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Actor James Franco is set to play a prince in Universal’s upcoming comedy “Your Highness.” The Golden Globe-nominee will reunite with “Pineapple Express” costar Danny McBride and David Gordon Green, the movie’s director, according to Variety.

“Your Highness” tells the story of two princes and their journey to protect their family kingdom from the hands of an evil magician and is set to start shooting in July, according to E! Online.

Also, funny-man Steve Carell may star in a Warner Bros. comedy called “Dumped.” The movie is about a divorced man who searches for new meaning in his life.

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Comedic heavyweights Steve Carell and Tina Fey are joining forces for the upcoming movie “Date Night.”

According to Variety, Carell and Fey have been cast in the 20th Century Fox comedy as a married couple whose routine date night turns into something much more than just a dinner and movie.

The film will be directed by Shawn Levy, whose credits include “Cheaper by the Dozen” and “Night at the Museum,” as well as the latter’s upcoming sequel.

“I wanted to do a relatable, grounded character comedy about marriage and the lengths we go to preserve the spark,” Levy told Daily Variety.

“Tina and Steve are smart and relatable, and the tone of their comedy perfectly fits this film.”

Carell is known for starring turns in “The 40 Year Old Virgin” and “The Office,” while Fey is an “SNL” alumni and writer-star on “30 Rock.”

“Date Night” will begin shooting next year, when the two stars are on hiatus from their respective TV shows.

Shelley Malil, who played one of Steve Carell’s co-workers in “The 40-Year-Old Virgin,” has been arrested for allegedly stabbing his ex-girlfriend as many as 20 times.

TMZ reports that Malil, who also starred in the “Wassup” Budweiser commercials, attacked the woman in her home in San Diego, chasing her inside and outside the house. He was later apprehended at an Amtrak station.

The victim’s two children were in the house at the time of the attack. Her condition is unknown.

“Get Smart” topped the box office this weekend, opening with $39.2 million, according to Exhibitor Relations, reports E! News.

“Get Smart” is the first big-screen crack at the 1980s sitcom classic “The Nude Bomb” and in three days alone the movie adaptation starring Steve Carell took in nearly three times what the sitcom grossed in its entire
run.

Topping of the top three spots of the box office were “Kung Fu Panda” in second place with $21.7 million, while last week’s number one, “The Incredible Hulk” fell to third place with $21.6 million.

The highly promoted “The Love Guru” failed to win over audiences’ hearts and the comedy starring Mike Myers opened in fourth place with $14 million.

This week’s episode of “The Office” delves into the sensitive issue of racial politics. Sort of.

The episode begins with Michael Scott bursting into Dunder Mifflin Scranton demanding ideas for what to write in the wet cement outside. Jim suggests that if he were “a real star” he would stick his face in it. Naturally, Michael loves the idea. The ensuing cement ceremony involves tin foil, an excessive amount of Vaseline, and a small drinking straw for Michael to breathe through. Definitely toxic.

Post face-in-cement ceremony, Michael calls a meeting to get ideas on how to energize the staff. Andy suggests a new and exciting outgoing answering machine message. Michael loves it and wants to go with an “urban theme.” As expected, he looks to Stanley Hudson for suggestions. Stanley, however, has been sick of the black stereotype for about 3 seasons now, so he declines, and when Michael won’t back down he yells out, “did I stutter?!”

Toby, in his typical SuperHuman Resources Man manner, wants this confrontation dealt with, but Michael insists that this is how friends joke with each other (i.e. “Hey you’re poor.” “Hey you’re momma’s dead.”). That’s just how it works. Dwight suggests putting the emergency plan (illustrated by an amazing chart emblazoned with the name “Dwight Schrute” in gigantic letters at the top) into motion, which gives him authority over absolutely everyone in the office, but Michael refuses, instead opting to ask stock worker Darryl Philbin (the only other black person he knows) for advice.

Michael asks Darryl if he’s ever been in a gang and Darryl claims he’s been in all of them, including the Latin Kings and The Newsies. When asked how gangs deal with confrontation, Darryl explains a method called “fluffy fingers”, wherein if someone gets in your face, you just start tickling them. Michael is fascinated, but in the end decides to go with his own strategy: “fake firing” Stanley (”it’s like a mock execution“).

Meanwhile, Andy is putting his X-Terra up for sale, which he claims can help anyone get girls because so many females also drive X-Terras. Dwight manipulates Andy into selling him the car for super cheap, and then proceeds to vigorously wash the car in a provocative manner and put it up on Ebay in an effort to sell it for a lot more money. Needless to say, Andy’s pissed.

Former employee and present superior, Ryan Howard, also makes an obligatory appearance in Scranton to give Jim a formal warning about his performance. This warning turns out to have been orchestrated by Toby due to his creepy stalker-level crush on Pam which caused him to scale a fence in last week’s episode. Guess that Costa Rica relocation didn’t work out for him.

