chris o'dowd

Chris O'Dowd has been stealing scenes all over the place, but now the Irish funny guy has a starring role, and it may not be what you'd expect. The trailer for '60s-set The Sapphires features O'Dowd as Dave, the reluctant coach of amateur Australian singers who dream of going on tour to entertain the troops in Vietnam. Skeptical but in need of a job, he agrees to transform the girls from country singers to a soul group. Of course, his methods are slightly unorthodox, assigning the girl group stage personalities and helping them get more into the music.

I'm a big fan of O'Dowd, and I'm curious to watch him in a role different than what we've already seen from him. There are comic elements, but given that the movie is set during wartime, it feels like there's depth. Not to mention the Sapphires singers (played by Australian actors Deborah Mailman, Jessica Mauboy, Shari Sebbens, and Miranda Tapsell) sound wonderful. The Sapphires opens in limited release on March 22; until then, you can watch the trailer after the jump.

This Is 40, Judd Apatow's latest directorial effort, warns audiences about the dangers of blinking, meaning if you close your eyes you risk waking up decades later, wondering how you got to be so darn old. In a more literal sense, I did blink while watching the film. In fact, I full-on closed my eyes at the sight of Paul Rudd spread eagle with nothing but a strategically place hand mirror covering his man parts; I cringed while Pete (Rudd) and his wife, Debbie (Leslie Mann), screamed at each other for the umpteenth time; I yawned, I scoffed, but as with most of Apatow's projects, I also laughed and related to the conflicted characters.

This movie is billed as the "sort-of sequel" to Knocked Up, but it's more like a spin-off, centering completely on Pete and Debbie's clan five years later. The kids (played by Apatow and Mann's real-life children, Maude and Iris Apatow), are growing up and acting out — if watching unhealthy amounts of Lost qualifies as acting out — and the whole family is hitting a palpable rough patch. The film's unflinching honesty about shifting family dynamics is one of its strengths, but it's also undoubtedly uncomfortable to watch as resentment curdles and touches every aspect of the characters' lives. To find out what else I thought, just keep reading.

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Once you get past the bizarre title, there's actually a lot to like about the trailer for 3, 2, 1. . . Frankie Go Boom trailer. First, there's Sons of Anarchy's Charlie Hunnam looking adorable as ever as Frank. Frank's an average dude with an obnoxious older brother (Chris O'Dowd) whose just gotten sober and wants to make movies. Instead of getting serious about his craft, he secretly makes a sex tape of Frank and sells it to a Hollywood bigwig (Chris Noth). Unfortunately, the female star of the sex tape (Lizzy Caplan) is the daughter of said bigwig. Thus begins an adventure to intercept the DVD, which includes a pig and a transvestite (among other things).

I love that Bridesmaids star O'Dowd is starting to pop up everywhere now, and his rapport with Hunnam is enough to make me want to see more of this movie. Plus, the supporting cast includes funny people Whitney Cummings and Adam Pally (Happy Endings), who we don't see on the big screen nearly enough. Watch the trailer when you read more

The Sapphires has turned out to be one of the sleeper hits to emerge from Cannes, thanks to The Weinstein Company, which has already acquired rights to the film. I caught a screening of the funny film from Down Under during the festival, so read on to find out what I thought.

• Who's behind it? Director Wayne Blair was behind the lens of the picture, which is based on a play by Tony Briggs. Briggs's mother and her family actually inspired the story. Chris O'Dowd of Bridesmaids fame is the leading man. The movie's four leading ladies all have varying degrees of fame in Australia: Jessica Mauboy is a musical star after a turn on Australian Idol, and Deborah Mailman was the first Aboriginal actress to win the country's prestigious Australian Film Institute award for best actress. Relative newcomers Miranda Tapsell and Shari Sebbens round out the cast.
• What's it about? It's a story about a group of Aboriginal women who overcome significant obstacles in Australia to pursue their dreams of singing in 1968. When the ladies run into Dave (O'Dowd) at a local singing contest, he agrees to be their manager and help them get a gig touring Vietnam to entertain US troops. There are subplots about racism and Australia's "lost generation" (until the 1970s, the government stole light-skinned Aboriginal children to be raised by whites elsewhere). Mainly, though, there is a lot of singing, dancing, and '60s-era costumes.

To read what I thought, just read more