Stephen Merchant may well be one of the hardest working men in Britain.

He’s certainly got a diverse CV. Alongside his frequent collaborator Ricky Gervais, he’s presented several radio shows and podcasts, created award winning TV shows The Office and Extras, wrote the film Cemetery Junction and has a very successful solo stand-up career.

We recently had a chance to speak to him about his work as a comedian, as well as his love of Woody Allen, and the differences between writing screenplays and writing stand up routines.

HeyUGuys: Do you prefer watching other people perform your material, or performing it yourself?

Stephen Merchant: I think they’re two very different experiences, and they’re not really comparable. Stand-up, the reason it’s exciting, the reason I started doing it again, is that it’s completely personal. There is no filter between you and the audience except your performance abilities; you can say what you want, you can do what you want, you can act it out the way you want –you’re alone with the elements, like a rock climber on a mountain, dependent on their own strength and endurance. With anything else, TV or film or anything like that, it’s a much more collaborative effort.

There’s an enjoyment in seeing actors bring things to life in a different way. I’m never frustrated thinking, ‘I wish I  were performing that myself – well, very occasionally – but normally, if you cast well, there’s a thrill seeing Mackenzie Crook or Sean Williamson, or anyone we’ve worked with, doing something you didn’t quite expect e with the lines you’ve written, taking it in a different direction, bringing it a new life. That’s really exciting, and normally as a fan of films and TV and sitcom and acting from a young age, part of the fun, particularly when you get to work with big stars is seeing what they do, and seeing what their approach to it is, so they’re very different pleasures really.

Would you ever consider writing material for other stand-ups. I know it’s considered a bit wrong to perform material written by other people, but if the opportunity arose to write for, say Steve Martin or Robin Williams, would that appeal to you?

I think it would be interesting if you could work with them in a room and brainstorm ideas. The idea of coldly writing a routine and trying to post it to them and seeing if they like it, that doesn’t seem very appealing to me, the only way that would be fun would be pacing up and down in a writers’ room, playing with their imagination – that is exciting. There’s not really a pleasure, for me, to be taken in writing a string of jokes and giving them to someone else – it’s sort of a backward step in a way.

I’d like to talk about the writer’s room in a second, but one thing I’d like to know very quickly – living or dead, who would you most like to see perform live?

I’d like to see Woody Allen do stand-up. I wish I could have seen him in his day. His stand-up was very formative for me, it was the thing that first engaged me with stand-up, and what stand-up could do, and how honest it could be, and how personal. He was just very, very good at it, the comic persona that he took into films was so brilliantly mined in his early stand-up tapes. I used to listen to them religiously. I remember he did a brief, I wouldn’t say stand-up, but a brief monologue at the beginning of the Oscars, I think it was post 9/11, and he seemed to still have it, still seemed to have that command of the stage, and that persona was still there. I’d love to see him.

I presume you’re a fan of his films as well?

Absolutely. I idolise him, probably unhealthily. I fell in love with him through the stand-up, and I saw, when I was listening to the stand-up, I caught a couple of his films on late night TV, so I fell in love with the classic comic Woody from the early seventies. I can understand why people have an ambivalence towards him later on, as he tries to be more experimental, but there’s something about those early films – Bananas, Love and Death and Play Again Sam, where the comic persona of a would-be ladies man, who is sort of a pseudo intellectual, he’s very self mocking. He’sa brilliant physical comic as well – people forget – lots of pratfalling and physical stuff. Almost everything is intended to be funny. His intellectual aspirations kick in a bit later, but at that point he’s just incredibly funny, and that’s something that I found very appealing. I felt like a bit of a geek and a nerd myself, so I could relate to that shtick.

You’ve not considered trying to work with him?

I just don’t know how you’d make something like that happen. It feels so – it’s like wanting to collaborate with Bob Dylan, you know, who the fuck am I? – ‘Dear Mr Allen, I don’t know if you’ve seen my work, I recently did a stand-up tour. I don’t know if you caught me in Leeds, but would you like to collaborate?’

You could always hang around jazz clubs on Oscar night.

I shook his hand once, and was reduced to a quivering child.

So, let’s talk about the writers’ room. Obviously you work on TV predominantly, how different is it working in a collaborative process for a TV show, compared to sitting at home, scribbling notes, frantically trying to put a routine together?

It’s very different. The key thing with sitcom and film is that there are certain structural elements that dictate it to a degree. There’s a kind of grammar of storytelling that you always, inevitably fall back on, because there’s a reason it’s tried and tested – you need a narrative propulsion that keeps the story moving forward, and ideally you’d have a sub plot, and all these mechanics of storytelling, so there’s a sort of infrastructure there, and even though you might start by just brainstorming ideas, and throwing ideas around, and it’s all very free-form and loose, as time goes on you start to build it into a structure, and it’s dictated, in a way by certain obligations – we need a resolution to this plotline or whatever – so there’s a certain structure in place that guides you a bit more.

