News

Friends star Matthew Perry died from “acute effects of ketamine,” the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner’s Office said today. The autopsy report also cited drowning, coronary artery disease and the effects of buprenorphine — a drug used to treat opioid use disorder — as contributing to his death.

Ketamine is a drug used recreationally that dulls pain, causes forgetfulness, intoxication, disassociation and euphoria. It is also increasingly used under medical supervision to treat depression.

The manner of death was ruled an accident. Perry died October 28 at his home in the Pacific Palisades area of Los Angeles. He was 54.

Friends ran from 1994-2004, co-starring Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, David Schwimmer, Matt LeBlanc and Lisa Kudrow. Perry played Chandler Bing on the Manhattan-set sitcom, which was one of the most-watched shows on U.S. primetime.

Related: Matt LeBlanc Pays Tribute To Late Co-Star Matthew Perry: “It Is With A Heavy Heart I...

With the tragic news that Friends star Matthew Perry passed away last week, we wanted to honor the sitcom legend by asking what movie of his was your favorite?

Favorite Matthew Perry MovieA Night in the Life of Jimmy Reardon (1988)She's Out of Control (1989)Fat Man and Little Boy (1989)Getting In (1994)Fools Rush In (1997)Almost Heroes (1998)Three To Tango (1999)The Whole Nine Yards (2000)Serving Sara (2002)The Whole Ten Yards (2004)Numb (2007)Birds of America (2008)17 Again (2009)Submit Vote HereView Results Here

The post Poll: Favorite Matthew Perry Movie appeared first on JoBlo.

Nick at Nite, which airs Friends in syndication, said Sunday that it will be airing a tribute to Matthew Perry, who died Saturday at age 54.

The special, titled Matthew Perry: Thanks for Being a Friend, will air at 10 p.m. Et/Pt on Sunday, followed by “fan favorite” episodes of Friends featuring Perry.

The special will include “never-before-seen interviews with Perry, behind-the-scenes moments from the set … and stories about Perry’s best moments as Chandler Bing.”

Nick at Nite said that episodes of Friends will continue to air all this week through Sunday, Nov. 5, beginning at 10 p.m.

Perry was discovered unresponsive in a hot tub at his Los Angeles home around 4 p.m. Saturday, law enforcement sources told The Los Angeles Times.

On Sunday, the coroner’s office updated its case online, saying that the cause of death had been “deferred.” That typically means that an autopsy has been completed,...

The Los Angeles County Medical Examiner’s office on Sunday released its first report on Matthew Perry, who died Saturday at age 54.

Perry was discovered unresponsive in a hot tub at his Los Angeles home around 4 p.m. Saturday, law enforcement sources told The Los Angeles Times.

On Sunday, the coroner’s office updated its case online, saying that the cause of death had been “deferred.” That typically means an autopsy has been completed but the examiner needs more time and additional investigation into the death.

“Deferred means that after an autopsy, a cause of death has not been determined and the medical examiner is requesting more investigation into the death, including additional studies,” a spokesperson for the department previously explained, when the coroner deferred the case of death for Lisa Marie Presley, who died in January. “Once the tests/studies come back, the doctor evaluates the case again and...

We are still awaiting a cause of death for Matthew Perry. An autopsy has been completed on the Friends‘ actor, but it is inconclusive pending toxicology tests, according to a spokesperson for the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner’s Office.

Perry, one of the stars of the long-running television hit Friends, died Oct. 28 from an apparent drowning in a hot tub at his Los Angeles home in the Pacific Palisades. He was 54.

Friends ran from 1994 to 2004, co-starring Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, David Schwimmer, Matt LeBlanc and Lisa Kudrow. Perry played Chandler Bing on the show, which was one of the most-watched shows on U.S. primetime.

Perry had a well-documented history of abusing alcohol and prescription drugs, but it has been reported that no illicit drugs were found at the scene and foul play is not suspected. He detailed that struggle in his 2022 memoir, Friends, Lovers and the Big Terrible Thing,...

Matthew Perry is one of the most well-known and beloved comedic actors. The American and Canadian actor is known around the world because of his role as Chandler Bing in the hit NBC sitcom Friends. Perry began his career as a child actor with a small role in 1979s 240-Robert and then went on to star in shows like Silver Spoons and Growing Pains before landing the role of his lifetime. Sadly, Matthew Perry is no longer with us but he will be remembered through his roles in which he made us laugh. So, if you also loved Perry here are the 10 best movies and TV shows starring Matthew Perry that should be on your watchlist.

