Jack Black, Michael Winterbottom... Michael Winterbottom, Jack Black. Nope, it's not a pairing we saw coming either, but as **Bailout **is the Tristam Shandy director's attempt at tackling the financial meltdown with laughter, maybe he's onto something here.
The script is based on Jess Walter‘s novel 'The Financial Lives of the Poets', and sees Black's character, Matt Prior, suffering badly at the hands of the recession as he loses his job and fears he might lose his house.
To make matters worse, he suspects his wife might be cheating on him. Bummer. You might be forgiven in thinking that this doesn't sound much like a comedy, but then it emerges that Prior will meet two men in a supermarket who will offer him a mysterious job.
Ooo, very intriguing. It seems that no-one wants to talk about exactly what that job is, but check out the book if you're interested and it's all there for you.
Coming off the back of his recent comic success in the form of the brilliant The Trip, it's exciting to see Winterbottom tackling such a big topic as the financial crisis in such a light way.
For those of you intrigued as to what else Jack is up to right now, he's currently doing press for Kung Fu Panda 2, and is set to join up with Steve Martin and Owen Wilson for The Big Year, a movie about, um, birdwatching. True story.
Kung Fu Panda 2 is out June 10.