Any day that bears news pertaining to Idris Elba can’t be all bad, right? That was my line of thought upon reading Variety‘s story, wherein we learn that he and Taraji P. Henson are taking the lead in the new Screen Gems thriller, No Good Deed. Sam Miller — occasional helmer of Elba‘s BBC hit, Luther — will direct a script from Aimee Lagos that centers on “a former D.A turned stay-at-home mom and her two small children who are terrorized and kidnapped after she invites a handsome but mysterious stranger into their home to wait for help after his car runs off the road.”

So long as we can overlook the obvious absence of an original bone in that logline’s body, one could still agree with this writer’s sentiment that Elba and Henson are game enough to elevate any (potentially) underwhelming material to something that’s, at the very least, passable and well-performed. But being unable to tell you anything past that sentence-long wrap-up, it’s unfair to even make that assumption; maybe the script for Good Deed is great. With production starting in April, we can only find out through a little patience.

Afterward, Variety then informs us that Simon Baker will (wisely) spend some off-time from The Mentalist by taking on a starring role, having signed to lead the romantic comedy I Give it a Year. The premise, from writer and director Dan Mazer (Borat, Brüno), sounds strikingly familiar to someone who’s seen, for example, any 21st-century romantic comedy: “the comedic trials and tribulations of a pair of newlyweds during their first year as a married couple.” Much like No Good Deed, I can only hope that it all comes across with more originality in the final result.

Rafe Spall (Prometheus, Hot Fuzz) will also star; Eric Fellner and Tim Bevan are producing for what’s likely to be a summer shoot.

Does either endeavor sound worthy of their respective stars’ time?