Main: Will Ferrell and Adam McKay/ Insert: Bob Odenkirk and Ben Stiller (Getty Images/The Ben Stiller Show

IFC clearly knows what it is doing. The network that brought you Portlandia (and also Comedy Bang Bang!, if that is your sort of thing), has just announced its green-lighting of two new shows; Spoils of Babylon and The Birthday Boys. The former will be written by and star Will Ferrell alongside long-time writing partner and former head SNL writer Adam McKay, while the latter will be executive produced by The Ben Stiller Show buddies Ben Stiller and Bob Odenkirk. Er, we mean, Saul.

And whoa my gosh, do they look great.

Spoils of Babylon, which will be co-produced by Funny or Die, sounds exactly like the epic British comedy, Garth Marenghi's DarkPlace. Which is a very good thing:

The Spoils of Babylon is a television adaptation of a best-selling epic novel by fictional famous author Eric Jonrosh (played by Ferrell) and will feature an ensemble cast to be announced later. The blowsy century-spanning saga chronicles the sexy and dramatic lives of a family who made their fortune in the oil business. IFC has ordered six, half-hour episodes to premiere in late 2013.

“This is a crazy and maybe even a stupid idea,” says Will Ferrell. “IFC is either really courageous or really stupid which makes them the perfect partner for us," he added.

In the vein of The Thorn Birds and Winds of War, the epic story of The Spoils of Babylon spans three generations, taking viewers from the oil fields of Texas to boardrooms in New York City, through world war battlefields and velvet sheeted bedrooms. As the story unfolds, the booze, the passion and the heartache lead to illegal arms deals and international espionage with the Shah of Iran not to mention the creation of the doomed sub-prime market./blockquote>
Seriously, DarkPlace you guys:

Boom! Exactly. Now, the Odenkirk/Stiller collaboration is a bit different, as they are taking a UCB Improv troupe with the  name The Birthday Boys and are financing their full half-hour television comedy.

“The Birthday Boys are too good to just be making viral videos. They are funny enough to fill time between episodes of Portlandia,” said Ben Stiller. “I’m thrilled to be working with Bob Odenkirk again on a TV project. We try to do something every 20 years or so."
Said Bob Odenkirk, “The Birthday Boys are a super funny and fresh new comic voice. I will try not to slow them down.”
The series is in the classic vein of absurd/silly/smart/funny variety shows (Mr. Show, Monty Python), featuring sketches that twist real-life moments and cultural touchstones. An early episode tackles such issues as eggs, toilet paper and computers.
The Birthday Boys comedy group includes Jefferson Dutton, Dave Ferguson, Mike Hanford, Tim Kalpakis, Matt Kowalick, Mike Mitchell and Chris VanArtsdalen—whose combined credits include Parks and Recreation, The Office, Conan, Comedy Bang! Bang!, and Portlandia.

If you want to check out their stuff online, here's one of the Birthday Boys' web videos:

Comedy Central

Yeah, exactly like Monty Python. But who knows, maybe we're just jaded by Comedy Central's Workaholics, you know? In any case, these are good moves for IFC, which keeps building an awesome repertoire of comedy shows so that we all forget that its name technically stands for the Independent Film Channel.

'The Campaign' (Warner Bros.)

Primary Colors, this is not.

North Carolina congressman Cam Brady (Ferrell) is the small-town incumbent who has coasted through each election by virtue of being the only candidate running. But a phone-sex scandal—reminiscent of that of Anthony Weiner, though sexting doesn’t come into play until later—threatens to make him too much of a risk for the Motch brothers (John Lithgow and Dan Aykroyd)—a sure nod, last names and all, to a certain Tea Party-funding duo—two Washington businessmen who plan on turning a profit by “insourcing” Chinese factories. They need a new pawn in Congress, and they find him in the pudgy Marty Huggins (Zach Galifiankis), a pug-loving weirdo who runs a failed bus tour service.

Thus begin the endless montages, as Marty is trimmed and tailored into an ever-more-attractive candidate with the help of a terrifying ninja of a campaign manager (Dylan McDermott) and Cam’s life deteriorates through the increasingly debased tactics the brothers Motch employ. The film is filled with the requisite talking heads—Chris Matthews, Ed Schultz, Lawrence O’Donnell, Joe Scarborough, Mika Brzezinski and Willie Geist (apparently the film made a deal with MSNBC before shooting)—“reporting” with unnatural interest on this small-town rivalry.

Without spoiling it, by the end the two men learn that they should be setting their sights on the real enemy instead of each other. In this way, The Campaign fits the formula of the frenemy-cum-bromance genre, which can be set in any world: that of fashion (Zoolander), the police (The Other Guys) or con men (Dirty Rotten Scoundrels). Almost every Will Ferrell vehicle is a spin on the story of two men who hate each other eventually working together to overcome greater adversity, and some might find The Campaign to be the same old shtick, albeit with a new sidekick riding shotgun.

