I’ve been behind Elizabeth Banks for some time. Well, not as much as I’d literally like to be, but what can you do with the stalking laws these days? Crazy, right? But I think it’s nigh impossible for pretty much anyone to not be enchanted by the lady. She’s gorgeous, but not in a cheesecake-obvious sort of way. She’s a genuinely good actress who’s can do straight comedy, drama, or a mixture of the two. Plus, she did an episode of the great, but short-lived Stella, which makes her a goddess in my estimation. She’s made a rare misstep here and there, as a starring role in Eddie Murphy’s next celluloid hate crime Starship Dave is on her docket, but altogether, she seems to be an ace at performing and picking good material and people to work with.
Part of that is Banks taking control of her career by producing some of the projects she’s signed up for. She already grabbed a producing credit for her upcoming The Surrogates over at Disney and now she’s producing and starring in conceptual romantic comedy for Universal called What About Barb. It’s the story of a socialite who is compelled to allow her uncouth cousin to be her maid of honor due her rich uncle making it a requisite of his paying for her wedding. The girl obviously doesn’t watch daytime TV, as she could pull a Star Jones-Reynolds number and sell her wedding off for product placement, but that’s a concept for another romantic comedy some day. The trade notice of this film wasn’t clear about whether Banks would play the socialite or the uncouth cousin, but if there’s any justice, she’ll play both of those roles and maybe 17 others as a result of her time done with Murphy. I’m no math whiz, but I do believe that Banks under latex as, say, an old black guy blurting out wildly inappropriate maxims = $.