With stand-up, what I find difficult is, you literally can talk about anything, and go anywhere. There’s just this blank canvass, and there are no rules, in a way, and that’s much more daunting because you’re confronted with the emptiness, and you’ve got to fill the silence for an hour. Also, I tried to write stand-up at home, and that doesn’t seem to work. I can’t seem to focus enough, and you try to improvise it on stage and that doesn’t quite work, so I find that there’s this difficult, trying to formulate live on stage the ideas you thought about at home, but because the rhythm of stand-up, the speech patterns, everything about it is only born in that live environment. I’m not the sort of person who can write a series of one-liners and read them out on a piece of paper and tick off the ones that worked – it feels like it has to seem more genuine and real and expressive in that moment, and so I find it very hard, because you don’t have as much structure, and however much you’ve thought about it and planned it at home, as soon as you’re out on stage and confronted by the lights and the blank faces staring at you, a lot of that planning goes out the window, and you’re trying not to ‘fall’.

So I find it much, much harder than anything else I do, but in a way that’s the reason I went back to it. That challenge is so difficult, it’s so immediate. I feel there’s a complacency that can set in when you work in TV, and you’re surrounded by people, and there’s lots of editing that can go on, and massaging of things. With stand-up you’re confronted by your own ability, and you sink or swim.

Do you not find that every set-up and punch line does have a similar structure to that three act, beginning, middle and end, just very compressed?

It’s not the internal structure of a joke, as much as the shape and rhythm of the whole show. If you’re trying to do an hour or an hour-and-a-half, it’s very difficult to conceive of that as one big thing. With a movie you can, theoretically plot it out before you start writing. With stand-up it’s much harder to do that, because each little routine, you can’t know if it’s going to work until you’ve tried it. You might have a little segment that works well, and you put it in the wrong context and it doesn’t work anymore – it needs to come earlier or it needs to come later. That sort of stuff I worked out as I was doing it. Even once I started going on tour, I was still making changes, still restructuring it, still trying to see, and it’s almost like – if you were doing a comedy movie you’d do test audiences, and that would teach you some of that stuff, but I always feel with TV there’s a narrative coherence that guides the order and structure of things, whereas with stand-up it seems so much more random – it’s like panning for gold every time you go on stage.

Do you find doing the stand-up has sharpened your eye for comedy in a script?

I think it has. I feel like I’m reconnected with what people laugh at. There’s a danger when you do comedy a lot that you miss out a couple of the important beats that the audience needs in an idea. You sometimes presume that they get the idea quicker than they actually do. When you do stand-up you’re reminded that you have to lead them by the hand through a comic idea to the conclusion of it. Sometimes, when you’re working in a vacuum it’s easy to forget that.

I tend to find one of the things that can be frustrating about some jokes in films and TV is that they’re over-written.

That’s the tricky thing, isn’t it? Increasingly, particularly in films, the desperate need to scoop up everyone in the audience and get everyone laughing, means that you have to spell everything out so that none of the subtleties and ambiguities are left, which perhaps you would find in more cerebral comedies.

Stephen Merchant’s latest Stand up DVD is out on Monday and is available here.

The BBC have a series coming up which I have been excited about since I first heard about it a year or two ago. It’s called Life’s Too Short and sees Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant team together with Warwick Davis (who we interviewed last week here) for a new comedy show based around the man who’s been in Harry Potter, Star Wars, Leprechaun and who could forget Willow?!

In this new clip, we get to see Johnny Depp supposedly meeting Ricky Gervais for the first time since the Golden Globes which Gervais hosted and also in which Depp was the butt of the joke. Have a watch of this fantastic clip below as we think you may well like! Here’s an image from the Life’s Too Short microsite which also seems to suggest that Depp and Gervais put Davis in a toilet?!

Life’s Too Short comes to BBC 2 later this year. Other guet stars will be Sting, Liam Neeson, Helena Bonham Carter, Steve Carell, Cat Deeley, Sophie Ellis-Bextor, Les Dennis, Keith Chegwin and Shaun Williamson who also starred in Extras.

I’ve also placed the trailer below the clip.

When the kind fellows at Sky One invited the heyuguys.co.uk team down for a preview screening for the first episode for the eagerly awaited second series of An Idiot Abroad we were quite naturally chomping at the bit.

Ever since Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant’s unveiled the lovable round-headed twat that is Karl Pilkington, the World has embraced him with open arms.  From a XFM radio show to a ridiculously successful podcast; the trio branched into a television show that allowed Gervais to take part in “the most expensive practical joke he’s ever done“. Whisking dear Karl around the planet to visit the 7 Wonders, we were treated to the Manc’s genius views on the Pyramids (“a massive game of Jenga that has got out of hand”), Brazil’s Christ The Redeemer (“He looked like Jimmy Hill”) and the Great Wall of China (“It goes over the hills and stuff ….but so does the M6“).

