Crass, crude, foul-mouthed comedies have been all the rage at the movies for some time now, with the trendiest comedians from any given year dropping F-bombs, and spouting off rapid-fire fraternity jokes in their (almost always nudity-obsessed) star vehicles. Wet Hot American Summer and The State co-creator Michael Showalter‘s latest offering, Hello, My Name Is Doris, is the perfect antidote to the unending strain of Apatow offshoots: It balances classy, screwball comedy, bone-deep drama, and old-fashioned romance with the finesse of an Olympic gymnast. For once, it’s a rom-com with aims of enchanting and disarming us rather than grossing us out of our minds.

The film’s greatest boon is its star, Sally Field, an actor of age who puts on a performance so range-y, powerful and tender that it all but wipes today’s young, sparkling starlets from memory. She plays Doris, a sixtysomething recluse who’s lived in her mother’s cluttered house in Staten Island her whole life. Doris falls into lonely despair when her mother passes away but thankfully has her job as a paper pusher to keep her busy during the day. She’s the only person over 40 at her company though her role as office outcast could be more attributed to her cat-lady eccentricities (cat-eye glasses, headscarves, wooly knits and all).

Hope of getting Doris unstuck from her rut arrives in the form of her company’s new art director, a strapping, decades-younger Los Angeles transplant amusingly named John Fremont (New Girl‘s Max Greenfield). On several occasions, we get lost with Doris in fantasy as she daydreams about John confessing his love for her in front of their colleagues and hooking up with him in the breakroom. Field is ungodly adorable as she fumbles and fawns, and Greenfield does a good job of keeping us in suspense as to whether or not Doris has got a shot at John’s heart.

With encouragement from her best (only) friend, Roz (Tyne Daly)—who takes her to a life-altering lecture by motivational speaker Willy Williams (Peter Gallagher)—Doris decides it’s time to make a change and begins fashioning herself to John’s interests (facilitated by Roz’s granddaughter, who schools her on the art of Facebook stalking), making a concerted, somewhat creepy effort to cougar her way into John’s arms. Suddenly, she’s clumsily throwing around millennial slang, rocking neon yellow outfits and going to indie electro-pop shows headlined by John’s favorite band, Baby Goya and the Nuclear Winters (where the two “coincidentally” bump into each other).

Just as a tight friendship starts to form between them and the thought of romance doesn’t seem so inconceivable, John meets another woman, bringing Doris’ dreams crashing down. In a drunken fit of desperation, she sabotages John’s new relationship (via a lovelorn timeline post from her fake Facebook account), a plan that naturally backfires and leads to even more heartbreak. Showalter and co-writer Laura Terruso—who directed the short the movie is based on as a student of Showalter’s at New York University—hit every romantic, comedic, and dramatic beat so well that the movie transcends genre. This makes for such an enjoyable experience because, instead of trying to predict where the story’s going, we’re allowed to let go of preconception and go wherever the emotions may take us. Every laugh, every heartbreak, every moment feels sincere, not hokey or contrived. Nothing’s cheap; everything’s earned. The movie’s liberating in that way.

Field is so talented it’s scary. It should go without saying—she’s a two-time Oscar winner, after all—but the sad reality is that female actors over 50 are typically relegated to secondary, tertiary, often motherly roles. Her career, tragically, supports that narrative. But that’s why Hello, My Name Is Doris is such a gift; in all her glory, we get to see Field showcase her unparalleled mastery of physical comedy (watching Doris quiver and drool as John pumps up her deflated gym-ball office chair is insanely funny) as well as her earth-shattering dramatic chops. In the movie’s most powerful, unsettling scene, Doris hops up onto her couch, screaming at her brother (Stephen Root) to leave her house as she tearfully refuses to clear out the piles of old magazines and expired food her mother left behind. It’s scenes like this that reveal the psychological complexity bubbling beneath Doris’ cartoonish exterior. Such a wonderfully weird, layered character is only safe in the hands of an actor of Field’s caliber.

