RBR: A.C.O.D.

File this one under 'Wasted Potential'. You take an excellent cast that features Adam Scott, Richard Jenkins, Amy Poehler, Catherine O'Hara, Clark Duke, Jessica Alba, and Jane Lynch. You put them in a movie with an interesting story about what kind of people do kids of divorce turn out to be once they become adults. All of that should add up to something pretty great and yet this never reaches those heights. Scott plays the titular A.C.O.D. (which stands for Adult Child of Divorce). His younger brother announces he's going to get married. In order to prepare for the wedding, he attempts to get his estranged parents to start talking to each other once again. Dealing with them dredges up bad memories, so he also seeks out his former shrink (played by Lynch), who never was an actual therapist but still made a lot of money writing a book based on his issues growing up. The way the events play out in this film makes it feel like the pilot for a TV show. A lot of characters get introduced here that have some interesting quirks about them, but never fully get fleshed out. In addition, there's no really clear climax to the film. It really feels like an introduction without any clear resolution. If this had been a pilot, I would have been very invested to see where things go from there. As a standalone movie, I feel cheated. Despite the charming cast, there's nothing to sink your teeth into here. While there are certainly far worse movies that have come out in the past year, I cannot in my right mind recommend this one because I have no doubt that others will end up feeling just as disappointed as I was with this one. Rating: **1/2

Tub time

From EW.com:

The sequel to the 2010 comedy Hot Tub Time Machine is heating up. MGM and Paramount announced last night that the follow-up, which does not include John Cusack, will arrive sometime in 2014, with Paramount distributing in the U.S. and MGM handling the movie internationally. A press release confirms that the plot for the movie will emphasize the character played by Rob Corddry. “When Lou (Corddry) finds himself in trouble, Nick (Craig Robinson) and Jacob (Clark Duke) fire up the hot tub time machine in an attempt to get back to the past. But they inadvertently land in the future. Now they have to alter the future in order to save the past… which is really the present.”

Replacing Cusack, if not in character than at least in stature, is Adam Scott.

It's always hardest on the adults

Check out this trailer for A.C.O.D. (which stand for Adult Child of Divorce), the latest indie dramedy that features one hell of a talented and funny cast.

Inner Office workings

Audiences said goodbye to The Office this past May and now that it's over we're starting to get a look at what might have been. Here's an interesting video that will be included in the DVD/Blu-Ray of the final season that shows some famous actors originally auditions for the roles of Michael, Jim, Pam and the rest of the Dunder Mifflin crew. Watching it, it seems as if they made the right choices to go with the people that they did, but it's still funny to think of how different the show would have been had say Seth Rogen gotten the role of Dwight.