For all its toilet humor, pop culture allusions—Cam makes a sex tape with Marty’s wife, only to find his poll numbers going up—and broad comedy, The Campaign is a failure of political satire; its teeth have been pulled so as to test well across all states and parties during an election year. Its saving grace is not in the concept but in the execution. Jay Roach and his writers (Eastbound and Down’s Shawn Harwell and Chris Henchy, with a “story by” credit to longtime Ferrell pal Adam McKay) have made sure that audiences won’t miss the references to Trading Places, the 1983 comedy in which Mr. Aykroyd played one of the maliciously rich Duke Brothers, the puppeteers behind a similar stunt.

“That wasn’t unintentional,” Mr. Roach told The Observer at the New York premiere’s after party about the reference of Mr. Aykroyd’s role. But Trading Places, for all its humor, had real-life impact: the “Eddie Murphy Rule” actually went into effect as Section 136 of the Wall Street Transparency and Accountability Act.

The Campaign is unlikely to have such a far-reaching effect. It’s a funny film, but one that feels a lot like this year’s political coverage—we’ve seen this story before, and we know how it’s going to end.

THE CAMPAIGN

Running Time: 85 minutes

Written by Chris Henchy, Shawn Harwell and Adam McKay (story)

Directed by Jay Roach

Starring Will Ferrell, Zach Galifianakis, Dan Aykroyd

2.5/4

Meryl Streep, Oscar presenter (Getty Images)

The Academy has released an incomplete list of this weekend's Oscar presenters. Based on past experience, what categories shall they present. Here are our best guesses!

Christian Bale will present Best Supporting Actress; Melissa Leo will present Best Supporting Actor; Colin Firth will present Best Actress; Natalie Portman will present Best Actor. This gender-swapping return of last year's winners is a predictable tradition; the only thing surprising about it is that Melissa Leo won an Oscar one year ago instead of eight, which is how long ago it feels.

Halle Berry will present Best Documentary Feature and Short. This seems like her level of fame right now.

The cast of Bridesmaids will present Best Costume Design. Because women can make jokes about dresses!

Bradley Cooper and Emma Stone will present Best Sound Editing and Mixing. Only two charming young(ish, in Mr. Cooper's case) stars can get us excited about two seemingly indistinguishable categories.

Tom Cruise will present Best Picture. Doesn't it seem sort of weird that he never has? And doesn't it seem as though he's been fully rehabilitated?

Penélope Cruz will present Best Cinematography. Sure!

Cameron Diaz will present Best Art Direction. This is the sort of early-in-the-ceremony category for which it's perfect to have on hand an early-2000s star whose rep couldn't arrange something later in the ceremony.

Michael Douglas will present Best Director. He's already presented Best Picture twice but he's still a pretty prestigious guy. Practice saying "Hazanavicius," Gekko!

Will Ferrell and Zach Galifianakis will present Best Visual Effects. And do some sort of Rise of the Planet of the Apes-themed skit in the process.

Tina Fey will present Best Makeup. And tell a joke about how much makeup it takes to keep her from looking like either a wrinkled old man or an acne-scarred teenager in the process.

Tom Hanks will present the "In Memoriam" montage. He can't present Best Picture because one of his own films is nominated (the Academy's actually done this before when Jack Nicholson presented the prize to The Departed, but let's hope they learned from how gauche that looked) and his presenting Best Director would only call attention to the fact that he directed Larry Crowne last year. The only other thing someone with all Mr. Hanks's gravitas can do is present this segment.

Angelina Jolie will present Best Foreign Language Film. What a wonderful way for her to seem benevolent in defeat after not having been nominated for her own foreign film (which was not eligible in this category).

Jennifer Lopez will present Best Original Song. A theoretical actress and theoretical singer, Jennifer Lopez is the perfect simulacrum of a presenter of a music category at the Oscars.

Meryl Streep will present Best Adapted and Best Original Screenplay. "For actors [giggle, stern look over glasses], it all begins with a script," the star of The Iron Lady will inaccurately say.

Keep it classy, Oscars

It's been a rocky year for the American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Not only did Brett Ratner resign from producing the show, but the ballots were so confusing! Plus, no more appealing to the youngsters with hotties James Franco and Anne Hathaway; this year the Academy is going with their old hosting standby, Billy Crystal. (That's after Eddie Murphy and a bunch of others turned down the duty.)

So how will the awards show get that critical 18-35 demo to tune in? By marketing "funny" commercials for the most venerable and respected film event of the year, obviously. And having said commercials directed by a viral comedy site. Your parents are not going to understand this Oscar commercial (or why there is a commercial for the Oscars this year), so get ready to explain the Internet to them again.