Jason Schwartzman has always been a bit manic onscreen, his characters often charmingly smarmy. He’s quite possibly the perfect example of “flawed but likable”—which, by the way, is a deep compliment. So, while last year’s Listen Up Philip mixed up the formula a bit, Schwartzman seems to be back in his comfort zone with the first trailer for 7 Chinese Brothers.

The flick follows Larry (Schwartzman) as he’s booted from one job and forced to hunt down another—a large feat for the oft-inebriated slacker. Soon, though, Larry gets a bite at a tire and lube shop and meets Lupe, who just might help him get his life in order.

Written and directed by Bob Byington (Somebody Up There Likes Me), the cast is rounded out by Stephen Root, Olympia Dukakis, and TV on the Radio frontman Tunde Adebimpe. The film premiered at SXSW earlier this year to some positive nods, and the trailer promises laughs. But honestly, we’d line up for Schwartzman alone.

7 Chinese Brothers opens August 28th. Check out the first trailer below.

Archer is set to get some original animated company on FX. The cable network has ordered a pilot for Cassius & Clay, a futuristic, post-apocalyptic, action buddy comedy that has been described as in the spirit of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. Co-created by Adam Reed of Archer, with Megan Ganz (most notably a writer for Community and Modern Family), Olson will voice a hard-drinking, fast-talking bullshitter named Ordwood Cassius, while Bell voices Shopcarter Clay, the fastest gun in the South.

Susan Sarandon will join Bell & Olson as a series regular should the show get picked up for a full season. Sarandon will play Connie Mack, the ruthless owner of the town brothel. Outside of the main three women, JB Smoove, Kevin Michael Richardson, Jeffrey Tambor, Stephen Root, Katy Mixon, and Robert Patrick will provide guest voices. Cassius and Clay is one of the newest developments by Floyd County Productions, following the 13-episode single-season animated comedies Chozen and Unsupervized (both of which aired on FX).

It comes as a bit of a surprise that, with so many recent horror films aping off of different subgenres from the past, no one has really attempted to tackle the creature feature. Jacob Vaughan’s Bad Milo! sticks out from today’s oversaturated horror market simply because it harkens back to a group of films that haven’t been touched by anyone else in the last several years. Films like Ghoulies, Gremlins, and Critters show their influence throughout, but they’re only reminders of why these kinds of movies stopped getting made.

Bad Milo! has a plot that will immediately divide viewers. After opening with a flash forward to the film’s climax (a device that was already getting overused years ago), we cut back to Duncan (Ken Marino) and Sarah (Gillian Jacobs) at the doctor’s (Toby Huss, in a very funny bit part) discussing a large mass that has appeared in Duncan’s colon.

The doctor says it’s nothing to worry about, and is most likely a result of stress. It immediately becomes apparent just how stressed Duncan is once he leaves the doctor’s office. His mother (Mary Kay Place) pressures him to become a father to the point where she grills him on sexual issues over dinner; his boss (Patrick Warburton) merely uses and abuses him as much as possible, and Duncan’s strained relationship with his father (Stephen Root) dominates his life. It turns out that the lump in Duncan’s colon is the titular monster, a small creature that periodically crawls out of Duncan’s ass to devour anyone who makes his life more stressful than it already is.

Bad Milo! is backed by a surprisingly good cast given the scatological subject matter, but only a few people get enough material to shine. Peter Stormare, playing Duncan’s therapist, hits the right balance between a campy and straight-faced approach. Marino carries the film fine, even when he’s covered in feces and screaming in pain, but his talents are put to better use when he sticks to the rude, obnoxious characters he tends to play in other projects. The rest of the cast feels wasted, merely there as an obstacle for Duncan or a future victim for Milo. Jacobs, a great comedic actress, doesn’t do much other than being the doting wife.

