There May be a 'Freaks and Geeks' Reunion in the 'Vacation' Reboot

As a huge fan of the TV show Bones, I was a little saddened by the departure of Dr. Lance Sweets, played by John Francis Daley for the past seven seasons. If Daley's name sounds familiar it's because he's been pretty busy making you laugh, co-writing the screenplay for Horrible Bosses, Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2, and the Horrible Bosses sequel. He's also set to make his directorial debut on the upcoming Vacation reboot, which is why I kinda knew he had to leave Bones at some point. But what I wasn't expecting was to hear about a potential reunion with his old pals from Judd Apatow's cult favorite series, Freaks and Geeks.

Daley revealed to Vulture that Vacation could see the return of the "geeks" played by Martin Starr as Bill Haverchuck, Samm Levine as Neil Schweiber, and Daley's Sam Weir.

Daley: "I don't think I can even give away what my role is. I don't know if anyone even knows this yet, but Samm Levine, and it's looking like Martin Starr, will also be in the film. I don't know if they've been confirmed yet in the cast, but it's looking really good. I just wanted a chance to get the three geeks back together, in the same project."

Pretty cool, and hopefully they'll be reunited in a way that pays homage to their past characters. Vacation stars Ed Helms, Christina Applegate, Chris Hemsworth, Chevy Chase, Beverly D'Angelo, Skylar Gisondo, Keegan-Michael Key, Steele Stebbins, Regina Hall, and is set to open October 9th 2015. 

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Chris Evans, Michelle Monaghan, Anthony Mackie and More in First 'Playing It Cool' Trailer

So what is it that causes a movie with an A-list cast to get delayed indefinitely? While sometimes it has to do with legal issues, like with Dakota Fanning's Effie Gray, more often than not it's because the movie isn't very good. But even then the right cast usually trumps quality, and that would seem to be the case with Serena, the period drama with Jennifer Lawrence and Bradley Cooper. But what about the romantic comedy Playing it Cool? It's been gathering dust since 2012 and even though the first trailer is out the film still doesn't have a release date.

The reason for the delay can't have anything to do with the cast because it's pretty phenomenal from top to bottom. Chris Evans, Michelle Monaghan, Anthony Mackie, Aubrey Plaza, Luke Wilson, Topher Grace, Martin Starr, Giovanni Ribisi, and Philip Baker Hall lead this one about a screenwriter who really wants to do a big action movie but is encouraged to write a romantic-comedy instead. Naturally this proves to be a problem because he doesn't know the first thing about love and doesn't believe it exists...until he meets the perfect woman. And maybe that's the issue with this film, which used to go under the title A Many Splintered Thing, is that it sounds like any of a million other similar movies. But that shouldn't be a problem given the generic state of rom-coms nowadays, and their continued box office success.

Chances are Playing it Cool with arrive some time in 2015 but for now it's on the shelf.


Playing it Cool - Official Trailer (2014) Chris Evans by MovieSpawn

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James Badge Dale Joins 'Stretch'; 'Veronica Mars' Adds Martin Starr and Ken Marino; Brad Copeland To Pen 'Knight Rider'

* James Badge Dale has had a pretty good run of flashy supporting roles of late, appearing in World War Z, Iron Man 3, and Flight. Now his The Grey director, Joe Carnahan, has taken to Twitter to reveal Dale's role in the indie action comedy, Stretch. While his role is unknown, he'll join Patrick Wilson, Chris Pine, Ed Helms, and Brooklyn Decker in the story of a hard-luck chauffeur who seeks to pay off his debt by driving around a mysterious billionaire, only to have the trip turn into a nightmare.

* It's not going to be a total Veronica Mars reunion for Rob Thomas and Kristen Bell. They're adding some new faces as well, and one of those is fellow Party Down alum, Martin Starr. After rumors began surfacing last week, Thomas revealed to fans that Starr had joined in the new role of Lou "Cobb" Cobbler. Thomas also confirmed that Ken Marino would be back as fellow P.I., Vinnie Van Lowe. With all of these Party Down castmembers, maybe they can shoot that movie while they're at it?

* So how do you make silly 1980s TV series Knight Rider modern and cool when today's cars are more advances than K.I.T.T. ever was? We could be about to find out as The Weinstein Company are keen on bringing it to the big screen, hiring Brad Copeland (Arrested Development) to begin work on a script. The original show was largely responsible for the David Hasselhoff problem we're still dealing with, as he played crime fighter Michael Knight, an ex-detective now working with his talking car, K.I.T.T. A 2008 TV relaunch didn't last very long, but with so many movie franchises centered around high-powered vehicles now may be a good time to take a fresh approach. Which may be why they hired Copeland, a writer known mostly for his comedic work. We could be looking at an oddball car/human buddy comedy. Copeland's directorial debut, Coffee Town, is due to open next month.

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