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Will Ferrell is slated to make his Broadway debut in a new one-person comedy titled “You’re Welcome America — A Final Night with George W. Bush.”

The production will be directed by the comedian’s FunnyOrDie.com partner Adam McKay, who also wrote and directed the Ferrell flicks “Step Brothers,” “Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby” and “Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy.”

Not many details are available yet, but the New York Post reports that Ferrell’s show will be an autobiographical piece, reminiscent of Billy Crystal’s play “700 Sundays.”

Ferrell is also expected to reprise his famous Bush impersonation from “Saturday Night Live.”

The show will open at the Cort Theatre on Feb. 1, with previews starting on Inauguration Day, Jan. 20.

Here’s the thing about Will Ferrell: I feel like I can’t say anything bad about him. As someone with a former “Saturday Night Live” obsession, I hold him in the highest regards. I still do impressions of his “Zoolander” and “Anchorman” characters.

But the fact is, he hasn’t made me laugh much lately. “Talledega Nights” was a brutal, laugh-free couple of hours for me; “Stranger Than Fiction” was cute enough, but not laugh-out-loud funny; and I didn’t even bother seeing “Blades of Glory” or “Semi-Pro.”

So when I say that “Step Brothers” is good, I really mean it.

It follows, of course, two middle-aged losers living at home and eating it up, having never really mentally grown past middle school. Their sad situation bonds their single parents, and the men quickly become siblings.

There is the mandatory phase of hatred and fighting, which is a great mix of childish behavior and actual violence. Mary Steenburgen delivers a great performance that’s actually pretty endearing as Ferrell’s supportive but frustrated mother. Eventually, after mutually terrible blows to the head, the pair realize their similarities and become best friends, becoming an unstoppable annoying force. Together, they drive their parents absolutely insane, ruining their happiness. The boys are then forced to get their act together to save their family.

The movie delivers tons of temper tantrums, beatings, underage bullies, and classic Ferrell and John C. Reilly lines. The dialogue is completely ridiculous but Ferrell and Reilly commit to it fully. That being said, some of the funniest moments are when they bring it down a little. The best part of the movie for me was when the two are verbally sparring at the dinner table and Reilly throws back the comment, “That’s so funny, the last time I heard that I fell off my dinosaur!” Instead of an over-the-top reaction, Ferrell makes a tiny wince of pain.

Another great thing about the movie is that they actually let a girl in on the comedy action. Adam McKay movies – and really, all of the big comedies coming out these days – are huge sausage fests that really use women as decorations. The women are always pretty to look at but always look like they’re trying very hard to “act”, instead of just going for it. But Katherine Hahn goes completely, 100 per cent balls out. She plays their sister-in-law who becomes sexually obsessed with Reilly’s character after he punches her husband in the face. Hahn is just as committed and nuts as the leads, and delivers truly some of the funniest moments of the film. Her sex scene with Reilly, where she basically lifts her leg up and steals his virginity, is hysterical.

While I did thoroughly enjoy the movie, there are inevitably some moments that fail. Making a young kid use a gay slur, for example, just isn’t really comedy to me. Heads up on extreme language as well; just in the beginning of the film they manage to use a long list of curse words in about 90 seconds.

Overall, the movie is definitely funny, which is all that matters. The soundtrack is good, the outfits are amazing; the pacing and storytelling are very smooth, if a little pointless. And Ferrell and Reilly manage to add in just enough charm to make you not want to punch them in the face the whole time for acting like 10-year-olds in desperate need of some Ritalin.

Will Ferrell and “Hancock” writer Vince Gilligan are teaming up for the dramedy “2-Face.”

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Ferrell is attached to star in the Columbia project as a man with a split personality: one part of him is racist, while the other part is extremely liberal.

The 41-year-old actor has reportedly been interested in Gilligan’s script for three years and is hoping to put the movie into production early next year, though a director is not yet attached.

Gilligan has a diverse list of credits to his name — besides penning the Will Smith blockbuster “Hancock,” he helped create and write for “The X-Files,” wrote the screenplay for the 1998 screwball comedy “Home Fries” and is the creator of AMC’s dark comedy/drama series “Breaking Bad.”

Ferrell, last seen on the big screen in “Semi-Pro,” will return to movie theatres in “Step Brothers,” which opens June 25.

As previously reported, he will also play Watson in Columbia’s recently announced Sherlock Holmes project, co-starring Sacha Baron Cohen as the iconic sleuth.

Sacha Baron Cohen and Will Ferrell are joining forces again, this time for a comedic spin on a classic crime-fighting duo.