Once Duncan realizes what’s living inside him, and starts confronting the problems in his life to avoid increasing the body count, Bad Milo! takes a sentimental turn that falls flat. There’s a playful quality to the subject matter that works sometimes (a scene where Duncan gets a colonoscopy is the film’s highlight), but asking viewers to emotionally invest in Duncan’s father issues when they’re watching an ass monster movie is asking for too much. Films with similarly gross stories, like James Gunn’s Slither, know how to hit the right notes of camp and seriousness. Bad Milo! relies too much on generating an emotional response, and fails at it.

It’s a wacky story, and it inspires a few laughs, but it’s also a one-joke premise that can barely sustain itself over such a short runtime. The casting elevates the material to the point where Bad Milo! makes for passable viewing, but don’t expect much outside of a few funny jokes and a surprisingly cute monster covered in shit.

Bad Milo! trailer:

Everything Must Go is a drama adapted from a short story that was directed by Dan Rush, his first feature film. The film generated mixed reviews after premiering at the Toronto International Film Festival last year. The synopsis of a man losing his job and a wife who throws all of his possessions across their lawn sounds like a setup for a comedy, especially when that man is Will Ferrell, but the film sticks to a more serious tone.

Nick Halsey (Will Ferrell) is an alcoholic sales representative who just got fired from his job. But his problems do not end right there. When he arrives home, after making a stop for alcohol of course, he finds that all of his possessions are out on the front lawn of his home. Attached to the front door is a note from his wife that explains their relationship is over. The spare key that is normally hidden under the plant was removed and the locks on the door have been changed.

Having nowhere else to sleep Nick decides to sleep in a chair of his on the front lawn. Apparently sleeping in his car was an afterthought. Upon waking up from water sprinklers he notices a woman across the street moving in. He greets her and explains to her the reason that all of his stuff on his lawn is because he is having a yard sale. He asks her if she would watch his stuff so he could go to the store but she is not able to. So he gets a neighborhood kid to watch his stuff while he goes to the liquor store to get more alcohol.

Not being able to find his keys to the car, he borrows the kid’s bike. It is at the store that he discovers that his wife has cancelled the joint checking account. Luckily for him, he still has cash for his purchase. On the bike ride home he runs into a person repossessing his car. We still have not seen his wife at this point (and we never do) but from the note we know she left him because of his drinking problem and also because he cheated on her.

Nick is not very determined to do anything but sit around and drink beer on his lawn. A neighbor ends up calling the cops on him but Nick is in luck because his AA sponsor is a detective. He pushes Nick into packing his things up otherwise he will have to arrest him. The detective helps him out by telling him that he can hold a yard sale for 5 days to buy some time. So turns out he is going to have that yard sale after all.

There is a pivotal scene in the film is when Nick is preaching about fighting back when times are tough, it is then that he realizes that he is not fighting back right now in his life. It becomes apparent to Nick that he is currently following his drunken father’s footsteps when he watches an old childhood video where his father is drinking. You get the sense that Nick is a good person deep down and really does want to do something with his life now.

Many feel like this is Will Ferrell’s first true dramatic role considering Stranger Than Fiction was more of a dramedy than anything. It must be refreshing for him to do such a different role than what he is used to playing. Ferrell is surprisingly good at playing a low key average-man and he even makes it look natural.

Everything Must Go had opportunities to be very cliché but it managed to avoid most of them thus making it a little more enjoyable than your average film. The film is depressing from the very beginning and does not budge too much from being a downer but that by no means is a bad thing. It tackles a dark subject of alcoholism and captures it well. Not losing hope is the theme of the film and I would reiterate that for people watching it as it does tend to get better after the halfway point.

Cedar Rapids is a comedy that shares some similarities to The Hangover aside from just Ed Helms, who seems a lot like Steve Carell in The 40 Year Old Virgin. It is about a man who must come out of his shell to stand up for what he believes is the right thing to do. Always raunchy, often funny, but rarely more than bland.

