Nat Faxon Movies
- 2008
A teenage boy forms a friendship with the man who runs a local water park that instills him with the strength to reconnect with his mother and the courage to stand up to his bullying stepfather in Night at the Museum director Shawn Levy's semi-comedic coming-of-age drama. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
Steve Coogan stars in the comedy Hamlet 2, which follows a drama teacher who tries to put together a production of "Hamlet 2" to rescue his high-school theater department. Catherine Keener co-stars in the Andrew Fleming-helmed production. ~ Jeremy Wheeler, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Steve Coogan, Catherine Keener, (more)
- 2006
More "twentysomething sexual angst" in the tradition of Friends, the Fox sitcom Happy Hour also borrowed elements from The Odd Couple. The focus was on a pair of mismatched male roommates, described by the network publicity flacks thusly: "one disappointed by love, one blinded by love." The "disappointed" one was Henry Beckman (John Sloan), who after breaking up with girlfriend Heather (Brooke D'Orsay) moved in with his party-animal buddy Larry Cone (Lex Medlin). Having just lost a roommate named Brad (Nat Faxon), who defected in favor of marriage, Larry welcomed Henry as "The New Brad," assuming that both shared the same viewpoint about the opposite sex; they didn't, of course, and therein lay the series' comic contrast. Other cast members included Beth Lacke as Larry's main squeeze Amanda, and Jamie Denbo as the roommates' somewhat deranged next-door neighbor Tina. Happy Hour debuted on September 7, 2006, in tandem with another new Fox comedy series, 'Til Death. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Lex Medlin, John Sloan, (more)
Two guys used to drinking beer for fun suddenly become fierce competitors in a sort of Lager Olympics in this over-the-top comedy. Todd Wolfhouse (Erik Stolhanske) and his brother Jan (Paul Soter) are from a German-American family but have never visited the Old Country until their grandfather dies and they fly to Germany to scatter his ashes. Todd and Jan arrive during the annual Oktoberfest celebration and accidentally discover a secret competition, "Beerfest," in which the world's leading beer guzzlers determine who can handle the most brew during several days of heated drinking games. Todd and Jan are no slouches when it comes to downing suds and offer to compete, but the German branch of the family, the Von Wolfhausens, scoff at their desire to enter the contest and inform them no mere American could hope to carry away the Beerfest honors. Determined to prove Yanks can swill beer and embarrass themselves just as well as anyone, Todd and Jan bring their most skilled drinking buddies to Germany to defend America's honor on the field of drunken battle and show their German relatives that the family's talent didn't vanish when they crossed the pond. Beerfest was written and directed by Jay Chandrasekhar of the comedy troupe Broken Lizard, and several other Broken Lizard members pop up in the film's cast, as do Will Forte, Mo'nique, Cloris Leachman, and Jürgen Prochnow. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jay Chandrasekhar, Steve Lemme, (more)
Following up their breakthrough film, 2001's Super Troopers, the Broken Lizard comedy troupe, comprised of Jay Chandrasekhar, Kevin Heffernan, Steve Lemme, Paul Soter, and Erik Stolhanske, took aim at the horror genre and delivered Club Dread. Starring the five members of the troupe along with Bill Paxton, the film is set at an anything-goes tropical resort for swingers. When a psychotic killer starts offing the guests with a razor sharp machete, it's up to the staff to hide the carnage, lest they lose the business of the unsuspecting surviving guests. As with Super Troopers and the first Broken Lizard film Puddle Cruiser, Chandrasekhar directs. ~ Matthew Tobey, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bill Paxton, Jay Chandrasekhar, (more)
- 2004
This made-for-cable prequel to the popular 1997 comedy film Romy and Michele's High School Reunion was written by the same person who penned the original film, and stars Katherine Heigl and Alex Breckenridge respectively as Romy White and Michele Weinberger, the roles originated by Lisa Kudrow and Mira Sorvino. Set in the decade before High School Reunion, Romy and Michele: In the Beginning finds our fresh-out-of-high-school heroines scrimping and saving to escape their hometown of Tucson, Arizona and land with both feet in Hollywood. It takes several years, but Romy and Michele finally arrive in La-La-Land, where in emulation of their favorite movie Pretty Woman they naively try to secure work as hookers! Fortunately they are rescued before "the worst" can happen by their new friend Donna (Alexandra Billings), who despite "her" name and appearance is actually a man in the process of becoming a woman. About to go on vacation, Donna allows the girls to live in his posh apartment, where they begin formulating their next scheme to get ahead in Tinseltown: namely, to gain access to the Ozone, the coolest nightclub in town. Along the way, the ladies meets their stud-muffin next door neighbor Taylor Bradley (Scott Vickaryous)--who, because of their association with Donna, assumes that Romy and Michele are female impersonators--and must contend with the velvety viciousness of nasty socialite Linda Fashiobella (Kelly Brook). Oh, and Paula Abdul shows up too. Romy and Michele: In the Beginning was first telecast by the ABC Family channel on May 30, 2005. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Three lifelong cheaters wise up in this gross-out college comedy, which marks the second feature role for Rushmore star Jason Schwartzman. It's the last semester of senior year for roomies Dave (Devon Sawa), Sam (Jason Segel), and Jeff (Michael C. Maronna), a trio of twenty-somethings whose enthusiasm for higher learning is matched only by their enthusiasm for root canals performed without the aid of anesthesia. As such, their entire collegiate existence has been an elaborate series of cons and scams designed to plagiarize essays, skip midterms, and covertly manipulate bell curves. When deranged geek Ethan (Schwartzman) -- who harbors a psychotic fixation for a flaxen-haired co-ed named Angela (James King) -- gets wind of their scheming, he blackmails Dave and the gang into contriving a date between him and his crush. But as Dave cozies up to Angela, he realizes that no amount of scheming can hide the fact that he's the one that's truly in love. Slackers went by a number of working titles while in production at the ill-fated upstart Destination Films; when Destination went belly-up, the film sat on the shelf for over a year before being picked up for release by Sony's Screen Gems division. ~ Michael Hastings, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Devon Sawa, Jason Schwartzman, (more)
