When Ben Stiller and Jim Carrey get into a mug-a-thon, will anyone survive? We will find out as it looks like the two will be co-starring in Used Men, a futuristic comedy directed by Meet the Director Jay Roach.
Here’s the concept – it’s the future. Men are extinct and women rule the world. Carrey and Stiller are clones who have been bred to be sex toys, but they find themselves obsolete because new models with better listening skills are on the market. Together they go on the run, trying to find the mythical Mantopia.
What’s perhaps most impressive about the concept, which Stiller and Roach have been kicking around for years, is how much it sounds like a Saturday Night Live sketch making fun of 1970s high concept social issue sci fi movies. It would be one of those skits that just goes on too long.
It feels like it’s been a while since Carrey’s been in a comedy. Same with Ben Stiller (oh, snap!). The two of them together frighten me – neither have ever met a joke that was too broad, a caricature that was too lazy or a joke that was too easy for them. It’s now been four years since Stiller starred (starred, not appeared) in a movie I actually liked enough to get on DVD. And this doesn’t sound to me like it’s going to break that cycle.
Carrey, who has actually made a couple of movies that I like lately, was the force that got this film someplace. When he became interested the movie suddenly gained a bunch of forward momentum. Now if it could gain a better premise.