Let's just have Will Ferrell and Adam McKay's website producer the Academy Awards next year. And just livestream it on Hulu. Maybe Justin Bieber could host? Just spit-balling here.

Clear eyes, full hearts, Will Ferrell is ready to go home now.

Despite what our neighbors might be screaming about next door, the US Open isn't the Superbowl.Tennis, for all its excitement, is not our national past time-- still baseball, with a tie for second between hoarding and waiting for an early onset diabetes-- and it fails to arouse the fierce patriotic pride. At least at the Kentucky Derby you are supposed to get drunk.

What we really don't understand is why normal people whip themselves up into such a frenzy over watching men and women have balls fly at their face. In Hollywood, tennis is just what rich people do when they run out of creative ideas for what to put in their backyards, which may go a long way to explain why every celebrity in Flushing this week attending the annual tennis tournament looks so bored.

Based on a Raymond Carver short story, this debut feature by writer-director Dan Rush, who makes commercials for Dell computers, casts Mr. Ferrell as middle-aged slacker Nick Halsey, a sad-sack alcoholic salesman for whom nothing goes right. After 16 years of loyalty, his company lets him go for one drinking binge too many, rewarding him with the insulting farewell gift of an engraved pocket knife on a key ring. Offended and outraged, he uses it to flatten his boss' tire in the executive parking lot, leaving the blade in the tire with his name on it. This is a jerk who is simply his own worst enemy. When he gets home, his wife has left him, canceled his credit cards, closed his bank account, changed the locks to the house, impounded his car and dumped everything he owns on the front lawn. With no wheels, no money, and no place to sleep, Nick settles into his favorite easy chair and knocks back a case of beer to drink himself unconscious. Eventually, threatened with arrest for violating a city ordinance against littering, Nick is forced to re-think his life as he takes inventory of the junk that defines him. It's not a pretty picture. After running out of options (and hope) he does the only thing left to do--he has a yard sale. Everything must go.

Among the baggage of his dubious souvenirs, he extracts vintage vinyl LPs inherited from his alcoholic DJ father, a kayak, a blender and a bottle of green mouthwash--the kind of stuff that appeals to bargain hunting Americans who haunt Saturday afternoon tag sales, looking for old Playboy magazines. With the help of a friendly pregnant neighbor (Rebecca Hall) and an overweight black kid on a bike who watches his junk while he heads for the store to buy more Pabst Blue Ribbon (this is the kind of movie that brings new meaning to the term "product placement"), Nick pulls himself together long enough to price-tag his worthless treasures, stop boozing, cut his losses, and survive with less weight on his shoulders and fewer possessions but just as many problems, since in the end he is still broke, homeless and unemployed. He is also a new man, so un-fazed by his troubles that he doesn't even seem to mind the sub-plot about his wife's affair with the local cop (Michael Pena) who is also his AA sponsor. In one extraneous scene, he looks up an old girlfriend in his high-school yearbook (Laura Dern) who went to Hollywood to be an actress. Her biggest claim to fame is a TV commercial with Brad Pitt, but it was for Japan, so nobody ever saw it. Now she's a matronly divorced housewife with two kids in a suburban tract house. The point of this scene is lost, except to illustrate Raymond Carver's point--that for everyone over 40, the American Dream is merely a dark delusion.

Mr. Ferrell holds back the comic condiments long enough to paint the portrait of a man lost in low self-esteem with nice pastels of realistic restraint. But the crossroads he faces are paved with potholes: director Rush never manages the transition from literature to film, the pacing is so slow you wonder if it will ever end, I never bought the metaphor of selling old sports trophies as the convincing cinematic equivalent of unloading the past and the message is so downbeat you don't really much care if the guy's world collapses or not. Still, I applaud the star, whose frantic resume of lousy work I have never regarded as anything more than pathetic. This time, he flexes a few acting muscles that atrophied along the way to stardom, showing the kind of pain, tension and inner turmoil no valium can numb, and giving something that actually resembles a real performance. One question remains: can they sell it? 

rreed@observer.com

EVERYTHING MUST GO
Running time 96 minutes
Written and directed by Dan Rush
Starring Will Ferrell, Rebecca Hall, Laura Dern

2/4

Mr. McKay said that the company's moniker, fictitiously identified on its Web site as referring to a "Paraguayan entrepreneur and financier," was selected largely at random by Mr. Ferrell.

So no, conspiracy theorists: The young star from the Dominican Republic, whose $3 million 2009 signing bonus was the largest the Yankees have ever given an amateur or a position player, isn't simply a comedic counterpart to Talladega Nights' Ricky Bobby or Eastbound and Down's Kenny Powers, both released by Gary Sanchez Productions. Nor is he a complete hoax, à la George Plimpton's famous pitcher-slash-yogi Sidd Finch. "Oh, that would've been genius!" Mr. McKay said. "But no, the kid can legitimately play and his name is legitimately Gary Sanchez. How bizarre."