The fake firing doesn’t go so well, even though Michael uses the genius line, “you are fired like a heart attack”, which you know he’s been waiting for months to whip out. Stanley unleashes a tirade calling Michael, among other things, a “professional idiot”. This results in Michael sending everyone outside where Kevin expresses his excitement by exclaiming that “you have Michael in one corner and he’s mad, you have Stanley in the other corner and he’s mad…and that’s about it.”

In the end, Stanley agrees to at least fake respect towards Michael. In Michael’s closing interview he claims that he “is a good person and sometimes good people get no respect-Rodney Dangerfield.” This is followed by poor impressions of Rodney Dangerfield, Jeff Foxworthy (”if you don’t get no respect, you know you’re a redneck”), and an indistinguishable Asian person. Yeah he should definitely stick to selling paper.

This week, The Office cameras follow the recently bachelor-ed Michael Scott and Dwight Schrute on a mission to find women in New York City, while their co-workers spend an evening trapped in their all too familiar place of employment.

The episode opens in an unfortunate manner for Michael Scott as usual as he reveals that he got gum in his hair attempting to look at “something shiny”. Dwight uses peanut butter in an effort to remove it which turns into a totally creepy peanut butter head massage. (Side note: who knew you could use peanut butter to get gum out of your hair? The Office: hilarious AND educational.)

Moving on. Everyone’s favourite corporate lackey, Ryan Howard, makes a trip out to his “favourite” Dunder Mifflin branch and calls a meeting to explain why the team has to work on a Saturday (to compensate for problems caused by his brainchild website: Dunder Mifflin Infinity). We learn that the site’s social networking section was infiltrated by sexual predators (Creed’s a fan of the website for the record), and Kelly goes off on her usual rant towards Ryan (”First of all, how dare you?!”).

Before Ryan departs, Michael asks him to set him up with some New York City girls (because as he poetically claims earlier, “it’s not the horniness, it’s the loneliness.”) Ryan declines but tells Michael he wouldn’t believe the girls he gets in the clubs in the big city (I’m thinking rohypnol plays a role). Later, Michael recruits Dwight to go clubbing with him in NYC (because when I think wingman, I definitely think THIS GUY.

Our heroes make it to the Big Apple and meet up with Ryan at a club called Prerogative. Michael observes that the club is full of “hot babies”, which Dwight sees as “a fire hazard.” Ryan welcomes them with a drunken hug and introduces the guys to his friend Troy who Dwight accurately notes bears a strong resemblance to a hobbit.

Meanwhile, back at the office, Jim has the bright idea that if the Scranton gang works a few extra hours tonight they can avoid coming in on Saturday. This idea blows up in his face however, when he forgets to tell the security guard (Hank) that they will be working late and they’re locked in. Unfortunately, Dwight has both of the spare keys and Pam reveals that when she asked him what happens if he dies, he responded, “if I’m dead, you guys have been dead for weeks.” Amazing.

Toby eventually finds Hank’s home number, but because the Dunder Mifflin employees have failed to give their security guard a single tip ever, he takes his time coming to their rescue.

Back in the big city, Ryan’s hands are shaking and he’s clearly high on more than life and beer. After Michael labels the club a “sexy preschool”, Ryan agrees to take the boys to a place where they can meet older women. With the help of a women’s college basketball team (Dwight:”amazons!”), the guys are let into the club. Dwight promptly starts making out with the leader of the amazons, Michael calls his mom (”Yes I am asking girls to dance!”), and Ryan gets beat up by a bunch of women. Definitely sounds like the makings of a successful night out. Ryan eventually gets kicked out and hobbit-man Troy flees the scene with a warning of “don’t take him to a hospital!” Super sketchy.

A few hours to the East, the Dunder Mifflin employees are still locked in. Toby makes an awkward sexual advancement towards Pam and then promptly claims he’s moving to Costa Rica, hops the fence, and peaces out of there. Eventually the cleaning crew shows up and lets the employees out, much to the chagrin of security guard Hank who arrives, takes a look at the cleaning crew, and proclaims “son of a bitch!”

In New York, the swinging bachelors return to Ryan’s apartment where he announces to them that he thinks his friend Troy has a drug problem (Dwight: “Well, I think his species has a higher tolerance than ours”). He asks for advice and Michael is only too happy to share what he has learned on The Wire even though he admits to understanding none of it. You and me both, Michael Scott, you and me both. Dwight and Ryan pass out on Ryan’s bed and Michael decides that he can’t be lonely as long as he has his boys, musing that “a famous person once said ‘boys on the side’, but I disagree, I say ‘let’s hear it for the boys.’”

Television’s favourite paper company may be setting up shop in a spinoff.

According to Ask Ausiello, NBC is developing the show, which would not include any of the original show’s characters. Instead, taking a cue from “Private Practice,” new characters would be introduced on the original comedy before heading off to their own show.

Producers are looking for a big name celebrity to star.

