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LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - It’s shaping up as a tale of two genres at the weekend box office in North America.

A trio of studios will be singing “We Are Family” again, but the No. 1 picture is likely to be “Funny People,” a new R-rated comedy that extends another recent theatrical trend.

The family-friendly films “G-Force,” “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince” and “Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs” nabbed three of the top five spots last weekend, so one might think that the moms-and-kids segment is saturated. But so far this summer, parents have shown boundless enthusiasm for rounding up the tots for a couple hours of air-conditioned diversion.

Fox’s family-targeting adventure fantasy “Aliens in the Attic,” which opens Friday, mixes computer-animated extraterrestrials into predominantly live-action shenanigans. Originally scheduled for a spring bow, “Aliens” — then titled “They Came from Upstairs” — was delayed after the studio decided to tweak its screenplay and visual effects. John Schultz (“The Honeymooners”) directed the young ensemble cast.

“It’s summertime, and I think there’s plenty of interest for a picture like this,” Fox distribution president Bruce Snyder said.

Prerelease tracking indicates “Aliens” might do best with boys, opening with $11 million-$13 million through Sunday. That’s just below the expected range for the second weekend of Disney’s family adventure fantasy “G-Force,” which ruled the box office last session, and Warner Bros.’ “Half-Blood Prince,” whose third frame will be bolstered by an expansion to 160 Imax venues.

But this weekend’s box office crown is likely to be worn by a comedy bearing a restricted rating — like the other two pictures in last weekend’s top five, “The Ugly Truth” and “Orphan.” Universal’s “Funny People” — a Judd Apatow-directed dramatic comedy starring Adam Sandler, Seth Rogen and Leslie Mann — appears a lock to open north of $20 million.

How much higher is the subject of much speculation. Industry forecasts have been unusually errant this summer, and “Funny” is considered a picture whose fate is tied to word-of-mouth from its earliest audiences.

So a positive reaction among Friday patrons — spread via Facebook, Twitter, texting, etc. — could prove particularly key toward the picture’s sustaining momentum Saturday and Sunday.

With a running time pushing 2-1/2 hours and a story involving a stand-up comic with cancer (Sandler), “People” isn’t the most obvious sort of Apatow comedy. But it has been drawing relatively positive early reviews, and broadly solid prerelease interest appears strongest among male youngsters.

Produced for an estimated $70 million, “People” is the third Apatow-helmed picture after “The 40-Year-Old Virgin” and “Knocked Up.” “Virgin” opened in August 2005 with $21.4 million, en route to ringing up $109.4 million domestically; “Knocked Up” bowed with $30.7 million and registered $148.8 million in total domestic coin.

The weekend’s third wide opener is a horror picture with modest aims. The Freestyle-distributed “The Collector,” starring Josh Stewart (“The Haunting of Molly Hartley”) appears headed for a bow in the single-digit millions. Freestyle co-founder Mark Borde said “Collector” targets younger males, unlike last weekend’s horror release “Orphan,” which skewed heavily female in fetching $12.9 million from its first frame.

There comes a time in every woman’s life when she finds herself blissfully boyfriend-less. During this era, aforementioned lady may not even have a Saturday night makeout session or 7th-grade-style soda date. Indeed, sometimes she’s bereft of even a wink from across the room. Not even an errant text from an ex or cat call from the construction site. It happens to the best of us.

Sometimes. There’s. Just. Nothing. A spell dryer than Joan Rivers’ sense of humor.

Which is why it’s imperative to have an arsenal of testosterone at your disposal. A stash to whip out like an emergency bag of chocolate when you decide that sugar-free diet is ridiculous. Yes, of course, reader: the lady we speak of doesn’t need any man. But let’s just say these four are nice to have (and she’d be wise to keep them around).

1.) The Platonic Male Friend With No Sexual Tension: While you logically know he has a penis, frankly, you’d rather not think about it. Here’s hoping he feels the same way about you. If so? Then this is a dose of testosterone so simple and loyal that nothing (new girlfriend being the exception) will tarnish it. Most importantly, PMFWNST can strip away man-talk and feed you the truth in bite-sized nuggets of “He’s So Full Of Crap” wisdom. Without an ounce of ulterior motives. He’s like a brother from another mother.

