When he’s not mangling idioms, Flula can be found making obscure references to “Sister Greta” and Throw Momma From The Train. Oh, and if you make it to the end, you get Anna Faris, who’s way better looking than these other two dudes. Sorry, Sir Ben and Jason.

Faris has been offered the lead female part in The Dictator: an organic food store owner who meets Cohen’s ruthless dictator as he wanders around New York City. Who better than a hot girl Cohen’s character totally likes to tell him that his dictator ideas might not be so cool? A handful of boobage helps the messages go down. That was the original lyric in Mary Poppins, but they changed it for some reason.

The Dictator will be directed by Larry Charles, and Paramount‘s film is looking to invade theaters May 11, 2012. (Deadline)

Anna Faris, Kristen Wiig and “Community” star Gillian Jacobs are all vying for the female lead. Wiig is doing so with awkward line readings and tiny plastic hands. However, Cohen and his producers are still looking around, so a three-way cat fight between them might be for naught. Well, you might be able to sell the DVD of the fight itself, at least.

Meanwhile, Jason Mantzoukas “The League“) is in negotiations to play the sidekick to Cohen’s lead. Apparently his ability to improvise, or “generate top-of-the-head make-’em-ups,” as theater people call it, is highly valued for this loosely scripted movie. The plot is described as “the heroic story of a dictator who risked his life to ensure that democracy would never come to the country he so lovingly oppressed.” I’m sure Paramount is just wondering how big the merchandising potential will be, and whether or not we see a penis swinging around on-screen, up close.

Larry Charles (Borat, Bruno), an important member of the Cohen Crew, returns to direct.

I guess not, though, since I don’t see Keanu Reeves in this cast: Chris Evans, Zachary Quinto, Matt Bomer, Ari Graynor, Andy Samberg, Aziz Ansari, Joel McHale and Chris Pratt. Oh well, I guess she doesn’t find The One until the sequel, What’s Your Number: Reloaded. I have more Matrix jokes, if you’re interested.

Faris has become a comedy staple, often considered the only good component of poorly-received projects such as The House Bunny, Scary Movie, Observe and Report, and nobody’s favorite, Yogi Bear. This film sounds a little more crafted to her, seeing as how it’s from her actual life and everything, so let’s get optimistic.

The untitled film is based on actual events in Faris’ life, though they will undoubtedly be played up for dramatic effect, as the story of that tim the roommate totally double-dipped pretzels in her peanut butter jar may not make for the most compelling cinema.

If all else fails, get a little naked. It got Clint Howard where he is today, and Anna Faris is roughly as good looking as he is, so within no time, she should be enjoying regular cameos in all her more successful brother’s movies. (THR)

The comedian has been sought for a voice-over that plays a crucial part in the film’s later scenes. That line, by the way, is “shitty hand job.” All he has to do is roll out of bed, get on an ISDN line, say “shitty hand job,” and then go about his day. Even the movie trailer guys don’t have it that easy. (via The Playlist)

Boy, they just don’t make ‘80s movies like they used to. Not like the good old days of the ‘90s. The Wedding Singer and Can’t Hardly Wait were much more like the ‘80s movies that inspired them. Even Hot Tub Time Machine. That was bad, but it got the ‘80s formula right.

Take Me Home Tonight is the classic story of a shy, unpopular guy who wants a shot with his high school dream girl. It’s already after college graduation, but everyone’s back in town for a party. Matt’s (Topher Grace) big plan? Tell Tori (Teresa Palmer) he works at Goldman Sachs, when he really works at Suncoast Video.

That’s it? Lie about your job? Just to get her phone number (that’s really all he wants)? In the ‘80s, the big scheme was buying the popular girl for a month or at least borrowing her panties. They don’t even make Tori an ironically desirable bitch. Here in the ‘00s we don’t have unlikable romantic leads.

Matt went to MIT but doesn’t know what he wants to do with his life, so he’s not getting a high paying job. Dude, that’s the ‘90s slacker mentality, not the ‘80s. The clothes and the hair are cute and the girls look great but this movie is made by ‘90s kids who think they get the ‘80s but they don’t.

There are a few funny parts but most of it is hipster humor, like look how retro we are but really we’re just playing at it. Matt’s twin sister Wendy (Anna Faris) knows all of Matt’s schtick so she says everything he’s going to say at the same time, including spontaneous profanity. They both know Barry’s(Dan Fogler) schtick too so they narrate it from a distance. Barry and Matt lip sync “Straight Outta Compton,” including the N word. Because they’re actually white.