For Season Two, we switch from the Seven Wonders to the Bucket List, forcing Karl to experience the most popular things to do before you die – Not that the grumpy former radio producer ever shares their sentiment.  Expect jumping from planes, swimming with dolphins and bungee-jumping; as an incredibly entertaining and reluctant Pilkington trudges his way into every kind of situation that Gervais and Merchant can muster up in their cauldron of calamity.  Episode One fires the bald one straight into the sandy deep end, having to spend a night alone on a desert island…but not before trying out ‘Land Diving’ – the insanely dangerous original version of the bungee-jump, and joining not one, but two tribes; who Karl continuously notes aren’t ones for wearing underwear, preferring fetching but rather revealing grass skirts.

Although it’s very much the same format as Season One, watching Karl surprised at every step of his journey with well placed phone calls from Ricky and Stephen, to drop yet another bombshell upon Karl’s increasingly pissed off khaki-shorted lap is a joy.  The fact that An Idiot Abroad is Sky’s highest rated show of the last three years is no surprise.  It is ingeniously funny, relying on Karl’s dry comic timing that flips from the bashfully uncomfortable to the damn right hilarious in a matter of Manchester muttered seconds.  Some may mention the similarity of Season Two’s Episode One to the a few of the previous; but as you seesaw between laughing with and at Karl, it’s very much the case of if it ain’t broke.

Matt Hamm
@jadedlittlepill

The Farrelly Brothers new movie, Hall Pass was released earlier this week on DVD and Blu-ray (order your copy here) and we managed to catch up with two of the stars of the movie, Owen Wilson and Jason Sudeikis, to chat about how they found filming and what we can expect from it.

Hall Pass also stars Christina Applegate, Richard Jenkins and Stephen Merchant. Scroll down to view our interview with the duo.

If you missed our theatrical review of the film, you can check it out here.

————-

HeyUGuys: Tell us about Rick and Fred and how they drive their wives to give them Hall Pass…

JASON SUDEIKIS: Why do they drive them to do it?  They don’t know any better, it’s unintentional.

OWEN WILSON:  Rick never really finds out exactly how Fred got his hall pass.  With Rick, his wife’s a little frustrated. We’re in a little bit of a rut in our marriage, and she sees him kind of looking at other women. She’s says, ‘Okay, if he thinks the grass is greener, you know what, take a week off from marriage.’

JASON SUDEIKIS: Go over there and try to mow some grass, buddy.

OWEN WILSON: Have at it. See how it works for you.

HeyUGuys: Was there a lot of ad-libbing happening?

JASON SUDEIKIS: Not so much ad-libbing as it was just discussing the scene quickly before you do it. Then you would have a little bit of a nuance or a way to change the line or make it feel a little more natural, and then you make the adjustment.

When you have someone as skilled [as Owen] it’d have to make sense to him in order for it to work for me.

HeyUGuys: Owen, what’s it like not getting the girls?  Is it a big change from your past roles?

With this character, as soon as I put on the wardrobe and looked in the mirror at the look that they had for me I realized that this character is not cool. It was bit of a funny look. It seemed very suburban schlub.

HeyUGuys: What was it like on the set?  Was it hard to keep it together?

JASON SUDEIKIS: Not during the scenes, I don’t think we really wasted a lot of takes.  Yet, we were having a good time. A lot of the crazy things we had to do weren’t together.  It was when we were separate – me in the car, Owen in the hot tub

OWEN WILSON: I was just begging to get Jason back.  It was when I was on my own that I had to do the crazy stuff.

HeyUGuys: Jason, what’s your favorite part about Owen in this movie?

JASON SUDEIKIS: It would probably be how believable he is at the end of the movie. I like that little speech that he gives he explains to Jenna about his feelings. I’m a sucker for that kind of stuff.  I think that’s usually my favorite parts in a movie is when it comes around to the other side.

HeyUGuys: Owen, how about you with Jason?

OWEN WILSON: I can just look at the poster and the set to his expression.  It’s jaunty. There’s something very funny to me about somebody’s who’s very like very inept, but very jaunty about it; screwing things up and getting things wrong, but still has like a misplaced confidence in himself. It was a very lovable quality that old Fred had.

——————

To celebrate the release of Hall Pass on DVD and Blu-ray NOW, Warner Home Video have given us three copies of the movie to give away on Blu-ray Triple Play (contains a DVD, A Blu-ray and a Digital copy).

The cast in the movie is rather extensive and great and includes Owen Wilson, Jason Sudeikis , Jenna Fischer, Richard Jenkins, Christina Applegate, Alexandra Daddario, Stephen Merchant, Nicky Whelan, Larry Joe Campbell, Tyler Hoechlin, Derek Waters, Alyssa Milano , Vanessa Angel and Kristin Carey.

