After ‘The Hangover’: More R-Rated Comedies on the Way

With the unavoidable success of the raunchy, R-rated comedy The Hangover, Hollywood sees an opportunity that it’s not ashamed to exploit irrespective of the consequences, like John and Kate’s eight coattail riders. Let’s look at this from a purely business perspective: The Hangover cost a touch over $35 million to make, and so far its raked in $380 million.  That’s like a million percent return on investment, or something; any lemonade-stand-entrepreneur can see that this is the bandwagon to jump on.  And jumped on Hollywood has.

Up to bat after The Hangover comes Lionsgate’s announced project, One Night Stan, which is in the works and penned by Josh Friedlander, who previously wrote the scripts Pictures of You (which clung to the bottom of the 2007 Black List of hottest Hollywood screenplays with the requisite 2 votes), and Suicide Blondes (we’d never heard of it either).

Set to direct One Night Stan are the guys who brought you the brilliant (IMHO) Harold & Kumar films, Jon Hurwitz and Hayden Schlossberg. The film follows (you guessed it) Stan, on the night before his wedding when he learns that his wife’s sexual past is littered with more bodies than his own. In a fantastical turn of events that never happens in real life (take my word), Stan procures his soon-to-be-wife’s permission to play catch up for one night, and hilarity ensues.

Hayden and Schlossberg

The next up in the pipeline is The Best Thing About Pam Rooney, a title that conjures up images of I Love You, Beth Cooper, only starring Andy Rooney (at least in my head). Writers Jay Cohen and Brendan O’Brien sold their manuscript to Universal, and Jonah Hill has jumped on board to produce and star, though a director has not yet been found.

Trying to find any details on this film is like trying to find leftovers at Kirstie Alley’s house. However, the film has continuously been dubbed a “high-concept romantic comedy”, which is ambiguous enough to leave plenty of opportunity for hit or miss antics – though it does bode well (for me) that the producers, who are also the writers, also produced the Judd Apatow comedy, Funny People.

(Non-Apatow) R-rated comedies seem to be the Tickle Me Elmo of cinema right now, which is appropriately prophetic, given what happened to Tickle Me Elmo: It was hot for a while, and once Fisher Price realized what it had on its hands, it practically flooded the market and ruined it for me everyone. And don’t think other toy-makers didn’t jump on the epileptic-plush-doll bandwagon behind Elmo – just like Lionsgate and Hill are doing. Even if they are only the first to make their intentions publicly known, its just a matter of time before philandering-tickle-me-hungover-Pam-Rooney dolls are everywhere. So get while the gettin’s good.

One Night Stan and The Best Thing About Pam Rooney are both currently in development and don’t have release dates.

Sources: The Hollywood Reporter, First Showing