While there’s a little shiver of fear that runs down our backs whenever we hear the phrase “family comedy”, we’re willing to shove the creeping tendrils of worry aside given that Us & Them features Billy Crystal in a lead role. While he’s no guarantee of quality, he is at least funny. Now Marisa Tomei will be playing his estranged daughter in the movie.

Us & Them finds Crystal and Bette Midler as a couple who are suddenly forced to care for their three grandkids (including Bailee Madison, who appears in next month’s horror Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark). Naturally, the generation gap is like a yawning chasm for everyone involved and the older folks simply don’t understand the youngsters’ modern ways. But they somehow struggle through and even try to repair the fractured bond with their daughter Alice (Tomei).

Forgive us for letting the fear back in at this point, but the script’s latest draft is by Lowell Ganz and Babaloo Mandel who, despite having some solid credits to their name (including City Slickers, one of Crystal’s career highlights), last brought the world Tooth Fairy. And Andy Fickman, who dabbled in multi-generational comedy with the decidedly dodgy You Again, is behind the camera. Our fingers, however, remain crossed.

It all kicks off shooting later this month in Atlanta.