Synopsis: Rick (Owen Wilson) and Fred (Jason Sudeikis) are best friends who have a lot in common, including the fact that they have each been married for many years. But when the two men begin to show signs of restlessness at home, their wives (Jenna Fischer, Christina Applegate) 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. At first, it sounds like a dream come true for Rick and Fred. But it isn’t long before they discover that their expectations of the single life-and themselves-are completely, and hilariously, out of sync with reality.

To enter the competition , simply answer the following question using the form below.

 Who plays the character ‘Rick’ in the movie, Hall Pass?

COMPETITION NOW CLOSED

The small print:

• Open to UK residents only
• Only one entry per household will be counted
• The competition will close 18th July 23.59 GMT
• The winner will be picked at random from entries received

The usual T&Cs can be found here. Good Luck!

The Farrelly brothers are back with new recruit Owen Wilson (Farrelly veteran Ben Stiller must have been too busy being a daft Focker yet again) for new comedy Hall Pass.

Wilson stars as Rick, a loving husband and family man who is granted a ‘Hall Pass’ by his wife, allowing him to essentially live life as a single man for the week. Joined by best friend Fred (Ed Helms look-a-like Jason Sudeikis), the two set off on a mission to nail anything in a skirt although, unbeknownst to them, both wives are starting to explore the same possibilities of this new found freedom too.

Cast your mind back to 1994 when brothers Peter and Bobby first arrived on cinema screens with Dumb and Dumber. Dubbed an instant comedy classic by many, the two followed it up with the more modest money-making (but no less funny) Kingpin, before scoring another huge hit with 1998’s crude, yet sweet, crowd-pleaser, There’s Something About Mary. In the years since, it’s been a case of diminishing returns for the brothers, who have never been able to top the jizz folic-enhancing, testicle-mashing antics of that Ben Stiller/Cameron Diaz feature. Hall Pass does nothing to buck the trend either, and is the weakest film so far in the brother’s dick and fart oeuvre (which after the likes of Shallow Hal is really saying something).

After using the flimsiest of premises as a springboard, the film lumbers from one unfunny and contrived comedy set-piece to another. We’ve been witness to films in the past where the main characters’ actions don’t make any sense from an emotional viewpoint (for instance, would Andy really have been intially so blasé about his old toys?) but unlike that film, the ensuing material here isn’t strong enough to forgive and forget any initial niggling plot concerns. It doesn’t even manage to elicit laughs on a basic, puerile level. Some of the situations the duo find themselves in wouldn’t look out of place (minus the crudity) in a bad 70’s UK sitcom. Jokes are recycled from previous Farrelly films and one scene in particular, where Wilson falls asleep in a Jacuzzi, only to be rescued by two naked male sauna guests, is completely misjudged and comes across as just plain weird and even mildly racist.

The subplot involving the two unrealistically easy-going wives, which runs parallel to the guys’ escapades, doesn’t go anywhere funny either, and the Farrelly brothers have a couple of really odd-looking and completely charisma-free unknowns in the roles of potential suitors for the females. Seriously, they’re such a strange choice that it wouldn’t be surprising if the directors insisted on casting members of their own family or circle of friends as some kind of ill-conceived favour to them.

An older and ragged-looking Wilson (whose characteristically wonky conk is really distracting here) is going through the motions and is clearly way better than what he’s asked to do here, as are both Christina Applegate (who play’s Sudeikis’ needy wife) and esteemed character actor Richard Jenkins. He’s introduced half-way through proceedings as some kind of sexual Jedi master to help assist the men in their quest (you may have half-smiled at his nightclub scene in the trailer), but his initially welcomed presence is short-lived when even he can’t do anything with the jaded material.

The film’s one and only saving grace is our very own Stephen Merchant, who is at his bug-eyed best playing an additional member of Rick and Fred’s gang. He fares better than any of the other cast, although he isn’t in it nearly enough, and disappears 20 minutes in and isn’t seen again until during the closing credits where, incidentally, the film’s only real laughs can be found.

Perhaps the biggest crime committed here however, is the running time. The film clocks in at 107 minutes!!! That’s almost two (mostly laugh-free) hours – a self-indulgent display for any comedy, but for one as desperately humourless as Hall Pass, it’s a disgrace. The last 30 minutes or in particular are tough to endure.

In an age where vulgar, laddish humour stills reigns at the box office (you only have to look at the phenomenal success of The Hangover), the Farrelly brothers brand feels even more tired and antiquated when compared against that box office behemoth.

Some may still be able to find a modicum of enjoyment here, regardless of the lazy writing and the overwhelming sense of déjà vu, but for those who like toilet humour which doesn’t necessary have to appeal to the lowest common denominator, you should definitely pass on this.

*~~~~ (1/5)

To celebrate the UK release of Hall Pass on the 11th March, we’ve been given four sets of this rather cool merchandise from the movie to give away!