2.) The Platonic Male Friend With Sexual Tension: You logically know this guy has a penis and you love to think about it—but not act on it. Good. Don’t. For some reason you two have never reached that Point Of No Return and the longer you wait, the more you realize it isn’t such a swell idea. (Stay away from the booze.) But that doesn’t mean you can’t fit in some thinly veiled compliments and relish in his faux-jealousy when you complain about jerks. It’s like a cheap (but oh so delicious) burger from the dollar menu at McDonald’s. Harmless in small doses.

3.) The Gay Friend: This one is so self-explanatory it borders on cliche. What are we saying—it is a cliche, but dry spells and gay friends go together like champagne and strawberries. Nobody is better to pop bon bons and lament the evils of men while watching reruns of Sex and the City and grimacing at Ridiculous Carrie Bradshaw Outfit #568. Gay guys are still guys, too. Same mindset, just sub Sorority Girls In Hot Tub with Muscle Boys In Frat House. You get the idea, and thankfully that aggression will never be directed toward you.

4.) The Out Of Town Flirt Buddy: Maybe you met him on a business trip, or he’s an old pal from college you keep up with via Facebook. It doesn’t matter, really, that all you have have is a childish crush coupled with, oh, a good 5-hour plane ride between the two of you. So, yeah, little chance of it ever getting consummated (or screwed up!). But never underestimate the power of a good 20-minute IM chat when your sexual self-esteem is gasping for air. Sometimes it’s just the emergency mouth-to-mouth you needed to get to dating. Minus the actual mouth, of course.

From:Shine.Yahoo

Humiliation and comedy have always been natural bedfellows, but the one doesn’t guarantee the other, as poor Katherine Heigl discovers in this crude, sub-par stab at a modern screwball comedy.

Katherine Heigl plays the sophisticated female boss of Gerard Butler in “The Ugly Truth.”

The “Grey’s Anatomy” and “Knocked Up” star plays Abby, a supposedly intelligent producer on a local Sacramento TV news show.

We’re repeatedly assured that she’s good at her job, though there’s little or no evidence for that in what we see, and apparently the ratings are in the toilet.

That’s why her boss drafts controversial cable clown Mike (Gerard Butler), whose bargain basement show “The Ugly Truth” gives viewers the real dope on the opposite sex.

Mike’s straight talk isn’t exactly edifying — or original. It boils down to this: men are only interested in one thing, and it’s not your IQ score.

His advice to women: swallow your pride — and anything else that might come up.

Abby is understandably skeptical, both professionally and personally, but the sweeps prove her wrong. Mike may be outrageous, but Sacramento loves him for it.

A smarter comedy might make mischief from these base ingredients, the sophisticated female boss and her rude, reactionary star employee. But this movie, which is credited to three female screenwriters, bends over backward to accommodate Mike’s tired old sexist world view and fails to be funny in the process.

Abby really is a neurotic control freak, living alone with her cat and a checklist about what constitutes the perfect guy. And when a close approximation of the type moves in right next door (Eric Winton as a handsome young doctor), she only lands him by putting herself in Mike’s hands: accentuating her cleavage, losing the ponytail and trading in dinner and an art show for a hot dog and a baseball game.

Directed by Robert Luketic (“Monster in Law”), “The Ugly Truth” barely attempts to disguise its own lifts and tucks. The most craven of these gambits involves Abby going into multiple orgasm at a business dinner, a variation on Meg Ryan’s famous scene in “When Harry Met Sally,” except that in Ryan’s case, she was in full control, demonstrating her mastery of the fake-out.

Abby, though, is sent into inadvertent paroxysms when the remote control of the vibrating panties she’s wearing — don’t ask — falls into the hands of a curious kid.  Watch the stars describe the scene »

In other scenes, Heigl is caught hanging upside down from a tree in her nightgown, hiding in her office closet and furiously rubbing a stain out of the doctor’s crotch in front of a stadium of ball fans. Presumably this is what picking up Julia Roberts and Sandra Bullock’s cast-offs entails these days. Katharine Hepburn would weep.

But what about Mike? Surely he has lessons to learn and comic indignities to endure? Not so much. In contrast to Abby’s makeover, he’s allowed to be comfortable in his own rather corpulent skin. Gerard Butler evidently hasn’t worked out since Sparta; heck, he hasn’t even bothered to shave.

You won’t be surprised that the avowed bachelor boy falls in love with dear Abby. Of course he’s a nice guy underneath. We know that from the way he looks out for his fatherless nephew. So what if he’s a sexist pig? He’s a sexy sexist pig, and obviously father material. What more could any woman want?

From cnn

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