Anyone watching "Parks and Recreation," which wraps up its fourth season tomorrow night on NBC, at the moment is being treated to a match up between two of the finest comic performers of their generation, in the electoral battle between Amy Poehler's Leslie Knope and Paul Rudd's Bobby Newport. And while their battle for the Pawnee council seat should be wrapping up, it looks like we're going to see more of the pairing in the very near future, this time on the big screen, with the two stars set to reunite with the team behind one of their earliest filmic comedies.
Variety reports that Rudd and Poehler have signed on to star in "They Came Together," a romantic comedy spoof set up as part of Lionsgate's micro-budget label, which has been penned by "Wet Hot American Summer" creators David Wain and Michael Showalter, and will be directed by Wain, who was behind the sleeper hit "Role Models," and the recent flop "Wanderlust." Poehler will play Molly, who runs a knick-knack shop, and comes into conflict with Joel, who works for the corporation trying to shut her store down. Yup, it's pretty much "You've Got Mail," and apparently the script tackles all kinds of rom-com conventions, from the jealous ex to autumnal New York scenery.
The script's been in the works since after "Wet Hot American Summer" (in which both Rudd and Poehler featured), but after the two actors participated in a table read at San Francisco Sketchfest in January, Lionsgate has moved forward on the project, and are looking to shoot this summer, during Poehler's hiatus on 'Parks & Rec.' Give the extent to which Rudd & Wain's collaboration on "Wanderlust" tanked, we wouldn't expect this to be a giant hit, but it sounds like going micro-budget is absolutely the right move: it'll hopefully lead to the same kind of anarchy that's made "Wet Hot American Summer" such an enduring cult favorite. All being well, we should see this within the next twelve months.