Best buds Rick and Fred (Owen Wilson and Jason Sudeikis) have been friends for years.  When they begin to show signs of restlessness at home, their wives (Jenna Fischer and Christina Applegate) take a bold approach to revitalize their marriages: they grant the guys a “hall pass,” one week of freedom to do whatever they want.  One Week – No rules!

At first, it sounds like a dream come true for Rick and Fred, but they quickly discover that their expectations of the single life—and themselves—are completely and hilariously out of sync with reality.

“Hall Pass,” a new comedy from the Farrelly brothers (“There’s Something About Mary,” “Dumb and Dumber”), stars Owen Wilson (“Wedding Crashers,” “Marley & Me”) as Rick, Jason Sudeikis (“What Happens in Vegas,” “Going the Distance”) as Fred and Stephen Merchant (Co-creator of “The Office”) as Rick and Fred’s hilariously geeky friend.

You can check out the rest of our Hall Pass coverage here.

So, here’s what you could win (images below)

• 4 x T-shirts
• 4 x Hoodies with earphones
• 4 x Breath freshener pens
• 4 x Freshen up kits
• 4 x Journals

To be in with a chance of winning this great prize, all you need to do is answer the following question using the form below:

Who directed the movie, Hall Pass?

The small print:

• Open to UK residents only
• Only one entry per household will be counted
• The competition will close 11th March 23.59 GMT
• The winner will be picked at random from entries received

The usual T&Cs can be found here. Good Luck!

COMPETITION NOW CLOSED

© 2011 Warner Bros Entertainment All Rights Reserved.

What better way to spend a Friday night than in the company of a Red Band trailer and a handful of clips for a forthcoming American comedy?

Hall Pass is the latest Farrelly brothers comedy so make of that what you will, but I’m guessing we don’t delve too far into the subtleties of modern American life with this one – but expect jokes and things that would make Bernard Manning blush (if he could).

The Red Band trailer is in no way safe for work so if you’re at work – get up, leave early, log on at home and laugh until your face is dry.

Synopsis: Best buds Rick and Fred (Owen Wilson and Jason Sudeikis) have both been married for many years.  When they begin to show signs of restlessness at home, their wives (Jenna Fischer and Christina Applegate) take a bold approach to revitalize their marriages: they grant the guys a “hall pass,” one week of freedom to do whatever they want.  No questions asked.

At first, it sounds like a dream come true for Rick and Fred, but they quickly discover that their expectations of the single life—and themselves—are completely and hilariously out of sync with reality.

Check out the rest of our Hall Pass coverage here.

Hall Pass hits UK cinemas March 11th.

Here’s the Red Band trailer and four whole clips,



Sourcery! Yahoo

For those of you who are unfamiliar with the name Kelly Asbury, the director and writer of the latest phegnomenal take on the romantic Shakespearean classic Gnomeo & Juliet, I can guarantee you know his work well… With titles such as The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast and The Nightmare Before Christmas in his animation portfolio long before he was brought in to direct Shrek 2, Asbury is something of an animation production hero!

I can say with my hand on my Disney animation loving heart that I was thrilled to finally meet somebody I could thank in person for the likes of Belle and Woody. Asbury proved to be brilliantly charismatic man and as he let HeyUGuys in on how Elton John persuaded him to direct Gnomeo & Juliet which will be released Friday January 11^th it became all too clear how easily one might be swept into the magic. Take a peek and see firsthand his opinion on how animation has progressed in the last 30 years of his startlingly impressive career.

Gnomeo & Juliet is out in UK cinemas today!

Shakespeare never got cuter, it seems. Kelly Asbury and co. bring the bard’s tale to the big screen in 3D in one of the most charming and child-friendly ways possible, whilst educating the little darlings in the process.

Yes, garden gnomes are used to retell the tale of forbidden love across the divide – or the garden fence in this case – and there’s a touch of Shakespeare’s As You Like It thrown in for good measure to a rocking Elton John soundtrack. As the chubby porcelain figurines never fail to put a smile on the face, Gnomeo & Juliet comfortably sets the scene for a quintessentially eccentric British tale.

Garden gnomes Gnomeo and Juliet find love one night under the moonlight in an overgrown garden, whilst trying to locate a flower, and Juliet wows Gnomeo with her ninja moves. The trouble is, Gnomeo is a Blue-hatted gnome and Juliet is a Red-hatted one, and never the twain shall meet. But with the help of an abandoned plastic pink flamingo, this diminutive young couple find lasting happiness and unite the warring factions.

The beauty of this film, apart from its eccentricity and originality in bringing garden ornaments to life is the visual background detail that will be lost on one viewing. There are so many references that it does require a second sitting. Initially, the thought of just sitting through one was a little daunting, but this story draws you into a magical existence, and is so soft hearted and daft at times in that delightfully British ‘Carry On Laughing’ way that it’s hard not to be swayed by the little garden people. But don’t be deceived; these gnomes are a bunch of pottery hot heads, obsessed with blasting the hell out of each other and their neighbouring showpieces, or winning the coveted lawnmower race held in the adjoining alleyway.

