In which case, not cool Netflix and Ron Howard. We’ll find out for sure on May 26th.

He may seem like he’s enjoying overnight success but Driver has actually been working on his craft for quite some time. In fact, I think he was brilliant opposite Billy Crystal in My Giant.

An undervalued performance. (THR)

Though I can’t imagine the pain associated with losing a loved one or my livelihood to the cruelty of the internet, Disconnect seems a bit overdramatic and forced. Or fake and gay, if you will.

When Jason Bateman learns that his identity has been stolen by a husky woman in Florida, he does what any sensible person would do. Travels to Florida to hit the woman with his car. That’s the best way to handle those situations, right? One time, a waiter accidentally gave my credit card to the wrong customer and he charged up $300 on it. I hit both he and the waiter with a car. Which really was a priceless experience if you know how to live in the moment.

Let’s add this photo to the list of relevant documents. Here we see everyone looking exactly as they should about five years after we last joined our heroes. The only real developments of note are that Portia di Rossi is still looking insanely “huggable” and Michael Cera has reached new levels of Michael Cera-ness with his jack 0′ lantern haircut.

Production stars now and will go into fall allowing for a simultaneous release of all 10 episodes on NetFlix which will probably go down as the most important four-and-a-half hours of my stupid life.

I’m excited. Get to work, you wonderful people.

Metropolis

Next time you want to complain about work, just remember how bad the “employees” in Fritz Lang’s science fiction classic Metropolis have it. They work like slaves in an underground civilization at the will of their wealthy overlords. The only entertainment they get is the occasional herky-jerky robot girl dance.

The Apartment

This movie will probably seem a bit truer to the real workplace experience than Metropolis. No robot girls here, just an environment in which getting ahead is more important than being a decent human being. In the case of CC Baxter, this means giving over the keys to his apartment to his bosses so they can use it to have sex with women who aren’t their wives. As if that wasn’t enough, Baxter’s in love with the elevator girl who’s in a toxic relationship with his horrible, sleazy (and married) boss. Bad work environment!

2001: A Space Odyssey

Traveling from Earth to the moon to various other points in space may be easy in 2001, but it’s still a pain in the ass. The toilet has a set of instructions with like 12 steps, and the “food” can all be drunk through a straw. Oh, and your boss is a homicidal computer with a creepy glowing red eye. Murdering your boss would be justified, in this case.

Click here for the cast’s most embarrassing roles since leaving the show.

Don’t get me wrong, I love Arrested Development. I’ve watched the entire series repeatedly. I choked up a little when Fox finally gave it the axe. It was easily the best sitcom in television history until Party Down came along and provided some stiff competition. Talking about The Seaward, hot cops, and Mr. Bananagrabber brings an instant smile to my face, if not a minor titter and yet… I’m a little underwhelmed by the return of the show.

Trying to recreate Arrested Development is like trying to capture lightning in a bottle. I’m sure people were pretty amped when Aerosmith got back together, and then they dropped Permanent Vacation and the Armageddon soundtrack, a couple of stiff kicks to the balls. I mean, take a minute to step back from your irrational exuberance and ask yourself: How many band break up, get back together and make good records?

See?

I’m not saying the new shows and movie won’t be funny. They probably would be if I had never heard of Arrested Development. But expectations kill and momentum means something in comedy. Michael Cera isn’t cute little awkward George Michael anymore, he’s Michael Fucking Cera, the douche who’s made a career out of playing irritating, twee “male” versions of the manic pixie dream girl, minus the mania and god dammit, he wouldn’t even take his picture with me and my friends at a bowling alley in Koreatown even though I’m pretty sure he didn’t even know we were just trying to clown on him.

It’s not just prancing Michael Cera and his red wool cap, either. Has anyone noticed how lame Will Arnett has gotten? The sex tape was great. I even liked Let’s Go To Prison. But now he’s on some TV show about trying to stay cool while raising a fucking baby? Isn’t he about fifteen years too old to star on a show like that? More to the point, isn’t that show for the type of people who post pictures of themselves holding up diapers soiled in unnatural colors while smiling and making “oopsie” faces, AKA the type of people who make you want to kill all parents instead of becoming one?

I saw Alia Shawkat on some Lifetime movie and apparently she appears in Best Coast videos. I don’t think I really need to go on with this one.

Point is: The show was great in its time, but there’s a pretty good chance that time has passed away, along with the blissful innocence of the Bush years. America has new anxieties, irritants and pathologies to explore and exploit for comic potential now. Today, Arrested Development is about as relevant as M*A*S*H.

Follow @NicholasPell on Twitter.

