There's much talk of focus grouping in Hollywood. 94% of conversations in the town are centered on ways to tweak a movie so that everybody in the world might love it – or at least be OK with it – and surrender cash to bask in the glory of its inoffensive light show for two hours. The other 6% of conversations are equally divided between hookers and what the hell is up with Bryan Grazer's hair. Many a focus group overlord would consider their job pretty well done if they assembled the Something For Everyone cast of The Other Side.
The cute sounding film, which marks the directorial debut of David Michaels, is the story of a young grad student who spends her summer holiday working at a scientific institute on a remote island – because apparently she either has no friends or is allergic to sex and beer. There she meets a group of eccentric misfits who are hiding a tragedy from the past.
Newly added to the cast are Brittany Murphy as the grad student (covering lovers of very pretty girls who are also very talented and as mad as a hat full of bees), Jason Lee (checking off skater dudes and Scientologists), Giovanni Ribisi (people who slightly creep us out for reasons we can't fully communicate), Jim Broadbent (nice old people), Tim Roth (amazing British actors who still haven't been in Harry Potter) and Lili Taylor (erm, people who love movies starring Lili Taylor). Already in the cast are Eddie Izzard (transvestites), Anjelica Huston (people who only see movies whose trailer features the words "Academy Award winner...") and Eddie Griffin (folk who love comedians who were sorta funny a decade ago).
Throw in a midget and a dog-faced boy and this one will have the whole world queuing on opening night.