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Variety has a story this morning that producer Judd Apatow and screenwriter Etan Thomas (Tropic Thunder) are teaming up for their take on the Baker Street detective.

Baron Cohen will play the good detective and Will Ferrell will be his sidekick Watson.  The two comedians teamed up as competing race car drivers in Talladega Nights, and for those that saw the movie Baron Cohen was one of the best things about it.  His effeminate French driver was spot on, in that stereotypical “How Americans view the French” sort of way.

[Random Aside: Anyone remember the Will Ferrell movie Dick?  He played Woodward or Bernstein and Michelle Williams and Kristen Dunst were White House dog walkers who were Deep Throat.  Actually kinda funny and worth seeing for free.]

The picture is set up at Sony and there is no indication how this will affect Guy Ritchie’s serious adaptation of Sherlock Holmes that is set up at Warner Bros.  Also, now that Madonna is having sex with A-Rod, is it possible that once Ritchie and her divorce that he’ll regain his movie-making mojo?

Something else to ponder: which sounds like the better Sherlock Holmes project - comedy or drama?

Access Hollywood debuted the trailer for the upcoming Judd Apatow-produced, Forgetting Sarah Marshall.   The premise is, like a lot of Apatow productions, overtly simplistic.  But we’ve all come to accept that it’s not the plot which makes Apatow comedies the best in the business right now, it’s the execution.

It’s the deft blend of raunchy comedy, male ego bashing, female bewilderment, but above all else the underlying pathos for the characters.  Despite all of their imperfections, whether it’s Seth Rogan’s manchild Ben Stone, or Steve Carrell’s ubermanchild Andy Stitzer, you can tell that Apatow loves them and wants us to love them as well.  That’s missing from a lot of comedies, especially from a lot of romantic comedies.

Forgetting Sarah Marshall seems to take the same approach.  The story of Peter Bretter (Jason Segel), takes a Hawaii vacation in order to deal with recent break-up with his TV star girlfriend, Sarah Marshall (Kristen Bell). Little does he know Sarah’s traveling to the same resort as her ex… and she’s bringing along her new boyfriend. The film also features Apatow regulars Jonah Hill, Paul Rudd and Bill Hader.

We love Kristen Bell and Jason Segel is so underrated on the CBS sitcom How I Met Your Mother.  They’ve both got great comedy chops and hopefully they can pull of this sort of romantic comedy.

Leave it to Judd Apatow to make a comedy bit that doubles as a commercials, then turns a corner and makes fun of the fact that it’s a commercial for his movies and then totally spirals out of control.

In this new Funnyordie.com sketch Craig Robinson (The Office), Paul Rudd, Jonah Hill, Justin Long and Judd Apatow getting into arguments, talking movies and playing Rock Band.

Hearing the mild mannered, or at least when he’s on The Office, Robinson scream “The backlash has begun and I am the backlash!” is just about the funniest thing I’ve heard recently. And the good news is that Apatow has enough sense to poke fun of the eventual “Apatow backlash” before it happens.

Love it, hate it, love it, hate it.  We’re going to finally make our decision and tend to think this movie will be pretty funny.  Everytime I hear the line, “In my dreams you’re blowing me . . . kisses” just kills me.  I could hear it 30 times and still laugh.  Also we finally get to see some Tim Meadows and it’s a welcome return.  Anyone tries to tell me The Ladies Man was no good and I’ll show them my boot.

Gotta love Judd Apatow. This time the pendulum swings in favor of this movie, we weren’t sold after the camping music video, but anytime you can give the middle finger,literally, to Hollywood awards campaigns and pay respects to Johnny Cash, well, we say big kudos.

There really is no point in providing any sort of Oscar push for a low-brow comedy and Apatow basically admits as much with this ad, however, according to Deadline Hollywood, Sony Studios is still going to push for nominations in music, writing and comedy (Golden Globes anyone?). Go figure.

Well, until the WGA strike resolves itself and we need to update you on the fallout.  Anyway, we’re still not 100% sure why the talks are stalling and we’re still not sure if we even care.  However, Judd Apatow does and he talked with the guys over at IGN from the picket line about his thoughts on the strike, why he’s picketing, etc.

“Here’s how I would explain it: If you’re a teamster, you get paid to drive a truck. But if someone invents a new kind of truck, and you’re still driving it, you should still get paid.” Apatow noted that watching TV or movies online is becoming more and more common, remarking “We’re switching trucks at this point. But if someone comes up with a three wheel truck, you’re still driving!”

Good enough, good enough Judd.  Though most of you are getting paid considerably more than your standard truck driver.

Judd Apatow … at what point does the backlash begin?  It’s a pertinent question that must be asked.  After this year’s slightly overrated Knocked Up and slightly underrated Super Bad, one wonders if the “From Producer Judd Apatow” will begin to carry less weight.  See the thing is there is a difference between being directed by Judd Apatow (a good thing) and simple being produced by Judd Apatow (no doubt to ensure butts are in theater seats by the studio).

My curiousity only stems from the tipping-point of when will people become indifferent to the onslaught of Judd Apatow movies. In 2008 movie lovers will experience the gimick of “produced by Judd Apatow” a mind boggling four times: Pineapple Express, Drillbit Taylor, Forgetting Sarah Marshall and Step Brothers (though in all honesty this will be marketed as a Will Ferrell and Adam McKay comedy). 

It’ll be interesting to see how this plays out.  Anyway, here’s the trailer for Drillbit Taylor.  This one stars Owen Wilson as a homeless soldier of fortune hired by three high-school freshmen to protect them from the school bully.  Along the way Wilson falls in love with a teacher played by, you guessed it, Judd Apatow’s wife Leslie Mann.  Who, in her defense, is really really funny.

The best thing I can say about this trailer is that it doesn’t make me not want to see the movie, but it sort of feels second-rate.  I do like that the dorky kids actually look like dorky high school freshmen.

Drillbit Taylor protects you on March 21, 2008.

Jack Black has just signed on to star in the Harold Ramis (Groundhog Day, Stripes, Cadddyshack, Ghostbusters) comedy Year One. No details have been given about the plot, but the film will also be produced by Judd Apatow, the man responsible for Knocked Up and The Forty Year Old Virgin. Ramis co-wrote the film with a couple of guys from NBC’s The Office. Sounds like this could be something to keep an eye on, especially cause it stars Michael Cera, he of Arrested Development infamy.

Cera can be seen in the other Apatow produced comedy at the tail end of the summer called Superbad. Early word coming out of screenings for Superbad is that despite a cliched premise it’s one of the funniest and effortless comedies in some time. And if you can’t wait until then to get your dose of Michael Cera head over to his new website which he set up with longtime friend Clark Duke.