Here’s a rundown of the cast’s most embarrassing post-Arrested Development projects.

Jason Bateman – The Ex

Jason Bateman kicked off his career of appearing in every comedy known to man with a co-starring role in The Ex. Here he plays the wheelchair-bound tormentor to Zack Braff, who believes Bateman has designs on his wife. This also kicks off the beginning of Bateman’s raunchy, gross out comedy. I like the part where he falls down.

Michael Cera- Paper Heart

The pseudo-documentary/hipster fart smell-a-thon Paper Heart helped transform Michael Cera from the awkward teen on Arrested Development to awkward teen in everything. Now a household name, Cera has taken roles in some pretty interesting projects… interesting in the aspect that people somehow enjoy them.

Click here to see the cast’s most embarrassing roles since”Arrested Development” was canceled.

“[I] found that as time went by, there was so much more to the story. In fact, where everyone’s been for five years became a big part of the story,” said Hurwitz. “So in working on the screenplay, I found even if I just gave five minutes per character to that back story, we were halfway through the movie before the characters got together.”

The plan is to focus each of the new episodes on a different member of the Bluth family, which Jason Bateman confirmed via his Twitter page. “It’s true,” Bateman wrote. “We will do 10 episodes and the movie. Probably shoot them all together next summer for a release in early ’13. VERY excited!”

There’s no word yet on where the new series will air, though Showtime and Netflix have both shown strong interest. Sounds good, just as long as they don’t air on Fox. The network would only show three episodes back-to-back on a Friday night opposite the Olympics before cancellation. (NY Times)

Check out Don’t Get Too Excited For The Return Of Arrested Development

The project originally called for Bateman to have his identity stolen by another guy, but McCarthy won the role when America saw Bridesmaids and realized that girls can be funny too. It’s too bad for Danny McBride. I’m sure he could have practically tasted that role. (Deadline)

Dave (Jason Bateman) and Mitch (Ryan Reynolds) switch bodies thanks to a magic fountain. At least the film has the decency to acknowledge that it doesn’t really matter what caused the body swapping. They pee in a fountain, the lights black out, they wake up as each other. Boom.

Exclusive: 'Change-Up' Red-Band Trailer Gets A Little Randy

It’s funnier to see Bateman and Reynolds play each other’s personas than their own. Maybe they should really switch. The script is not what I’d call inspired though. Dave and Mitch do a lot of babbling. Their dialogue is not clever, but they say it so fast the audience thinks they’ve heard jokes. To their credit, that’s probably the actors’ improv and it’s probably an improvement over what was actually written.

6 photosLeslie Mann

Dave’s wife Jamie (Leslie Mann) is legitimately upset by these shenanigans. She’s trying to keep her family together, making her the perfect straight woman. If only she had some good comedy to which she could react.

Mitch and Dave learn about themselves by taking each other’s perspectives. Mitch gets to hear his dad (Alan Arkin) say something nice about him, because dad can only say it to Dave. Dave sees what a bad husband he’s been because Jamie can only confide in Mitch. Mitch experiences a child’s love. Awww.

Oh, Dave is also working on a major deal for his promotion, which is the generic job Mitch has to learn how to do when they switch bodies. I mean, it’s not as horrifying as 17 Again, also starring Mann and another recent take on the ‘80s high concept. That was all about a guy wishing he hadn’t abandoned the teenage girl he knocked up, and it had Thomas Lennon peacocking. So go see The Change-Up for a body swapping comedy that’s more focused on poop and butt hole jokes.

7 photosOlivia Wilde

This trailer also sheds a little more light on how the Jason Bateman/Ryan Reynolds body/mind transfer unfolds, and I don’t think I’m spoiling anything by revealing that wacky mishaps abound. Reynolds has difficulty immediately adjusting to married life! Jason Bateman must revert to bachelorhood! Only with this red-band trailer, the producers are able to get a little more…detailed.

Also, we learn that Bateman’s wife (Leslie Mann’s character) has a bald spot on her vagina. I have no reason to believe that was drawn from reality, but it’s fun to pretend it is, if only for a minute.

Nick (Jason Bateman), Dale (Charlie Day) and Kurt (Jason Sudeikis) all have lousy bosses. Harken (Kevin Spacey) demeans and overworks Nick. Julia (Jennifer Aniston) sexually harasses Dale (it’s funny because it’s not a man intimidating a woman). Bobby Pellit (Colin Farrell) is just coked-up and crazy.