Demetri Martin is by far the funniest thing in the movie. He’s in two scenes as a wheelchair bound high school success story. His brand of humor works on its own, even in the middle of this. Barry agreeing to let a woman’s husband watch them do it ends up being funny for an easy joke, as does Barry trying to talk dirty to her.

The romance is actually sweet, but it takes a yuppie banker party and carefree yard hopping to get there. Wendy’s D-bag boyfriend Kyle (Chris Pratt) actually makes good at one point. Matt’s dad, Bill (Michael Biehn), delivers a decent, but in now way profound, message. Just take a shot. Do something! Then he really overdoes the gun metaphor.

There’s a reason this movie took four years and two different titles to come out. They had the best of intentions but it just doesn’t work no matter how they spin it.

Director: Michael Dowse

Cast: Topher Grace, Teresa Palmer, Anna Faris, Dan Fogler

Synopsis: Follow an aimless college grad who pursues his dream girl at a wild Labor Day weekend party. He, his twin sister and their best friend struggle with their burgeoning adulthood over the course of the night.

Release Date: March 4, 2011

According to her interview with Conan‘s super lame TBS talk show cousin George Lopez, Faris was harassed by rowdy New Zealander dudes watching her film recent cinema masterpiece Yogi Bear. From there, Faris concluded that all New Zealand guys are (CG animated) pigs, which Ian Long, spokesman for the New Zealand tourism board, took offense to.

Noting that Faris received an award for being a smoking hot pot smoker later on Lopez, Long said that since “she accepts an award for being a pothead stoner of the year… I don’t think she has any credibility.” His bosses weren’t pleased with that, and New Zealand released this official retraction:

“The inference that Tourism NZ did not take Ms. Faris’ comments seriously is very much regretted and was certainly not intended. On a U.S. talk show Ms. Faris spoke about disrespectful behavior she experienced during her stay in New Zealand and as a consequence her impression of New Zealand men is, to say the least, poor.”

When Bart Simpson pissed off Australia, they gave him a booting. I don’t think Faris was in the wrong, but I’d still like her to receive a booting. It beats an entire country pussying out on what could have been an awesome publicity war. Then again, when I think of “great wars,” none of them involve New Zealand. (Cinema Blend)

The studio’s Planet of the Apes origin story, Rise of the Apes, is moving from June 24th to November 23rd. That makes sense, because Thanksgiving reminds us about how we took over this land from the Native Americans, so it makes karmic sense that we’d see a movie about apes taking over the world from us. Shame us with a big screen analogy, Fox!

Meanwhile, Fox must have a lot of faith in the Jim Carrey comedy Mr. Popper’s Penguins. They’re moving it from August 12th (the Baltic Avenue of summer movie spots) to June 17th (pure Boardwalk, baby). Let’s hope Carry’s penguins don’t… slip up!

Do you get that joke? It’s a joke about penguins being slippery.

Other notable mentions from Fox’s new calendar:

- The Sitter, a new “R”-rated Jonah Hill comedy, gets bumped from July 15th to August 5th. (Ouch.)

- What’s Your Number?, a new “R”-rated Anna Faris comedy, got moved from April 29th to September 30th. (Meee-ouch!)

- The Big Year, starring Jack Black, Steve Martin and Owen Wilson as bird-watchers, officially has my attention starting Oct. 15th. (Deadline)

Rosario Dawson and Lynn Collins both want to be a part of Channing’s ten yea high school reunion. The film, aptly titled Ten Year, is basically a modern day remake of The Big Chill, which means they’ll be dancing to “Livin’ La Vida Loca” on MP3 instead of “Heard It Through the Grapevine” on vinyl. Dawson and Collins join an already varied and sexy cast including Kate Mara, Anna Faris, Justin Long, Chris Pine, and Mr. Tatum himself. I’d warn the ladies to watch their backs for Channing attacks if his wife, Jenna Dewan, wasn’t also in the cast. You know what. Go ahead and watch your backs anyway. He could bother you about Ikea directions or something. (THR)

The worst part about yogi bear is that at no point during the film does the bear ever do yoga. Not a Downward Dog pose, not an Upward Bow pose, not even a Warrior One. That is blatant false advertising to promise yogi bear and not even deliver. I would pay to see a bear doing yoga. The free screening of the Yogi Bear movie was almost too much for me.

Now I have no attachment to the original cartoon but for anyone who did like it, this can’t be what you wanted. Yogi (voice of Dan Aykroyd) steals a few pic-a-nic baskets in the beginning, with Boo Boo (voice of Justin Timberlake) in tow. They never explain why they talk, only that Yogi’s smart, by which they can only mean he’s mastered Hooked on Phonics. Then it becomes a generic Hollywood plot, an excuse to hang the comedy on, but not a good excuse and not good comedy.

