Busy times for Jennifer Aniston’s agent. This morning, The Hollywood Reporter and Variety announced that the former Friends star is circling two new big-screen projects. One is Horrible Bosses, a workplace murder comedy also likely to star Jason Bateman, Charlie Day (a Mandi Bierly favorite), and Colin Farrell. Aniston would play an aggressive dentist who hits on the hapless Day character. Seth Gordon (Four Christmases) will direct. Sounds promising, right? My fingers are crossed that it’ll be similar in tone to what remains her best movie to date: Office Space.
TPS reports indicate that Project No. 2 has even more potential. Also a comedy, this one’s called WanderLust and it’s got an impressive pedigree: Judd Apatow is producing, David Wain (Role Models) is directing, and Paul Rudd is costarring, co-writing, and producing. Paul Rudd bustin’ out the triple-threat cred! To me, that’s reason enough to root for this movie, which, by the way, tells the story of a couple who moves to a commune after losing all their moolah. But it also has that Apatow guy attached, as well as David Wain, who certainly knows how to bring the funny, especially when Rudd’s around. I give you: Wet Hot American Summer.
Anyway, back to Rudd. Whatever you thought of his and Aniston’s last outing (other than his guest-starring turn on Friends, that is), 1998′s The Object of My Affection, they were cute on screen together. (See inset!) And for the love of Rachel Green, isn’t it time Aniston got paired up again with an actor worthy of her specific brand of comedic talent? (I’m lookin’ at you, Gerard Butler!) Her flustered everygal charm and his adorable goofball wit seem like a solid match to me. And so, I ask you, could WanderLust be the hit that Jennifer Aniston’s been looking for all these years — or at least since The Break-Up? (I liked Marley & Me and it made a ton of money, but she was second fiddle to Owen Wilson and the dog.) My hopes are high. Yours?