There's Funny Stuff In 'Horrible Bosses' Red Band

You know Hollywood’s not going to make a movie about really killing your boss. Horrible Bosses at least has fun with three dorks exploring the underworld. Kurt especially makes continuous asides like he’s really reacting to the process of finding a hired killer. They’ve seen Strangers on a Train and Throw Mamma from a Train but apparently not 9 to 5, and you get some slapstick as they bumble through reconnaissance missions.

You know exactly where the story is going and it’s all to keep the heroes innocent and likeable. It’s pretty funny when Kurt plays petty pranks with Pellit’s toiletries. Dale has some good Charlie Day freak-outs. Bateman gets some good lines too so he’s not relegated to straight man. These three work together, and it’s kind of nice to see this generation’s reliable studio comedians emerge.

6 photosJennifer Aniston

The bosses get to be extreme too. Spacey is basically doing Swimming with Sharks light, but Aniston really relishes saying the P word and talking about touching herself. If you have trouble imagining a man disliking Aniston’s advances, consider that Dale actually has a loving fiancée he wants to be faithful to. Or, remember that in real life, oversexed aggressive women don’t look like Jennifer Aniston.

I was going to compliment one twist on a standard cliché, but then they followed it up with the usual cliché so it would be a spoiler. I thought Horrible Bosses was a little funnier than Bad Teacher. If you’re hating on The Hangover Part II, at least they’re going somewhere with their formula. You’d rather have an “original” plotline that plays it safe? Well, at least I’ve gotten to see Rubber and Detention, so I can let these summer comedies coast.

Director: Seth Gordon

Cast: Colin Farrell, Jason Bateman, Charlie Day, Jason Sudeikis, Jennifer Aniston, Kevin Spacey, Jamie Foxx, Donald Sutherland

Synopsis: Three friends conspire to murder their awful bosses when they realize they are standing in the way of their happiness.

Release Date: July 29, 2011

The film will be helmed by writer-turned-director Jeremy Garelick, who wrote The Break-Up and did some work on The Hangover. The movie could go into production as early as this fall, Deadline reports.

Every aspect of this project seems to make sense to me except for the title. My gut instinct is that it’s a play on “in-laws.” I hope that’s not the case, only because the wordplay is really, really, really awful. Or maybe they’re just gonna poke fun at some wacky laws. In Texas there’s a law that you can’t take more than three sips of beer while standing. That legislation is ripe for satire.

4 photos‘Horrible Bosses’ Posters Showcase Just How Horrible These Bosses Are

Bossocide will commence in theaters July 8th, 2011. (Collider)

Watch The Trailer For ‘Horrible Bosses’ While Your Boss Is Gone

These posters highlight the employee/boss couplings introduce us to the bosses using a few choice words like “psycho,” “tool,” and “maneater.” Watch out boy, she’ll chew ya up.

Not relating to the posters, but interesting nonetheless is the fact that Horrible Bosses is directed by Seth Gordon, the man behind King of Kong, the funniest documentary in the solar system. Of course, he’s also got Four Christmases to his name, but we’ll let his work on”Modern Family,”"Parks and Recreation,” and”The Office” offset that travesty.

My favorite part of the trailer is the appearance at the end from Wendell “William ‘Bunk’ Moreland” Pierce. I’m pretty excited to see this when it comes out on July 8th. I might even…kill to see it. Probably not, though.

Beyond that, this trailer is pretty similar to the one from before. But don’t dismiss it entirely. Let it serve as another reminder that you should never make wishes in front of unfamiliar statues. Because they might grant them. And then you might inherit your friend’s body and life, neither of which are as good as Ryan Reynolds‘. I promise you.

How do I know hilarity ensues? I don’t, but it’s an educated guess. The film is directed by the helmer of Wedding Crashers and written by The Hangover guys. Call it a hunch.

We’ve also got a poster for you. It would appear that both men are having threesomes, only Jason Bateman‘s is with babies. Pretty edgy stuff.

Horrible Bosses sounds pretty fun. Directed by Seth Gordon (King of Kong), the film stars Jason Bateman, Jason Sudeikis and Day as three pals downtrodden by their terrible employers – Kevin Spacey, Colin Farrell and Aniston – who they decide to kill. If you haven’t at least considered the possibility of beating your boss within an inch of his or her life, you are not an American.

The employers will attempt to downsize their supervisors in theaters July 8th. These images first appeared in Entertainment Weekly. (The Playlist)

Paul is like all those comedies I used to like, the kind where they were just plain good. They had a little of everything and just worked. That makes it harder to write about since there’s no hook except overall solid work, but I’m up to the task.

