Now Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin make an impressive comedy duo with their back-and-forth tweets, their Oscar hosting gig and frequent appearances on “Saturday Night Live.” But their movies? Yeah, not so much. Their co-starring effort, IT’S COMPLICATED was horrible despite their considerable talents and the work of Meryl Streep. And as much as I love Steve Martin dearly (THE JERK might be one of my favorite all-time comedies), the man hasn’t made a funny movie since, what?, BOWFINGER?
Apparently the idea for the film came from Shankman, who has directed Martin in CHEAPER BY THE DOZEN 2 and Baldwin in the upcoming ROCK OF AGES, who was watching “Saturday Night Live” two weeks ago and saw their repartee on the monologue stage. So let’s make that into a movie!
I’m not trying to be a Negative Nellie here but the idea of Martin, Jack Black and Owen Wilson sharing the screen could’ve made for a funny movie too and instead we get THE BIG YEAR. And if this new project is looking for a writer, why not ask Martin? His best films have been the ones he’s also written. And why not pair these guys with someone like Paul Feig, who knows something about comedy, instead of Shankman, who’s a judge on “So You Think You Can Dance?” (Seriously!)