Who Stays Hot at Box Office

Larry the Cable Guy, Owen Wilson star in Pixar film

(NEWSER) - Just because it’s Pixar doesn’t mean it’s good, as Cars 2 proves. Its worst offender: sidekick-turned-lead Mater, voiced by Larry the Cable Guy.

• “Maybe the company was tired of turning out one masterpiece after another and decided to coast for a while,” suggests AO Scott in the New York Times . The film “takes the bold, arguably generous, and ultimately calamitous step of pushing its lovable, goofy second banana to the center of the action.” Mater is the “redneck Jar-Jar Binks.”

Farrelly brothers film stars Owen Wilson, Jason Sudeikis

(NEWSER) - The Farrelly brothers’ new film, Hall Pass, tells the story of two men given a week off from marriage. Don’t expect any surprises:

• “The Farrellys are exploring nominally adult realms, like marital fatigue and cheating, but too often these apparent good intentions get the best of them and their timing,” writes Manohla Dargis in the New York Times . Plus, they’re “oblivious to camera movement, blocking, lighting and all the filmmaking rest.”

Sam Worthington leads 'Young Hollywood' pack

(NEWSER) - Which of Hollywood’s young guns can claim the title of most likely to get you to the multiplex? Entertainment Weekly crunched the numbers to find out. Here they are by name, age, and box office average:

1. Sam Worthington, 34, $329.6M
2. Daniel Radcliffe, 21, $244.7M
3. Taylor Lautner, 18, $186.6M

Fey-Carell vehicle wins down-to-the-wire weekend battle

(NEWSER) - Steve Carell and Tina Fey held off a challenge from a horde of 3D Greek gods as Date Night recorded a narrow preliminary victory over Clash of the Titans at the weekend box office, Variety reports. The mistaken-identity caper raked in $27.1 million to $26.9 million for the action fantasy flick. In third place, the animated How to Train Your Dragon ($25.4 million) turned in another solid performance. More»

Tyler Perry's Why Did I Get Married Too? raises some good questions

(NEWSER) - Tyler Perry’s Why Did I Get Married Too? hits theaters today, which means it’s time for a lesson on how Hollywood names its sequels. Obviously, writes Amos Barshad in New York , the choice of “Too”—“far more elegant” than simply “2”—was the right one, but here are some other techniques Perry could have gone with:

• Pump up the intensity: Á la Die Hard With a Vengeance. Perry could have gone with “Why Did I Marry My Ass Off?”
• Tack on a subtitle: Like Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls. Or perhaps, in Perry’s case, “Why Did I Get Married: Seriously, Why?”