FILM: Jake Gyllenhaal gets "Nailed" & Kristen Bell goes to "Rome"

Just when you thought they cut James Marsden (27 Dresses) some slack by letting him have a leading role, they put him smack dab in the middle of a romantic comedy where he plays second fiddle to none other than Jake Gyllenhaal. Geez. If you are familiar with Jake's career, then you know he only does romantic comedies--a genre truly loathed by hoity toity critics-- if they're super f*ing quirky (Bubble Boy), and more often than not he veers towards romantic dramas (Brokeback Mountain, Moonlight Mile, and The Good Girl). So after reading the plot of his latest, Nailed, where Marsden plays the boyfriend of Jessica Biel's character, who begins to behave erratically when she gets a nail shot into her head and decides to fight for better health care in Washington where she fall for a budding congressman (Jake), I can't help but wonder how far he'll go to not do a run-of-the-mill romantic comedy. I mean, whatever happened to boy sees cute girl, boy spends the next hour and a half trying to make said girl fall in love with him, girl takes the bait, end of movie? Either way, the film should be mildly funny since it's being co-penned by Kristen Gore ("Saturday Night Live"). Who knows? This could be her career-maker.

Here's an update on a Kristen Bell romantic comedy that I mentioned last month called When in Rome. The story was said to be about a girl who steals a coin at the Trevi Fountain and then is pursued by a bevy of guys all the way back to New York. It's just been reported that joining the cast are Josh Duhamel ("Las Vegas"), Jon Heder (Blades of Glory), and Dax Shepard (Employee of the Month). So I'm assuming those three idiots will be competing for her love, which means that she has a choice between the hot guy (Duhamel), the dorky sweet guy (Heder), or the self-proclaimed bad ass (Shepard). Hmmm. So difficult to choose. According to reports, Heder will also be a street magician--add an extra emphasis to the dorky then--Duhamel is the romantic lead--naturally--and Shepard will be an aspiring model. Okayyyy. Maybe Duhamel won't be playing hot. Maybe he'll be a toned-down everyman. And if he manages to pull that off, the Academy should give him an award. That's about as plausible as Jake playing second fiddle to Marsden.