Asbury has given each one a contemporary, street/garden-smart personality that kids of all ages seem to respond to in this day and age for things to be a little more ‘believable’. Don’t expect the idyllic tales of days gone by, like Tangled this is animation for the Noughties, where it seems innocence has long gone and been replaced with reality injections, as well as the token adult double entendres to be considered all-round family entertainment. Even though there is one ‘traumatic’ scene involving a lawnmower that will cause trouble for some parents with sensitive youngsters, everything else is kept clean and above board – albeit it there is a mankini-wearing, gay fellow who brightens up the flowerbeds.

Indeed, the film-makers have been very fortunate in bringing the characters to life with a fantastic cast that includes the voices of James McAvoy, Emily Blunt, Michael Caine, Jason Statham, Maggie Smith, Patrick Stewart, Ashley Jensen, Matt Lucas, Stephen Merchant and even Ozzy Osbourne as a bad-joke-telling gnome. For this reason alone, the film has some impressive credentials.

As for the 3D, it was put to good use, as only animation seems to know how, and was comfortable on the eyes, helped in part by the vivid colours and amenable pace. Indeed, there is some painstaking detail, from the visual dust and fluttering foliage, to the sound of chinking hats and miniature torsos that just remind you that you are still in fact watching gnomes. And as new daddies, Elton and David Furnish are producing, fans of the music will get an added thrill that tops the Englishness of the whole affair, especially when one gnome ‘goes all flamboyantly Elton’ on us.

Admittedly, there have been far better offerings of late in this genre, with Disney certainly leading the way. Cynically, you could argue that Hollywood loves to cash in on a Shakespearean tale, even to the point of the flaming obvious with a showman statue of the bard making an appearance in this film. But although there are some Tinseltown additions (the glitzy ‘Disney’ style pink castle that would never see the light of day in a gnome-filled English garden), Gnomeo & Juliet still feels almost homegrown, gleefully celebrating English quirkiness, fetishes and way of life, even though the topics have universal significance. It’s a bit of colourful fun that fast turns into a surprisingly guilty pleasure, to be honest. You’d have to have a heart of stone not to be entertained.

***~~ (3/5)

New Line Cinema have just sent us the brand new international trailer for Hall Pass which is directed by the Farrelly brothers and stars stars Owen Wilson (“Wedding Crashers,” “Marley & Me”) as Rick, and Jason Sudeikis (“What Happens in Vegas,” “Going the Distance”) as Fred.  Jenna Fischer (TV’s “The Office”) stars as Rick’s wife, Maggie; Richard Jenkins (“Step Brothers”) as the guys’ old friend, perpetual bachelor Coakley; and Christina Applegate (“Going the Distance,” TV’s “Samantha Who?”) as Fred’s wife, Grace.

Synopsis: Best buds Rick and Fred (Owen Wilson and Jason Sudeikis) have both been married for many years.  When they begin to show signs of restlessness at home, their wives (Jenna Fischer and Christina Applegate) take a bold approach to revitalize their marriages: they grant the guys a “hall pass,” one week of freedom to do whatever they want.  No questions asked.

At first, it sounds like a dream come true for Rick and Fred, but they quickly discover that their expectations of the single life—and themselves—are completely and hilariously out of sync with reality.

Check out the rest of our Hall Pass coverage here.

Hall Pass hits UK cinemas March 11th.

Here’s a few more posters for Owen Wilson’s new movie, Hall Pas which is directed by Peter Farrelly and Bobby Farrelly and is released in the UK 25th February 2011.

The cast in the movie is rather extensive and great and includes Owen Wilson, Jason Sudeikis, Jenna Fischer, Richard Jenkins, Christina Applegate, Alexandra Daddario, Stephen Merchant, Nicky Whelan, Larry Joe Campbell, Tyler Hoechlin, Derek Waters, Alyssa Milano, Vanessa Angel and Kristin Carey.

Synopsis: Rick (Owen Wilson) and Fred (Jason Sudeikis) are best friends who have a lot in common, including the fact that they have each been married for many years. But when the two men begin to show signs of restlessness at home, their wives (Jenna Fischer, Christina Applegate) 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. At first, it sounds like a dream come true for Rick and Fred. But it isn’t long before they discover that their expectations of the single life-and themselves-are completely, and hilariously, out of sync with reality.



Those lovely people at Entertainment One have been in touch to offer the readers of HeyUGuys the chance to win a pair of tickets to the UK premiere of Gnomeo & Juliet which takes place this Sunday, 30th January in London. This could be your chance walk the same red carpet as the many stars of the film which includes Emily Blunt, James McAvoy, Patrick Stewart, Jason Statham, Maggie Smith, Michael Caine and  Matt Lucas. Following the movie, legendary musician, Elton John (who’s voice appears in the movie) will be performing and this is your chance to join them.

Gnomeo & Juliet his UK cinemas February 11th.