This is one of those movies where they have to save the park by raising enough money to stop the evil politicians. Mayor Brown (Andrew Daly) has run the city out of money by buying expensive suits, so he wants to sell Jellystone Park to developers. With Nate Corddry as his Chief of Staff, you end up watching two professional comedians exercising their Comedy 101. They’ve got this and it’s a paycheck so they just show the kids why they’re evil and fiddle with car windows.

Ranger Smith (Tom Cavanagh) throws a firework gala to attract visitors and sell enough season passes to pay the park’s operating costs. This is his only attempt to save the park, so it’s not even a formula that sets up many trials and errors This is it, and Smith tries to keep Yogi and Boo Boo hidden, but Yogi waterskis while twirling a flaming baton so “hilarity ensues.”

There’s also a documentarian, Rachel (Anna Faris), shooting footage at Jellystone and making Smith goo-goo-eyed, and assistant ranger Jones (T.J. Miller) bumbling things up. Mayor Brown actually gets Jones to sabotage the park by promising him a job at the park he’s planning to tear down. Anyway, I’ll give you Ranger Smith but not four extra humans.

Yogi Bear is busy, loud and obnoxious. The 3D is gimmicky for kids with lots of nacho chips rubber bands and spit takes poking out of the screen. All the mugging and posing of the bears is just desperate. Every scene has to have humans bumbling, animated bears bouncing around and an obnoxious orchestral live-action cartoon score.

You can imagine Aykroyd and Timberlake doing the voices. Yogi sounds like he comes from a big comedy belly and Boo Boo is a tweaked up pop star sound. I’ll give it to Cavanagh, he goes all out with Smith’s embarrassing song and dance to Rachel. The best jokes are about butt thermometers.

At least it’s so predictable you know you’re in the home stretch when Yogi has to get Smith to come back to Jellystone. Sadly, it still takes forever to work out all this political nonsense, so you’re stuck for a full 90 minutes.

A word from Anna: “I was never the class clown or anything like that. When I was growing up and doing theatre in Seattle I was always doing very dramatic work. Now I can’t get a dramatic role to save my life!”

Hmm… expensive education, arrested emotional development, video store knowledge. I think the logical next step is for Topher’s character to get a job at Screen Junkies.

Earlier today we showed you the poster for the hybrid live-action/animation adaptation of Yogi Bear, and now the trailer has dropped for you kids to enjoy! And make no mistake, it’s specifically for you kids! There are CGI bears and real people co-existing in harmony in a national park with pies! Pies and pic-i-nic baskets!

The film stars Dan Aykroyd as Yogi, Justin Timberlake as Boo Boo, Tom Cavanagh as Park Ranger Smith, and Anna Faris as a documentary filmmaker looking to exploit the talking bears! Do you know what exploit means, kids?! No?! Well then you probably don’t know what chloroform means either!

Yogi Bear sneaks into theaters December 17, 2010!

Check out the trailer after the jump!

Warner Bros. has unleashed the new poster for the live-action/animated Yogi Bear feature film. It showcases Dan Aykroyd and Justin Timberlake, in bear form, hanging out amidst a cornucopia of ravaged picnic baskets. The worst part about it is that everything is only half-eaten. If they’re going to ruin a slew of Sunday outings, they should at least destroy all the evidence. Park Ranger Smith (Tom Cavanagh) is going to have a sh*tfit when he sees what these mischievious bears have done. Real good example for Boo Boo, Yogi. REAL good.

Look for the trailer up later this afternoon. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have some spoiled egg salad to attend to. (Yahoo)

^{Russell Brand will be added in post.}

Up until last week, Goldie Hawn comedy remakes were an untapped Goldie-mine (slaps self, faxes resume to Leno). Then came news that Jennifer Lopez would focus her being a B-word energies toward a remake of Overboard. And this morning comes casting that makes more sense. Anna Faris is strapping on Hawn’s combat boots for a remake of Private Benjamin. From THR:

“Private Benjamin” is being called up to duty again.

New Line is remaking the seminal 1980 comedy, reconfiguring it for the new century as a starring vehicle for Anna Faris.

“Benjamin” starred Goldie Hawn in a star-making turn as a spoiled woman who joins the Army after her husband dies during sex on their wedding night.

The new take will set the story in contemporary times with modern wars as the backdrop. Insiders say the studio doesn’t want to poke fun at the men and women in the service or take political potshots, but rather focus on the empowerment elements and build on the fish-out-of-water comedy.

Her character’s husband dies during sex on their wedding night? Maybe a more suitable casting choice would have been Tara Reid. I figure any healthy man has about 40 or 45 seconds to live once her saliva absorbs into his bloodstream.