What the hell do we know? A few months ago, we saw a little film called “The Specials” at the American Film Market (a place where production companies hawk lots of B-movies) and weren’t all that impressed.
It has an unoriginal premise (a super-hero spoof, a la “Mystery Men“), a low-rent cast (it stars Rob Lowe, Jamie Kennedy and Paget Brewster), and the production values were of the no-frills variety (there’s only one special-effects sequence, when all the heroes briefly display their powers, at the end of the movie). And, although it has some pretty funny moments, this is a talky movie with dialogue-driven jokes that certainly aren’t for the kiddies.
If you’d asked us back then to predict the film’s chances for mass exposure, we’d probably say it’d get a video release at best, and develop a cult following. So, it comes as a bit of a surprise to learn that Regent Entertainment is releasing “The Specials” in theaters this fall.
Not only that, the film now has a great Web site (www.thespecials-movie.com), with bios of all the bumbling super heroes. There’s The Weevil (Lowe), Amok (Kennedy), Nightbird (whose only discernible power is laying an egg), Mr. Smart (who’s not so smart, natch), and the rest. Our fave was U.S. Bill, a super-strong idiot who got his powers via a “faulty tetanus shot,” and who lives with his mom.
Like we said, what the hell do we know?
BABY GOT BACK: In case you haven’t heard, Angelina Jolie will play Lara Croft, a female Indiana Jones-type character in the upcoming big-screen version of “Tomb Raider,” based on the video game. And in case you haven’t heard, Jolie has been putting on some weight for the film, which is shooting this summer.
“I finally got my ass back, ’cause I had lost weight. So I’m happy that I have my old ass back,” she says in the latest Entertainment Weekly.
Amen.