This February, garden rivalry is taken to new heights as we introduce a world you have never gnome before! The hats are off as the infamous star-crossed lovers and their colourful companions come to life in the hilarious, action-packed, family 3D adventure, GNOMEO AND JULIET.

Set in the gardens of fair Verona Drive, we witness the blossoming romance of two young gnomes, Gnomeo (James McAvoy) and Juliet (Emily Blunt), amidst a turf war between the reds and the blues. Between the high-speed lawnmower chases and stealth missions, hearts (and hats) are broken, loyalties are tested and garden boundaries drawn, but can true gnomance conquer all? When your best friends are an over-excitable frog, a lovelorn flamingo, a loyal mushroom, a team of Bond-esque bunnies and a dopey fawn, there’s a shedload of fun and adventure around every plant pot!

To be in with a chance of winning the competition, all your have to do is answer the following question using the form below:

Who directed the Gnomeo & Juliet?

The small print:

• Open to UK residents only
• Only one entry per household will be counted
• The competition will close Wednesday 26th January at 23.59 GMT
• The winner will be picked at random from entries received

The usual T&Cs can be found here. Good Luck!

COMPETITION NOW CLOSED

HeyUGuys are giving you the chance to win a copy of the 2010 comedy Jackboots on Whitehall, the other film in which Timothy Spall plays Winston Churchill. And Hitler’s in a dress. It’s madcap. You know the sort of thing.

Here’s a synopsis,

The action begins as the Nazis – led by the campest Hitler on record (Alan Cumming) – plan an invasion of England. As Winston Churchill (Timothy Spall) plots an evacuation to Scot Land… somewhere in England’s green and pleasant countryside, farmworker Chris (Ewan McGregor) is trying to win the heart of Daisy (Rosamund Pike) while rueing the fact that he can’t fight for his country because his “hands are too big”

The DVD is out on the 24th January and we’ve got three copies to give away and all you have to do is answer the following question using the form below.

What was the other 2010 film in which Timothy Spall played Churchill?

The small print:

• The competition is open to UK residents only
• Only one entry per household will be counted
• The competition will close January 24th at 23.59 GMT
• The winner will be picked at random from entries received

The usual T&Cs can be found here. Good Luck!

COMPETITON NOW CLOSED

E One have released a few more posters for their new animation, Gnomeo and Juliet which is directed by Kelly Asbury and has a rather impressive voice cast which includes James McAvoy, Emily Blunt, Matt Lucas, Maggie Smith, Michael Caine, Stephen Merchant, Ashley Jensen, Jason Statham and Ozzy Osbourne.

In these new character posters, we get to see Ashley Jensen as Nanette, Matt Lucas as Benny and Jason Statham as Tybalt.

It’s scheduled for release in the UK February 11th 2011.

Synopsis: This February, garden rivalry is taken to new heights as we introduce a world you have never gnome before! The hats are off as the infamous star-crossed lovers and their colourful companions come to life in the hilarious, action-packed, family 3D adventure, GNOMEO AND JULIET.

Set in the gardens of fair Verona Drive, we witness the blossoming romance of two young gnomes, Gnomeo (James McAvoy) and Juliet (Emily Blunt), amidst a turf war between the reds and the blues. Between the high-speed lawnmower chases and stealth missions, hearts (and hats) are broken, loyalties are tested and garden boundaries drawn, but can true gnomance conquer all? When your best friends are an over-excitable frog, a lovelorn flamingo, a loyal mushroom, a team of Bond-esque bunnies and a dopey fawn, there’s a shedload of fun and adventure around every plant pot!

The miniature monuments are voiced by massive household names including James McAvoy, Emily Blunt, Matt Lucas, Maggie Smith, Michael Caine, Stephen Merchant, Ashley Jensen, Jason Statham and Ozzy Osbourne to gnome a few! Featuring classic and original songs by Elton John and directed by Kelly Asbury (Shrek 2) GNOMEO AND JULIET is a great love story……with a very small difference.

Check out the new posters below and click to enlarge.

Source IMPA

Here’s a couple of new posters for Owen Wilson’s new movie, Hall Pass!

The cast in the movie is rather extensive and great and includes Owen Wilson, Jason Sudeikis, Jenna Fischer, Richard Jenkins, Christina Applegate, Alexandra Daddario, Stephen Merchant, Nicky Whelan, Larry Joe Campbell, Tyler Hoechlin, Derek Waters, Alyssa Milano, Vanessa Angel and Kristin Carey.

Synopsis: Rick (Owen Wilson) and Fred (Jason Sudeikis) are best friends who have a lot in common, including the fact that they have each been married for many years. But when the two men begin to show signs of restlessness at home, their wives (Jenna Fischer, Christina Applegate) 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. At first, it sounds like a dream come true for Rick and Fred. But it isn’t long before they discover that their expectations of the single life-and themselves-are completely, and hilariously, out of sync with reality.

