off its national rollout in New York.  It is a fitting sign of their upward mobility then, that Cyrus’ executive producers are a pair of blockbuster sibling filmmakers; Ridley and Tony Scott (Gladiator and Top Gun, respectively).

The Duplasses tracked their career path for Collider during a busy breakfast-time interview at New York’s Gramercy Park Hotel.  Hit the jump for the full audio and transcript, including their transition to life with a film studio, the guilty pleasure of having a Google alert for yourself and why Jonah Hill was like their mascot, onset.

Judy Greer and Susan Sarandon have signed on to co-star in the Duplass Brothers’ (Baghead) upcoming stoner comedy Jeff Who Lives at Home.  They’ll join Jason Segel and Ed Helms.  According to Variety, the story “revolves around two brothers, one of whom is going through a mid-life crisis (Helms) and believes his wife (Greer) is having an affair. The other (Segel) is a lovable loser who still lives with his mom (Sarandon). One day, the two brothers set out to spy on the wife, with all sorts of unintended consequences.”

Greer (who really deserves to be top-lining films), is co-starring alongside George Clooney in Alexander Payne’s The Descendants and in Ed Zwick’s Love and Other Drugs.  Sarandon will next be seen in Oliver Stone’s Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps playing Shia LaBeouf’s mother.