Fresh off the success of his uproarious viral video interview with President Barack Obama on his popular web series Between Two Ferns, Zach Galifianakis has lined up a new film project. According to The Hollywood Reporter, the portly funnyman will star with Jon Hamm in the Fox 2000 comedy Keeping Up With The Joneses.
Greg Mottola, director of the critically acclaimed and commercially beloved smash hit Superbad  (as well as the Simon Pegg/Seth Rogen alien invasion comedy Paul, and the criminally slept-on Jesse Eisenberg coming-of-age dramedy Adventureland), is confirmed as director. Additionally, Walter Parkes and Laurie McDonald are on board as producers.
Parkes and McDonald have been developing the project for two years now, and have secured the involvement of Galifianakis and Hamm within the past month. Mottola has already closed his deal to direct, while the two stars are still in the process of negotiating their deals.
The script details the adventures of a perfectionist couple who move into a seemingly perfect suburban neighborhood, and belatedly discover that their next door neighbors – played by Galifianakis & Hamm – are working as undercover agents. The script was written by You, Me & Dupree scribe Mike LaSieur.
The team of Galifianakis and Hamm is reminiscent of Due Date, which, in my opinion, made great use of Galifianakis’s absurd non sequiturs by giving him a phenomenal straight man in Robert Downey Jr.. I’m excited to see how Greg Mottola, who worked with a similar pair in Jonah Hill and Michael Cera in Superbad, makes use of the comedic talent on hand. Hamm also proved his own knack for comedy with appearances on Between Two Ferns. While You, Me, & Dupree was a slight letdown, that can be attributed to the wooden demeanor of Matt Dillon, who is not known for his comedic gifts.
For now, I’ll remain optimistic about Keeping Up With The Jonses. The two stars alone should make it worth a watch and with Mottola behind the camera, I think there’s a good chance that this one will be successful.
