The Playlist brings us the first glimpse of Jonah Hill in David Gordon Green‘s The Sitter, the third stoner comedy in a row from Green, who appears to be drifting far from the somber, indie-drama realm of Snow Angels and George Washington to play in the Hollywood sandbox.
The Playlist also snuck a look at an early draft of The Sitter‘s script, and it sounds like fun:
“It’s essentially an edgier, R-Rated, “Adventure’s In Babysitting” with Jonah Hill playing a suspended college student who is forced to stay home for the summer and then is wrangled into babysitting by his single mother so she can go out on a date. From there Hill’s character is tasked with taking care of three hellion kids — one an anxious pill-popping headcase, the youngest a pre-teen Britney Spears-wannabe obsessed with Paris Hilton and vapidity and not understanding her oversexualized skeevy demeanor, and the last one being an adopted South American kid who’s fat and not too bright. As if the kids aren’t enough trouble, Hill’s self-centered girlfriend makes the night more difficult for the obsessive, dotting student by asking him to pick up some cocaine for her frat party. It’s a dumb move which he’ll learn to regret (pissed-off drug dealers), but he acquiesces and of course makes things worse by making the children into accomplices on a wild night that is out of control, near violent, comical, and yet still has its moments of dysfunctional family-like tenderness.”
Since H’wood is methodically rebooting all things 80’s, a stoner update of Adventures in Babysitting was inevitable… and not a bad idea. We also have casting updates: J.B. Smoove and Sam Rockwell (hooray!) will play the drug dealers on Hill’s tail, with Max Records (from Where The Wild Things Are) as the oldest kid, Kevin Hernandez and Landry Bender are the other two rugrats, and Ari Graynor will be Hill’s self-absorbed girlfriend.
Now, I enjoy a good stoner romp as much as anyone (except my parents and former film teachers), but I thought Pineapple Express, Green’s first attempt at the genre, was strained and uneven. The upcoming Your Highness seems promising, though (check out the red-band trailer here), and The Sitter sounds like Superbad-style chaotic fun. USA Today also premiered a new photo of the former, which you can see below and a new trailer hits today for Highness.
Your Highness opens April 8, 2011, with The Sitter hot on its heels, releasing July 15, 2011.
Does The Sitter like your bowl of ganja? What did you think of Pineapple Express?