Big Shots

Los Angeles: Comedy Impact Report '08: Bigscreen Big Shots -- Although his turn as a lonely pot dealer in "Pineapple Express" has raised his comedic profile, James Franco's greatest recent role may well be James Franco -- presenting himself to the world as a clueless pretty-boy who imag...

Los Angeles: Comedy Impact Report '08: Bigscreen Big Shots -- Fate and trickery played equal parts in uniting the comedic talents of cut-ups Ashton Kutcher and Cameron Diaz for the hit Fox comedy "What Happens in Vegas."

Los Angeles: Comedy Impact Report '08: Bigscreen Big Shots -- As early as 2000's "Scary Movie," audiences could tell Anna Faris was funny, but it wasn't until "The House Bunny" that the actress showed Hollywood she could open a movie on her own.

Los Angeles: Comedy Impact Report '08: Bigscreen Big Shots -- Of all the paths to acting stardom, skipping auditions and insisting you really want to direct would normally be a dead end. And yet, for Danny McBride, playing hard-to-get has made him one of the most sought-after comic collab...

Los Angeles: Comedy Impact Report '08: Bigscreen Big Shots -- A former improv teacher, Steve Carell hasn't had a master plan for his career. So, when 2008 started with his acclaimed NBC comedy series "The Office" idling due to the writers strike, he couldn't have foreseen that by the end of...

Los Angeles: Comedy Impact Report '08: Bigscreen Big Shots -- The Judd Apatow phenomenon continues unabated. Four years after the writer-director-producer took Hollywood by storm with "The 40-Year-Old Virgin," Apatow is still gold -- as are the many projects that have his name on them.

Los Angeles: Comedy Impact Report '08: Bigscreen Big Shots -- It might have seemed silly at the time, but "Forgetting Sarah Marshall's" puppet-opera subplot proved useful practice for the film's director. When the pic hit, Disney hired Nicholas Stoller and writer-star Jason Segel to m...

Los Angeles: Comedy Impact Report '08: Bigscreen Big Shots -- A $63 million domestic gross may be small potatoes in Judd Apatow terms, but it's a nice start for "Forgetting Sarah Marshall" writer-star Jason Segel, transforming the "How I Met Your Mother" cast member into leading-man ma...

Los Angeles: Comedy Impact Report '08: Bigscreen Big Shots -- When Dany Boon's "Bienvenue chez les Ch'tis" (Welcome to the Sticks) -- about a southern postman reassigned to France's backwoods north -- was released in early 2008, few would have predicted the boffo biz to come.

Los Angeles: Comedy Impact Report '08: Bigscreen Big Shots -- Showbiz satires make for risky box office (witness 2008 Sundance duds "What Just Happened?" and "The Deal"). Take aim at out-of-control action movies and the pricetag increases exponentially -- which makes it all the more im...

Los Angeles: Comedy Impact Report '08: Bigscreen Big Shots -- It might surprise some to know "Pineapple Express" was pretty much in the can when "Superbad" opened, test screening as early as August 2007 -- a sign producer Judd Apatow believed in screenwriters Seth Rogen and Evan Goldber...

Los Angeles: Comedy Impact Report '08: Bigscreen Big Shots -- Sixteen years ago, he earned an Oscar nom for revealing Chaplin's melancholy side. Now there's talk Robert Downey Jr. could be recognized again for poking fun at serious actors.

Los Angeles: Comedy Impact Report '08: Bigscreen Big Shots -- Chick flicks aren't supposed to inspire multiplex mobs. Then again, Warner Bros. and New Line's "Sex and the City" wasn't a chick flick. "It is a female blockbuster," says Michael Patrick King, who wrote and directed. "Maybe the f...

Los Angeles: Comedy Impact Report '08: Bigscreen Big Shots -- Adults don't always get it, but "Alvin and the Chipmunks" has a way with kids, winning another generation of fans (to the tune of more than $360 million worldwide) with Lee as the new human face of the franchise.