Townies is shaping up quickly to be something I want to see. Seth Rogen’s forthcoming comedy, in which he’ll play a regular Joe and family man forced to confront the local bros from a nearby frat house, has already nabbed the 100% dependable Zac Efron and has most recently added Dave Franco and Christopher Mintz-Plasse to its lineup. There’s a whole bunch of six degrees action to be found there if you figure in Superbad, Freaks & Geeks, 21 Jump Street and a host of other Rogen projects.
The film, directed by The Five Year Engagement‘s Nick Stoller, already looks considerably more promising than any of the bearded Canuck’s most recent endeavours.
Efron is set to play one of the film’s antagonists, and it wouldn’t be much of a stretch to see Franco joining him after his excellent turn in 21 Jump Street as one of the best comedy film jerks in years. Speaking of Efron, he has my full support in everything. I’d give him my last, like, clothes in a storm, or whatever a phrase is.
Mintz-Plasse is something of a phenomenon as far as I’m concerned – I’m never not happy to see him in something, but it’s been very hard for me to shake that great first impression he made as McLovin’ in Superbad. It’s his fault for so perfectly bringing a character to life that I can’t help but think of any of his roles as “McLovin’ as…”, like a sort of positive inverted version what my best bud once nailed as Kat “Kat Dennings” Dennings as Kat Dennings Syndrome.
Rose Byrne’s casting as Rogen’s wife is maybe another example of wishful thinking in comedy movies, though. Seth’s not without his charms, but Rose Byrne is so perfectly lovely I can’t even muster anything approaching a crude thought about her. There’s a gap in aesthetic compatibility there, is what I’m saying. I could do with seeing her in more comedies, heck, in more big roles in general, really. I am and shall remain a Rose Byrne devotee.
Seth Rogen’s The End Of The World is due this summer, and he’s also recently announced another collaboration with Superbad co-writer Evan Goldberg in The Interview, so Townies is still a ways off yet, but what do you think? Are we entering another golden era of Seth Rogen ubiquity, or is this too much of something you tired of five years ago?
