Apatow and Rogen go back to school

In a great high school reunion of sorts, Judd Apatow and Seth Rogen are joining forces again for the upcoming comedy "Super Bad." Apatow is producing the high school-themed film, while Rogen is penning the screenplay and will co-star.

According to the Hollywood Reporter, Greg Mottola,,who directed several episodes of Apatow's short-lived TV series "Undeclared," will helm "Super Bad," with Jonah Hill and Michael Cera on board to star.

The story revolves around two co-dependent high school seniors (Hill and Cera) who set out to score alcohol for a party, believing that girls will then hook up with them and they will be ready for college. But as the night grows more chaotic, overcoming their separation anxiety becomes a greater challenge than getting the girls.

If I'm not mistaken, this is Rogen's first attempt at writing a feature film, but he's already proven he's a very funny guy. He wrote some episodes of "Undeclared," the second-best one-season-only TV show ever. I've heard several theories on why "Undeclared" failed, the most popular being that no one wanted to laugh when it debuted right after 9/11. My personal theory was best put by the lovable Cramps: People Ain't No Good.

Rogen and Apatow also worked together,as star and producer respectively, on the single-best one-season-only TV show ever, "Freaks and Geeks." I love this show unconditionally, and did something really foolish: Having missed the show during its brief run on TV, I bought the rather expensive DVD set anyway, sheerly on word of mouth from friends. I'm glad I did. For me, it captured the hell and occasional heaven that was high school better than any other movie or TV show.

"Super Bad" looks like it will be a lot sillier than "F&G," but it could also be a lot of fun. George Michael Bluth (Cera) on an epic beer run? I'm there.


"Beerfest" trailer

Speaking of beer - and who doesn't like to on a Friday? - the Web site for Broken Lizard's "Beerfest" is up and running, and it features a new trailer.

A lot of people I know have mixed feelings about the Broken Lizard crew, but with "Super Troopers" they made one very, very funny movie, so they've still got a lot of goodwill stored up with me.

Here, from the site, is the plot summary for "Beerfest." If you don't at least snicker while reading this, get thee a sense of humor transplant:

"When American brothers Todd and Jan Wolfhouse (Erik Stolhanske and Paul Soter) travel to Germany to spread their grandfather's ashes at Oktoberfest, they stumble upon a super-secret, centuries old, underground beer games competition — Beerfest - the secret Olympics of beer drinking. The brothers receive a less than warm welcome from their German cousins, the Von Wolfhausens, who humiliate Todd and Jan, slander their relatives and finally cast them out of the event. Vowing to return in a year to defend their country and their family's honor, the Wolfhouse boys assemble a ragtag dream team of beer drinkers and gamers: Barry Badrinath (Jay Chandrasekhar), the consummate skills player with a dark past; Phil Krundle (Kevin Heffernan) AKA "Landfill," the one-man chugging machine; and Steve "Fink" Finklestein (Steve Lemme), the lab tech with a Masters degree in All Things Beer. This Magnificent Five train relentlessly, using their hearts, minds and livers to drink faster, smarter and harder than they ever have before. But first they must battle their own demons... as well as a bunch of big, blond, German jerks who want to destroy the team before they can even make it back to Munich. Revenge, like beer, is best served cold."

This one should be a definite respite from the soul-deadening heat of August. Wanna see more? The trailer is up on the official site here.

Even if this was filmed in Arizona rather than the great republic of Allemagne, I'll be there. Now if they would only serve beer ...