Variety reports that the pair, who played bickering racecar drivers in 2006’s “Talladega Nights,” will star in an as-yet-untitled Columbia Pictures comedy featuring super-sleuth Sherlock Holmes (to be played by Cohen) and his trusty sidekick Watson (Ferrell).

Etan Cohen, who co-wrote the upcoming “Tropic Thunder,” is penning the script, while Judd Apatow and Jimmy Miller will produce. Apatow and Miller also produced “Talladega Nights.”

“Just the idea of Sacha and Will as Sherlock Holmes and Watson makes us laugh,” said Columbia co-president Matt Tolmach said in Variety Tuesday.

“Sacha and Will are two of the funniest and most talented guys on the planet, and having them take on these two iconic characters is frankly hilarious.”

Cohen and Ferrell’s Sherlock Holmes feature is one of two major studio projects in the works to be inspired by Arthur Conan Doyle’s famous literary character. Director Guy Ritchie and Warner Bros. are working on their own Holmes movie which focuses on the sleuth’s boxing and swordsmanship skills.

The funniest man in the world has a new audience member.

Will Ferrell and his wife of six years, Viveca Paulin, welcomed their second son into the world on Dec. 30.

Mattias Ferrell was born around 2 a.m.

They have a two-year-old son, Magnus.

Ferrell’s next film, the skating movie “Blades of Glory,” is expected to be released in March.

OutKast’s Andre Benjamin – AKA Andre 3000 – is set to put another movie credit to his name. The hip-hop star has signed on to star in a basketball comedy called “Semi-Pro” with Will Ferrell.

Set in the 1970s, Benhamin will play a star basketball player who is also an expert on wooing the ladies. His coach/team owner/player is Jackie Moon, played by Ferrell. The two are part of the fictional team Flint Michigan Tropics of the American Basketball Association.

Also starring in the New Line Cinemas picture is Woody Harrelson. Directing for the first time will be Kent Alterman.

This holiday season, Benjamin is voicing the character of Elwyn in “Charlotte’s Web,” based on the popular children’s novel by E.B. White.

Let’s not mince words: Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby is a terrible movie. The plot is forced, the situations hackneyed, the sheer amount of product placement (even for a film about NASCAR racing) is atrocious, and the characters are unbelievably inconsistent.

But it’s funny.

Will Ferrell’s Ricky Bobby begins as a boy so obsessed with speed, he grabs his mom’s car at the age of five and takes it onto the highway. He’s so obsessed with winning that at the age of ten, when he sees his absentee father (Gary Coleman) for the first time in eight years, he takes his alcohol-fueled advice – “if you’re not first, you’re last” – 100% literally. He’s laughed at, of course, by his classmates, except for best friend Cal Naughton Jr. (who grows up to be played by John C. Reilly), but twenty-odd years later, he’s a NASCAR racing legend. His signature move is the “slingshot”: Cal (who’s also a racer) gets to the number 2 or number 3 position, allows Ricky to drive ahead of him, pushes him along for a bit with the front of his bumper (unlike Cars, don’t expect accuracy in this movie), and finally allows him to take off with a burst of such speed he always takes number one (Cal comes in at number two). He marries the first woman who flashes him, will promote anything (and I mean anything - even tampons), sign anything (including babies), and allows his sons, Walker and Texas Ranger, to do and say whatever the hell they want. Including the phrase “whatever the hell we want.” (There’s a great scene where his wife’s father is complaining about how awful the boys are turning out and his wife, played by Leslie Bibb, fires back, “if we wanted sissies, we’d a’ named ‘em Dr. Quinn an’ Medicine Woman.”)

In short, he begins as the sort of man who could only count to #1.

Of course, the plot is incidental in this movie. Like Anchorman, it’s really just an excuse for Ferrell, director Adam McKay, and their latest company to string several written and improvised jokes along (one of the best, surprisingly, comes from Michael Clarke Duncan, and is played as an outtake over the credits), like a NASCAR themed episode of Saturday Night Live. As with SNL, some of it works, some of it doesn’t. Happily, unlike SNL, most of it does. And since the joy in watching Talledega Nights is in watching those jokes unfold, I won’t spoil any more of them for you. I will, however, say in advance that like Anchorman, many of the jokes in the trailer aren’t in the movie (happily, my favourite, “you gotta feel the road,” is), and I will commend Farrell and co. for not constantly thinking below the waist in their humour (the only major one, with Molly Shannon getting off on the rumblings at the track, was quite a hit with the women in the audience).