Hall Pass is directed by Peter Farrelly and Bobby Farrelly and is released in the UK 25th February 2011.

Source IMPA.

I can’t decide if this is a brilliant re-imagining of the greatest literary romance or a feckless and ignoble waste of talent.

Gnomeo and Juliet is described by professional synopsis writers as ‘hilarious’ and ‘action-packed’ and ’3D’ with ‘high-speed lawnmower chases’ promised in amongst all the ‘gnomance’.

The puns on the three new posters don’t so much tickle the ribs as kick you to the ground and stamp their hilarity onto your face forever. Whatever picture of the future we end up with take a look at the cast and weep openly as you imagine what they could have done with their time if they weren’t recording voices for this film – James McAvoy, Emily Blunt, Matt Lucas, Maggie Smith, Michael Caine, Stephen Merchant, Ashley Jensen, Jason Statham and Ozzy Osbourne.

Yes – Ozzy is in the film too. Don’t believe me?

And there’s more! A Trailer and images – right here! Click you fools, click!

Ok, so you’ve survived so far – here’s the three new posters. The middle one in particular makes me want to drag this film out into the street and lay waste to its charmless drollery.

Don’t look at me – this is IMPA’s fault.

Since when did Halle Berry become the recipient of so many botched plastic surgery ops? She now bears more of a resemblance to veteran stand-up comic Joan Rivers than she does to the beauty which made her name in such classic as Catwoman, X-Men: The Last Stand and Gothika.

Actually, you can all relax. It’s only prosthetics for her part in a new film directed by Peter Farrelly (where’s Bobby!?!) called Truth or Dare.

The images below cropped up in The Mail a couple of days ago, and also feature the actress fashioning a frighteningly enormous pair of false boobs too.

It looks like one half of the Farrelly brothers doesn’t intend to stray too far from the winning formula the two have created over the years and yes, that is our very own Stephen Merchant pictured with Berry – he features in the film alongside The Hangover star Ken Jeong.

Here’s the first poster and trailer for Owen Wilson’s new movie, Hall Pass which looks pretty silly but will no doubt bring in the punters! Hall Pass is all about two married men who get a ‘pass’ to do whatever they want away from their wives that they like. The problem for them is that they’re both bumbling idiots who are flippin lucky to have Christina Applegate and Jenna Fischer married to them in the first place!

The cast in the movie is rather extensive and great and includes Owen Wilson, Jason Sudeikis, Jenna Fischer, Richard Jenkins, Christina Applegate, Alexandra Daddario, Stephen Merchant, Nicky Whelan, Larry Joe Campbell, Tyler Hoechlin, Derek Waters, Alyssa Milano, Vanessa Angel and Kristin Carey.

Synopsis: Rick (Owen Wilson) and Fred (Jason Sudeikis) are best friends who have a lot in common, including the fact that they have each been married for many years. But when the two men begin to show signs of restlessness at home, their wives (Jenna Fischer, Christina Applegate) 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. At first, it sounds like a dream come true for Rick and Fred. But it isn’t long before they discover that their expectations of the single life-and themselves-are completely, and hilariously, out of sync with reality.

Hall Pass is directed by Peter Farrelly and Bobby Farrelly and is released in the UK 25th February 2011. HD Version is on Apple of scroll down to view the trailer below.

E1 Entertainment have just sent us the brand new UK trailer for their new animated movie, Gnomeo & Juliet. The movie features a voice cast which includes James McAvoy, Emily Blunt, Matt Lucas, Maggie Smith, Michael Caine, Stephen Merchant, Ashley Jensen, Jason Statham and Ozzy Osbourne.

It’s scheduled for release in the UK February 11th 2011 and directed by Kelly Asbury.

Synopsis: This February, garden rivalry is taken to new heights as we introduce a world you have never gnome before! The hats are off as the infamous star-crossed lovers and their colourful companions come to life in the hilarious, action-packed, family 3D adventure, GNOMEO AND JULIET.

Set in the gardens of fair Verona Drive, we witness the blossoming romance of two young gnomes, Gnomeo (James McAvoy) and Juliet (Emily Blunt), amidst a turf war between the reds and the blues. Between the high-speed lawnmower chases and stealth missions, hearts (and hats) are broken, loyalties are tested and garden boundaries drawn, but can true gnomance conquer all? When your best friends are an over-excitable frog, a lovelorn flamingo, a loyal mushroom, a team of Bond-esque bunnies and a dopey fawn, there’s a shedload of fun and adventure around every plant pot!

The miniature monuments are voiced by massive household names including James McAvoy, Emily Blunt, Matt Lucas, Maggie Smith, Michael Caine, Stephen Merchant, Ashley Jensen, Jason Statham and Ozzy Osbourne to gnome a few! Featuring classic and original songs by Elton John and directed by Kelly Asbury (Shrek 2) GNOMEO AND JULIET is a great love story……with a very small difference.