While the battle for comedic free expression has been won on the back of a pretty dumb joke, the international trailer for Ron Howard‘s “The Dilemma” plays it safe and doesn’t reference the “electric cars are gay” joke at all, but actually, surprisingly, did make us chuckle more than the first spot for the film did.
Starring Vince Vaughn and Kevin James, the film tells the story of Ronny (Vaughn) who struggles to tell his best friend Nick (James) that he’s discovered that his wife Geneva (Winona Ryder) is cheating with Zip (Channing Tatum), a scruffy young punk. There are a lot of new scenes in this trailer, and a good handful that made us laugh. Even in his worst films, Vaughn is good for a quick quip here and there and he has a couple here. The highlight for us is a surprisingly funny Tatum; it’s nice to see him in a role that doesn’t require him to wear a pained expression for two hours. And extra points are earned for the tossed off reference to punk icons the Dead Milkmen. And since we’re going to get asked, the songs in the trailer are The Heavy‘s solid “How You Like Me Now” and Maroon 5‘s terrible “Misery.”
Speaking about the controversy surrounding the film, Vaughn told the Q100 Bert Radio Show this week, “I’m glad to hear it’s staying the movie,” adding that, “We’re not trying to hurt anyone’s feelings. If there’s tensions there, ultimately, it brings us together, it makes us more comfortable.”
You can see if all the furor around the joke was deserved when the film opens on January 14, 2011 and you can watch the latest trailer after the jump: