Ferrell and Reilly, stepbrothers?

It seems John C. Reilly, the "character" actor beloved by so many people who spend far too much time watching movies, has finally found a permanent home at the popular kids' table.

With "Talladega Nights" just opening today (stop back tomorrow afternoon for a review, if you'd like), Reilly, Will Ferrell and Adam McKay will race right back to work with a project called "Stepbrothers" (I'll stop now with the racing puns, I promise).

This one sounds just crazy enough to work. McKay and Ferrell will write the script for a story about two grown men who still live with their respective single parents. These single parents meet, fall in love and marry, making these two men (Ferrell and Reilly) stepbrothers.

At his best, Ferrell is just a really big kid, so this should play to his strengths, and Reilly's low-key delivery should be the perfect counterpunch.

According to a recent New York Times profile of Reilly, he was supposed to take Steve Carrell's part in "Anchorman," the first Ferrell-McKay movie, but had to back out because of a competing project. No offense to Mr. Carrell, but Reilly definitely would have made that one better.

As it was, there was no one up to the task of competing with Ferrell for the camera's attention, and his act wore thin way too soon. He's still at his best, to me, in an ensemble, not at the center of attention. For example, he was easily the funniest thing about "Old School," and for a real comedy nugget, seek out his cameo as a speed-addled townie who wrote papers for the college kids on an episode of "Undeclared."

For now, Team Ferrell-Reilly gets it first test run this weekend, and I'll be there to see it.


"Hellboy 2" finds a home

No one as talented as Guillermo Del Toro deserves to be treated so shoddily.

After being rejected by its original financer, his "Hellboy" sequel has finally found a home at Universal, according to Variety. The second installment featuring this Dark Horse Comics hero was rejected by Revolution Studios, which made the original and distributed it through its deal at Columbia Pictures. With Universal on board, it's now slated for a summer 2008 release.

In a script by del Toro, Ron Perlman returns as Hellboy, the demon conjured and raised by Nazis before being rescued and joining up with a covert government agency to battle otherworldly evil. Thankfully, Selma Blair will also return as his pyro-telekinetic love interest.

I just loved the first "Hellboy." Along with a good story and great action, it had humor, something most of our superheroes (Singer's Superman, for example) just seem to lack.

What I would love even more is to See Del Toro's "Pan's Labyrinth," which played to almost universal praise at Cannes this summer but will probably never make it to my little corner of the world. As best as I can tell, it's in the vein of "Heavenly Creatures" (still my favorite Peter Jackson film), focusing on a young girl who creates her own fantasy world to escape the reality that Franco has just taken power in Spain.

But I'll probably have to wait for that one on DVD, and even longer for "Hellboy 2." Oh well. At least it's Friday.