Weekend Peep Show: Can We Just Focus on Knocked Up?

Diyah Pera/Twentieth Century Fox

Okay, okay. I'll do my damnedest to put all glorious images of Seth Rogen and Katherine Heigl and their SAG ensemble award-deserving supporting cast aside and try to focus on Jessica Alba and her empowering scuba suit. Will I have the will power to pull off running down the new releases? Let's see.

Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer
Before the first Fantastic came out, I sat down with the foreign press to interview Chris Evans. I got dizzy as he was talking about his total disinterest in comic books and that hammy-happy Michael Chiklis. A few years later, I feel the same dizziness when I try to think about Fantastic. And Ioan Gruffudd, who is so damn on in The TV Set, well, when I look at him I think about his brilliant timing with Sigourney Weaver.

Okay. Stay. On. Topic.

The gang is back and they have a new enemy, a silver, lucid surfer who flies around. You have to admit the Silver Surfer is exactly what movies are all about. The imagery is awesome. Whenever I see the trailer, I just stare at the man on the board who looks as if he is composed entirely of water. But at the same time I'm a little burnt out on comic sequels, unless I could watch them with Seth Rogen and his stoner friends in Knocked Up.

Warner Bros. Entertainment

Nancy Drew
Hmmm. I am very possessive of all things Nancy Drew. Personally, I was hooked on the zippier modernized series: The Nancy Drew Files. It was sexier. Yeah, I had more than a few, um, zesty pages earmarked. This movie is based on the sweeter books. And it has a Brady Bunch Movie "edge," where Nancy is sort of old-school, into old-fashioned things. That's high comedy, and when it works, as in the Brady movie, it really works. But I fear the concept might be a wee bit watered down.

Oh hell, who am I kidding? Emma Roberts may have had a little help from auntie Julia Roberts getting her start in Hollywood, but the girl does have a million-dollar smile and she's very vibrant. Let's hope three years from now she's not dancing on tables at Hyde while guzzling "water" and causing magazines to run "remember when" stories about her formerly sweet demeanor in The Parent Trap. Oops. I meant Nancy Drew.

Miramax Films

Eagle vs Shark
I would see anything New Zealander Jemaine Clement is in, just because of the way he shimmies and bobs his inherently funny head in the previews for his HBO comedy, Flight of the Conchords. Clement has really classic comic timing. How fun would it be to see him pair up with Seth Rogen for a buddy comedy?

This weekend, however, it's all about Clement and Loren Horsley, who play oddballs who don't have eyes for each other...yet. I know, the names aren't familiar. But here's another good sign: The movie was written and directed by Taika Cohen, so it's sure to have that deeply personal, idiosyncratic love-letter style. The buzz is very good, and it totally has that hipster feel, which means it has the potential to break out and get huge. These are the kind of hipsters whom we like to see at the movies—outcasts with really odd taste in clothing who are out for revenge on high school bullies. Yeah, Napoleon Dynamite fans, line up. Everyone should give laughter a chance; it worked for you when you saw Knocked Up!

Dimension Films

DOA: Dead or Alive
It's a proud, happy Friday for Bob Weinstein and Harvey Weinstein. At long last, their much heralded, highly respected thriller hits theaters. It features an all-star class of people who never take jobs just for paychecks, like Jaime Pressly and Devon Aoki. And its story is one of female empowerment, where women start off trying to kill each other but eventually bond together to kill everyone else. Deep, I know. Surely an Oscar contender, in spite of its light porn-esque vibe, DOA promises to restore the Weinsteins' image in Hollywood. Because clearly, their fingers are very much on the pulse of what people want.

Heehee. That was fun. Oh hell, if you go see Knocked Up for a second time, and that mushrooms-in-Vegas scene feels a little long, sneak into DOA for a few seconds. Who knows, you might even get bigger laughs.