Graeme (Simon Pegg) and Clive (Nick Frost) are Brits visiting Comic-Con. On the road to Area 51, they meet an actual alien Paul (Seth Rogen). Paul needs their help but won’t tell them much at first. At an RV park, they pick up Ruth Buggs (Kristen Wiig), a devout Catholic who experiences an awakening when she witnesses the existence of Paul. Agents Zoil (Jason Bateman), O’Reilly (Joe Lo Truglio) and Haggard (Bill Hader) are on their tail.

Pegg and Frost, who wrote the script, deliver on all the sci-fi, comic book and general movie references you’d hope for. You’ll hear familiar music, lines of dialogue and even a reference to spoilers themselves, incorporated seamlessly into the narrative. Try to catch the obscure Capturing the Friedmans joke. It’s not all mainstream. Clive and Graeme also recreate some familiar action moments that I just know Frost and Pegg were saving since Hot Fuzz (the age old “grab my hand” bit.)

It’s not ALL sci-fi, so there’s plenty to amuse general audiences, although it never sells out the target audience for a mainstream laugh. They do sex jokes, drugs jokes and some good old fashioned immaturity, mooning through windshields and swearing creatively. I love the running gags. Whenever a joke happens more than once, it’s instantly funnier to me.

Paul is a great character. He’s the everyman alien so he gets indignant about alien clichés, and he has base needs like anyone. The CGI looks real and interactive with the scene and characters. It never feels like they had to construct a scene to fit the effect. Clive and Graeme are delightful, childish foreigners and Ruth has a sweet arc in between Wiig-y profanity outbursts, which are also awesome.

Like the classic comedies, there’s a bit of depth with Paul confronting Ruth’s creationist beliefs. Paul actually heals Ruth, which is sweet considering at that point in the story he hates her. Is it predictable? Yes, in that I knew where the story was going, but I’d also call that paying off. Most importantly, it’s all funny.

CAST: Simon Pegg; Nick Frost; Seth Rogen; Jason Bateman; Kristen Wiig; Sigourney Weaver

SYNOPSIS: Two British comic-book geeks traveling across the U.S. encounter an alien outside Area 51.

The 1980′s were clearly the heyday of mind-body transfer movies. Fred Savage and Judge Reinhold switched it up in Vice Versa, Kirk Cameron and Dudley Moore did it with Like Father, Like Son, then there was 18 Again! starring George Burns and some other dude. I never saw that one. The 90′s offered a death rattle in the way of a Freaky Friday remake, but it seemed clear that the concept was destined to die off. But Jason Bateman and Ryan Reynolds said “not on our watch,” and came to our rescue with The Change-Up (via Playlist), in which an uptight guy and his slacker friend switch bodies. Shocked? Ryan Reynolds sure is:

Then we’ve got Dream House starring Rachel Weisz and Daniel Craig, in which a family moves into a new home, only to find that the previous inhabitants were murdered, possibly at the hands of the husband/father. They discover that they are doomed to repeat the fate of the family before them, which makes Mr. Craig register an expression that can best be described as “concern.” (Playlist)

Finally, we’ve got Ceremony which follows a young man (Michael Angarano) who crashes the wedding of a character played by Uma Thurman. This act makes the boy very relatable, as most anyone could develop an infatuation with the Thurmanator. In an interesting wrinkle that could only occur during our technological renaissance, Ceremony is hitting VOD on March 4th and theaters April 8th. (Playlist)

Simon Pegg and Nick Frost have teamed up in the past to take on horror and the action genre, now they’ve set their sights on sci-fi. As this teaser for Paul will show you, the pair play nuuurrrdddssss who encounter an alien outside of Area 51.

Not much comedy is shown in this teaser and I need to applaud Greg Mottola‘s restraint in not having the alien play air guitar or perform a Black Eyed Peas song. Because that’s the constant temptation and danger with working with CGI characters. Before you even realize it, you’ve veered into Alvin and the Chipmunks territory.

Check out the teaser after the jump…

Blowing out magical birthday candles, touching an ancient artifact, pissing off a gypsy, and wanting to bang Olivia Wilde so hard. All are now acceptable catalysts for the plots of body swapping comedies. Wilde just joined the cast  of David Dobkin‘s The Change Up.

In the film, Jason Bateman plays a married man who switches bodies with his slacker best friend Ryan Reynolds. Wilde plays a co-worker of Bateman and is cited as a reason for the body swap. I assume that means so that he could bang her. I guess it could mean something else, but this is what makes the most sense to me. It’s the perfect plan, and I’m sure guys everywhere are going to try to pull it off themselves. Now Hans, here. Hold this live electrical wire at precisely the same time as me. (Deadline)