I will also spend one more paragraph talking about the plot. It’s terrible. Well, it’s not terrible so much as it doesn’t make any internal sense. Watching this movie, I could picture Ferrell and McKay (credited as the screenwriters, though it’s obvious much of it was improvised) attacking the characters with large mallets: “stop being original, you idiots! Obey your conventions!” Unlike Anchorman, Ricky’s “story” takes centre stage more often than you’d think, and notice I said he “begins” as the sort of man who could only count to #1. Through a contrivance which I won’t reveal but thought was a dream sequence until the movie kept going, he loses faith in himself, moves in with his mother (Jane Lynch, Steve Carrell’s horny manager in The 40-Year-Old Virgin), and has to be re-trained by his father (hence the “you gotta feel the road” sequence). There are double crosses, inspiring speeches, a teeth-gnashing villain (a gay Frenchman played by Sacha Baron Cohen, AKA Ali G), and a climatic showdown, but the shifting allegiances and motivations of the characters are unbelievable. On some level, of course, Ferrell and co. are poking fun at all the hoary old genre conventions; on the other hand, wouldn’t it have been nice if these broad (and often original) characters had stayed true to themselves, instead of giving into their stereotypes? (The possible exception is Gary Coleman, terrific and almost unrecognizable as Ricky’s father.) Staying true to the offbeat characters still would have made for a relatively solid, conventional (in a satiric way), and entertaining movie. Through more than half the film I could feel the plot’s wheels grinding. The humour isn’t always distracting enough.

Ultimately, though, Talladega Nights is a successful Will Ferrell comedy. You know if you’re willing to put up with this kind of weirdness, and whether or not the guy makes you laugh. If he doesn’t, you’ve already made the decision to avoid this movie. If he does, you’ll have a good time.
3.5*

What?s the deal with Will Ferrell?

I mean, I know he?s popular but I had no idea how popular he really is.

You probably haven?t fully reflected on just how popular he really is either, so let me tell you.

In the month of October, Will Ferrell stars in three different movies being released on DVD.

He will be in a total of six movies this year, starring in three of them, and having strong supporting roles in the other ones.

So why then don?t any of his films get good reviews?
Of the three that come out on DVD this month, reviewers panned three.

Everyone agrees that Old School was hilarious, and he was one of the prime reasons why it was so funny.

Most people agree that Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy was good too.

And his sketch comedy on Saturday Night Live is beyond reproach.

So why then don?t any of his films get good reviews?

My theory is that Ferrell is funny for three or four minutes at a time, but when forced to be funny and entertaining for a whole movie, his comedic style fades quickly.

Moreover, in the movies he stars in, the director is too reliant on Ferrell to keep the movie moving and keep it funny.

In Elf, and Anchorman, and Kicking & Screaming, it?s basically just him onscreen for two hours.

So about an hour into each of these movies, you find yourself asking yourself, ?Didn?t he just make a joke like that 25 minutes ago??

The best films for Ferrell seem to be those ones where he?s not at the center of attention.

In SNL skits, he was on camera for relatively short periods of time and was playing off other equally funny comedians.

In Old School he was crazy funny man while Luke Wilson and Vince Vaughn kept the plot moving.

In Austin Powers, Zoolander, Starsky & Hutch, and Wedding Crashers, Ferrell is onscreen briefly.

In each case, he?s hilarious for those four or five minutes he?s onscreen.

The future looks good for Ferrell.

We can look forward to five more movies featuring Ferrell by the end of 2006, including his voice talents as the Man in the Yellow Hat for an animated version of Curious George.

The one I?m most looking forward to has to be Joan of Bark: the Dog That Saved France.

I swear I?m not making it up, and while it?s still in pre-production, apparently Ferrell is starring in this satire, which is written and directed by David Mament.

If it ever gets made, I?ll be only too excited to see it.
If you want to see something good with Ferrell in it, rent Melinda & Melinda, which comes out this Tuesday.

Written and directed by Woody Allen, it?s more than a bit pretentious in parts and definitely not his best work, but it?s fun.

The premise is that the same basic story can either be comedic or tragic depending on your outlook and then Allen proceeds to cut between Melinda in a romantic comedy and Melinda in a romantic tragedy.

Here’s the best news you’ve heard since Fox announced plans to release a Family Guy movie: there is going to be another Old School.

Todd Phillips and Scot Armstrong, the genius writing team behind the 2003 instant classic, have teamed up again to create the sequel.

DreamWorks has given them the green light to make the movie, and there’s little surprise there. After all, Old School grossed more than $74 million at the box office in the U.S. alone.

Expect to see Will Ferrell, Vince Vaughn and Luke Wilson in the sequel, but no actors have been confirmed as of the announcement.

Phillips will also direct.