Cameron Crowe, thinking very hard about how important it is to keep his next movie a secret.
You know, when I first read the Variety headline “Stiller, Witherspoon fly with Crowe,” I was so hoping they meant Russell Crowe. Because wouldn’t you like to see a wacky romantic comedy with Russell Crowe? Ben Stiller could be his wise guy sidekick and Reese Witherspoon would be the cute as a button, spunky object of Crowe’s affections. But many merry madcap misadventures are keeping them apart! Probably in some place like Biarritz. Or Toronto.
But alas, the Crowe in question is Cameron Crowe and there is no temperamental Aussie to be found, leaving us with just Stiller and Witherspoon, and Crowe, who while he’s had his share of successes, has also produced some bombs lately (Elizabethtown, anyone?). So what’s this film about? Shhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!! Top secret–Columbia Pictures is keeping the logline of the film “under wraps.”
Well, why don’t we just put our imaginations to work? Stiller is a down on his luck poker player who’s just surviving from game to game. Witherspoon is a waitress at his favorite diner. He suddenly realizes that whenever she waits on him at his nightly stops at the diner, he wins. He decides to make a run at the World Series of Poker and persuades her to come with him as his good luck charm. Stiller makes it all the way through to the final rounds and then, to his chagrin, discovers that one of the other people in the finals is a rock star who long ago kicked Stiller out of their band, just as the band was on the verge of making it! And the rock star’s been flirting with Witherspoon, who Stiller now suddenly discovers he’s in love with! Oh no! I guess we need more of a storyline for a star who gets paid the kind of money Witherspoon gets but I’m already too bored with the romantic comedy genre to work that out right now. Besides, it’s Cameron Crowe, so it’s really all about the soundtrack, right? Yes, the important part is to have a carefully chosen, tastefully obscure song to telegraph every emotion.
So that’s all the info I have for you for now. Feel free to throw your own ingredients into the romantic comedy blender along with Stiller and Witherspoon’s traditional onscreen personas and see what you get.
