It's been three years since the disappointment / crushing disappointment (delete as appropriate) of Elizabethtown, and at last it looks like writer/ director/ soundtrack-compiler-extraordinaire Cameron Crowe is on his way back. Yes, it's been announced today that he's to direct a new rom-com starring Ben Stiller and Reese Witherspoon.
No plot details have been released for the film, which is as yet untitled, so we're just going to go ahead and blindly speculate that it's about a sports agent (Stiller) who returns to his home town on a rock band's tour bus and then stands on a car holding a stereo up in front of his childhood sweetheart's (Witherspoon) house. Playing Tiny Dancer. Only in the end it's all a dream, in some weird virtual reality future thing. Or, y'know, not.
The central twosome seem like a bit of an odd couple, but their styles of comedy could play off against each other rather well, especially if they get a good supporting cast to spark off. The film's Crowe's first at Columbia since Almost Famous, but since he also made Jerry Maguire there and has a working relationship with the studio chief Amy Pascal that goes all the way back to Say Anything, we'd say that that bodes well for a return to form.
The film's due to start shooting in January, when both Stiller and Witherspoon should be free, so expect to see this in late 2009 / early 2010.