A telling ‘graph from Variety’s story on the purported “family comedy”, One Big Happy:

“[Diane] Keaton was last seen in the comedies Mama’s Boy and Mad Money. [Steve] Martin next stars in Pink Panther 2.”

Whisper words of wisdom, let it be.

What’s sad is that “a comic pitch” from the creators of Party of Five, Chris Keyser and Amy Lippman, is actually a major step up from the uninspired rubbish Martin and Keaton have been persistently wallowing in over the last decade.  I understand cashing in a little, but when an otherwise brilliant career devolves into an uninterrupted string of paycheck gigs… it’s sad.  And while Keyser and Lippman aren’t awful writers in the least (says the guy who watched Party of Five for most of its run), their creative ceiling would be something like The Family Stone (if they’re playing way over their heads: Parenthood). 

The apparently gangbusters premise of One Big Happy is, according to Variety, “being kept under wraps”.  All we know is that it entails “a couple and a family reconnecting amid various obstacles”, which makes it sound like On Golden Pond meets Scavenger Hunt.  The sad thing is, I’d pay to see that.  More than once if they successfully finagle a Richard Benjamin cameo. 

Paramount paid somewhere in the high six-figure range for One Big Happy, but it’s not clear yet who’ll direct (Keyser is prepping his own feature, so maybe Lippman?).  John Goldwyn and Lorne Michaels are set to produce.