Spinoffs are usually forwned upon by the public, but skeptics should remember how successful the American adaptation of “The Office” has become, despite the idea being greatly opposed at first by UK “Office” viewers.

Thousands of Dunder-heads traveled to Scranton, Pennsylvania this weekend for the first annual ‘Office’ Convention, where the hit NBC comedy is set.

Most of the cast, execs and writers for the show made it out to the “Electric City.”

Cast member Ed Helms (”The Daily Show”) was overwhelmed by their warm reception, saying, “It sorta feels like we’re The Beatles here in Scranton.”

The experience was also surreal for executive producer Greg Daniels, who said it was “as if we had been reading the Oz books and then actually visited the Emerald City. I’m really glad I (chose Scranton). I don’t think we would’ve gotten this reception in Utica.”

The biggest event was the two-hour Q&A session on Saturday. Cast member Craig Robinson knew exactly how to please the crowd, answering a question by kissing on-screen girlfriend Mindy Kaling.

Helms, Kaling and Robinson also joined their fellow multi-talented cast mates Melora Hardin, Creed Bratton and Kate Flannery on stage, singing with The Scrantones, who perform the shows theme song.

The show makes frequent references to local pubs, restaurants and lakes in the Scranton area, which have now become famous.

How unfortunate that Little Miss Sunshine contains bad language and sex content. If I had a daughter I can’t think of a non-Miyazaki movie I’d rather take her to. This is not a family film, and I do not recommend allowing children to see it without supervision (I do not recommend children under eight see it at all), but that said, I think viewing this film at a young age would cause far less psychological damage than, say, watching Snow White, or Sleeping Beauty, or anything starring Barbie. While I’d love to believe the fervour with which this movie objectifies its seven- and eight-year-old “models” at the titular beauty pageant is exaggerated, it probably isn’t. And happily, the movie (written by first-timer Michael Arndt and directed by husband-and-wife team Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris) is as disgusted by it as we are.

Little Miss Sunshine, despite the title, has the darkest of setups. The scholar Frank, played by Steve Carell and a beard, has been through a rough patch and tries to kill himself. The authorities contact his sister, Sheryl (Toni Collette), and he’s sent to live with her family, which includes one of those fathers who can’t do anything without consulting Seven Habits of Highly Effective People or one of its knockoffs (Greg Kinnear), a son who upon discovering Nietzsche hasn’t spoken in nine months (relative newcomer Paul Dano), a horny grandfather (Alan Arkin; “Get me some porn,” he says to Frank at one point in the movie. “And make sure it’s real dirty stuff too, none of that airbrushed shit”), and seven-year-old Olive (the daughter in Signs, Abigail Breslin), who recently placed runner-up in a local beauty pageant. No sooner does Frank arrive than she’s informed the winner had to give up her crown – allowing her to compete in the Little Miss Sunshine competition. The family piles into a Volkswagen minibus and prepares to make its way from Albuquerque, New Mexico, to California.

And so begins an ensemble comedy that reminded me very much of the films of Alexander Payne. Like About Schmidt and Sideways, Little Miss Sunshine revels in the flawed, the pointless, the bizarre – because, after all, that’s the part of life that makes it worth living. It does not believe in glamourizing our existence, or dividing us into “winners” and “losers;” it knows that everyone involved can make a difference, and if it doesn’t spread beyond the family, that’s all right. And how wonderful it would be if real seven-year-old beauty pageant contestants (or anyone of a young age who thinks that outward beauty – defined by stick-thin figures and swimsuits that show off the roundness of your thighs – is all that matters) could see this film, and have it laid out for them just how insane our beauty-obsessed culture can be (at one point Kinnear’s character advises Olive not to eat her ice cream because it will make her fat – thankfully by the end of the scene the others have turned her around).

It’s an odd journey, and it won’t make friends with every critic (I can see it now: “The movie establishes Steve Carell as the protagonist but then gradually forgets about him.”), but it’s consistent, and the acting is terrific. It spans 800 miles and two days, gives at least one important scene to each of the family members, packs in a few solid laughs and the occasional life lesson while remaining true to the characters, and finishes up with a finale so jawdroppingly ludicrous, it would sink the movie if the directors didn’t already realize it was so ridiculous.

And that’s where my review will end. To say more about Little Miss Sunshine would spoil the movie’s unpredictable predictability, which turns out to be its stock in trade. It sorta goes where you’d expect a road movie to, but not quite.

I will say I think one of the surprises was a little too far out of left field. And that I would have liked some more closure with Carell’s character; the film may be an ensemble piece, but it started out focusing on him, after all.

4*

Despite playing a boss from hell on TV, Steve Carell is getting a big raise for the third season of his critically acclaimed show on NBC, “The Office,” reports Reuters.

Carell will reportedly be making $175,000 per episode, double his original salary. Carell’s contract was reportedly not extended.

The show has not been a big hit in regards to ratings, but is adored by critics and it earned Carell a Golden Globe in January.

NBC officials and Carell’s management could not be reached for comment on the new salary.