Tonight, Will Ferrell is expected to be in attendance to watch the Blake-Djokovic match. Giants QB Eli Manning will be here, as will a Baldwin! (Stephen). And amazingly, somehow, former Knicks head coach Isiah Thomas who oversaw the bleakest days in franchise history is going to be here tonight. Can't wait for the reaction from the crowd if they put him on the Jumbotron.

Last night, the Post caught Chelsea Clinton and her new hubby, Marc Mezvinsky, kissing. Here's a photo gallery.

Will Ferrell once had a tough time reasoning with his toddler proprietor in his brilliant Funny or Die landlord skit, but it seems that these days his real estate luck is on the up. According to a source close to the deal, Mr. Ferrell and his wife, the Swedish actress Viveca Paulin, are in contract to buy a three-bedroom loft at Hudson and West 13th streets. The sale is set to close May 15, and while we do not know the price, we can gauge a ballpark figure from the last sales price of $4.4 million, in 2006. In any case, Mr. Ferrell should be able to handle the tag considering his top rank in Forbes' "Hollywood's 10 Most Overpaid Stars" of 2009.

Broker Susan Meisel, whose eponymous firm had the listing in 2006, and who has done extensive business in the building but is not connected to this deal, gushed to The Observer about the property, which dates to the 1890s and was converted to condos in 1998. "It's a wonderful building! Very young, very family-oriented, lots of doggies and babies everywhere, and there's a live-in super, so it's kept pristine and wonderful; it's run like a submarine! He bought in a good place!"

Located "on the border of the West Village and the Meatpacking District" the spacious loft has two "generously sized" bedrooms, according to the 2006 listing, as well as a "windowed open space" easily converted to a third bedroom for one of Mr. Ferrells' three boys. The open floor plan shows high ceilings with original iron columns and exposed heavy timber beams, as well as hardwood maple floors and renovated kitchen and bathrooms.

In January, the former Saturday Night Live quipster and his wife of 10 years welcomed their third son, Axel, who joined brothers Magnus, 5, and Mattias, 3. Now that the Old School streaker has enough cadets to start a fraternity of his own, he has been hunting for the right real estate to house his troops. According to a source in the building, the Ferrell brood have visited the loft several times in the past few months. The scheduled mid-May closing gives Mr. Ferrell enough time to finish the current L.A. run of his wildly successful and Tony-nominated You're Welcome America: A Final Night with George Bush.

cmalle@observer.com

1. District 9: $37 million ($37 million total)

Score one for the film critics? The critically acclaimed aliens-among-us treatise wound up opening only $3 million behind last year’s similarly viral Cloverfield. Neill Blomkamp’s film has already earned back its $30 million budget, but for Sony’s sake, hopefully the word of mouth holds up better than it did with Matt Reeves’s monster movie. In weekend two, Cloverfield tumbled an outrageously bad 68 percent. Stay tuned.

2. G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra: $22.5 million ($98.7 million total)

For all the talk of how terrible G.I. Joe is, that it “only” dropped 59 percent this weekend has to be considered a huge win. Think about it: Rise of Cobra held up better in its second weekend than other big ticket events like X-Men Origins: Wolverine, Terminator Salvation, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince and Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen.

3. The Time Traveler’s Wife: $19.2 million ($19.2 million total)

If we’re to believe actress Mindy Kaling, there are a lot of happy gentlemen this morning. Despite being delayed for almost a year, The Time Traveler’s Wife scored a fairly impressive opening weekend, making it yet another female driven romance to perform admirably this summer. We’ve been waiting for Rachel McAdams to become the next Julia Roberts, but instead, it looks like she’s a female version of Ryan Reynolds. In the right vehicle, she can find a huge opening (see: Wedding Crashers), but mostly, she’s good for midrange box office receipts.

4. Julie & Julia: $12.4 million ($43.6 million total)

Slow and steady wins the race. Julie & Julia dipped a sturdy 38 percent this weekend, pushing its cume just under $44 million. With nothing on the horizon for adult women over the next few weeks and, presumably, better word of mouth than The Time Traveler’s Wife, Nora Ephron’s foodie flick could wind up grossing upwards of $80 million. We were expecting more, but this still has to go into the ledger as a late-summer win.

5. G-Force: $6.9 million ($99 million total)

Disney’s G-Force easily topped the opening weekend of the Will Ferrell–produced The Goods: Live Hard, Sell Hard ($5.4 million) to finish fifth over the weekend. In the process, G-Force came just short of crossing the $100 million barrier. Such is life for the Frat Pack in the summer of 2009: A bunch of talking guinea pigs have grossed more than Year One, Land of the Lost and now The Goods, combined.