Tim Lippe (Ed Helms) is a simple man from Brown Valley, Wisconsin who is easily entertained by the little things in life and clearly has not ventured far from home. Case in point when he rents a car he is ecstatic to find out it is a shiny red Chevrolet Cobalt, a fairly basic family sedan. He has never flown in an airplane nor stayed in a hotel before.

Perhaps one of the reasons why Tim is so sheltered is because of how socially awkward the guy is or at the very least it does not help matters. He does not have much of a sense of humor and is the type that probably can count his sins on one hand. Although, it is not a sin to have regular intercourse with your junior high school teacher (Sigourney Weaver), it is a bit odd.

Selling insurance is something that he excels in because his clients know they can trust him. He takes a lot of pride in working for Brown Star Insurance, so when an opportunity to win the prestigious Two Diamond Award arises, his boss Bill (Stephen Root) assigns him to go.

Cedar Rapids, Iowa is where the convention is held for this award so that is where Tim must travel to. Cedar Rapids to Tim is like Las Vegas to most people; it is where people from this convention go to get away from their daily problems via partying because regret does not exist there. One even says, “What happens in Cedar Rapids stays in Cedar Rapids.”

For guidance purposes, Bill gives Tim a list of who to avoid and who to stick with at this convention. The list of people to stick with is plentiful while only one person is labeled to avoid and his name is Dean Ziegler (John C. Reilly). He is known as a poacher, known in the insurance industry as someone who steals clients.

When Tim arrives in Cedar Rapids he thinks the two-star hotel’s lobby is incredible and thinks the chlorine smell of the pool is a luxury. Tim is very leery about given his credit card to the front desk even though it is a standard procedure among all hotels. When he arrives at his room he is taken aback when someone is in there. Although, he seems he is more uncomfortable about the man being African American than simply a person in his room.

This man turns out to be his roommate. He is a “straight-shooter” named Ronald Wilkes (Isiah Whitlock Jr.) from the St. Cloud, Minnesota area. Ronald was on Bill’s list as someone to stick with so Tim knows he is no threat. Ronald informs Tim of some good and bad news. The good news is that they got a junior suite upgrade because the hotel was running out of rooms. The bad news is they will be getting another roommate. I bet it would only take you one guess to figure out who it will be. That is correct, Dean Ziegler.

Dean Ziegler best describes his own self, “What isn’t wrong with me? I talk too much, I drink too much, I weigh too much. I piss people off.” That in a nutshell is Dean Ziegler. A true rebel who likes to party and can easily talk you into something you do not want to do. He is everything that Tim is not, a dangerous man that easily influences people like Tim.

Tim wants the relationship with his old teacher to continue but she is fresh off a divorce. They want two completely different things, she wants to have some fun and he wants to settle down. It is when she uses a metaphor of a bird nudging her young birds to fly away from the nest does he finally understand he needs to let go of her.

That seems to be a turning point for Tim’s character, no longer is he tied down, instead he realizes he is free. But it would not be the last time he has to question is morals. Tim finds out the real way the award is won and must rely on help from people he least expected.

The film’s director, Miguel Arteta, embellishes the portrayal of the Midwest like films such as Fargo have done in the past. However, that is expected in movies to do so. For the most part Arteta does a good job at showing stereotypical rural living Midwestern personality traits; trustworthy, simple, and friendly.

Ed Helms does an excellent job in his first major leading role in film. He plays the sheltered and reserved guy well and does a good job showing his other side when the film calls for it. As for John C. Reilly, I personally think he is best when serious, despite mostly playing wacky roles as of late. It is not to say he does not do funny well, because he does, I just think his serious work is superior. If you liked his roles in Step Brothers, Walk Hard and Talladega Nights, you will love him here.

Cedar Rapids receives most of its humor from crude one-liners that are sure you make you crack a smile more than once. Looking at the whole picture, the funny scenes and great characters are slightly overshadowed by the poor storyline. Even by typical comedy standards it felt too straight forward. Even though there were some funny scenes throughout, there were not enough to cover up for the lack of story.