More crap that might be coming soon to a theater near you...

[Sorry for the delay on this posting. Apparently I started this back in April but never got around to putting it on the site. Because my schedule is so busy.]

Hollywood is a very good at being a "me-too" town. If a certain type of project achieves success, there are immediately imitators hoping to cash in on the fad. I've covered this before with all the Superbad knock-offs running around town. And then there's the vampire overkill we're in the midst of.* This brings us to the next genre that we can look forward to seeing ad nauseum -- platonic friends who develop feelings for each other.

This type of movie has been around for years, perhaps most famously with When Harry Met Sally. But that was 20 years ago -- or the typical length of the "popular idea-market saturation-consumer backlash-dormant phase-kitschy nostalgia" life cycle of Hollywood movie development. The new twist is giving the movie a risque title (at least until the studio heads get involved) and casting someone better looking than Billy Crystal. This thinking delivered us The Ugly Truth and Zack and Miri Make a Porno. And now for some projects in development that all sound eerily similar...


CUDDLE BITCHES
Logline: Two best friends move into the same house and realize it's much harder to just be friends and roommates than they ever anticipated.
Not so surprising factoid: The male character is a womanizer and the female character is a real estate agent.

FRIENDS WITH BENEFITS
Logline: A guy and a girl struggle to have an exclusively sexual relationship as they both come to realize they want much more.
Not so surprising factoid: The original title of Fuckbuddies was scrapped in favor of something the marketing people could do something with.

THE F-WORD
Logline: Two best friends struggle with falling in love without ruining the bond between them.
Not so surprising factoid: The title offers a double meanings (either "friends" or the dirty "f-word"). This is a trick often employed in movie (e.g., Free Willy, The Jerk, Deep Impact)

SWINGLES
Logline: After their best friends get engaged, a dedicated bachelor and a high-strung lawyer team up to help each other get dates by giving revealing insights into the opposite sex, but complications ensue when they fall for each other.
Not so surprising factoid: Cameron Diaz and Zac Braff are in discussions to star.


*At one of my recent gigs, a certain high-powered movie studio exec was actively considering another vampire movie. Mercifully his senses got the better of him and the project appears to be dead...for now.