Three to Tango (Rent on Prime Video & Tubi) Credit – Warner Bros.

Synopsis: Matthew Perry, Neve Campbell and Dylan McDermott are the entango’d threesome of this hip, gender-bending farce about the shenanigans that result...

Adele paid tribute to Matthew Perry during her Las Vegas show Saturday, hours after the death of the Friends star was revealed.

While the singer never met the actor, Adele — like millions of Friends fans — felt a connection to the hit sitcom, and especially Perry’s character Chandler Bing, who she called “probably the best comedic character of all time.”

“It is always so shocking, especially someone that made you laugh and who brought so much joy to your life that you don’t know,” Adele — dressed as Morticia Addams...

Actor Matthew Perry, who rose to stardom with his portrayal of Chandler Bing in the iconic sitcom ‘Friends’, breathed his last as he died at the age of 54 at his Los Angeles home. His portrayal broke new grounds, and over the years has become a mark of the 1990s.

One of the reasons Perry fits in so well as Chandler is his proximity to the character in some sense. Like Chandler, Perry’s parents too separated when he was an infant.

He grew up in Ottawa, Ontario and stayed with his Canadian mother, who was a journalist and served as press secretary to former Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau, the father of the current Prime Minister of Canada Justin Trudeau.

As his mother later married Canadian-born broadcast journalist Keith Morrison, Matthew also lived briefly in Toronto and Montreal.

At the age of 15, Perry moved from Ottawa to Los Angeles to live with his biological father,...

Actor Matthew Perry, who rose to stardom with his portrayal of Chandler Bing in the iconic sitcom ‘Friends’, breathed his last as he died at the age of 54 at his Los Angeles home. His portrayal broke new grounds, and over the years has become a mark of the 1990s.

One of the reasons Perry fits in so well as Chandler is his proximity to the character in some sense. Like Chandler, Perry’s parents too separated when he was an infant.

He grew up in Ottawa, Ontario and stayed with his Canadian mother, who was a journalist and served as press secretary to former Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau, the father of the current Prime Minister of Canada Justin Trudeau.

As his mother later married Canadian-born broadcast journalist Keith Morrison, Matthew also lived briefly in Toronto and Montreal.

At the age of 15, Perry moved from Ottawa to Los Angeles to live with his biological father,...

Matthew Perry has died but has left a legacy in television and film. Throughout his life, Perry entertained millions of viewers who would become fans of his work.

Perry was best known for playing the role of Chandler Bing on the sitcom Friends, a role that he would play for ten seasons. Other television credits include Sunset 60 on the Sunset Strip, The Odd Couple, Cougar Town, Ally McBeal and The West Wing.

Related: Matthew Perry Dies: ‘Friends’ Actor Was 54

Films that Perry starred in include Fools Rush In, opposite Salma Hayek, Three To Tango with Neve Campbell and Dylan McDermott as well as The Whole Nine Yards with Bruce Willis.

Related: Hollywood Remembers Matthew Perry

Check out the photo gallery below to remember highlights of Perry’s career.

Matthew Perry — who played the charmingly lovable and endlessly quotable Chandler Bing on the sitcom Friends, has died, law enforcement sources confirmed to Rolling Stone. He was 54. A spokesperson for the Los Angeles Police Department said that police “responded at 4:10 this afternoon to a death investigation for a male in his 50s.”

While Perry was best known for his role in Friends, he appeared in scores of other television shows and comedic films, including Fools Rush In, The Whole Nine Yards, Three to Tango, The Kid, and many more movies.

Matthew Perry, best known for his role as Chandler Bing on Friends, has died. He was 54.

The actor was found unconscious late this afternoon at his L.A. home by first responders who were unable to revive him, law enforcement sources told Deadline.

Perry’s death is considered an ongoing investigation, we hear.

Throughout his career, Perry struggled with addiction, which he detailed in his memoir “Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing,” published last year.

“I really lived life to its fullest and that got me in trouble from time to time,” he said in a US Weekly interview several years ago.

Perry made his television debut in 1979 on an episode of 240-Robert. He would go on to book roles in shows like Not Necessarily the News (1983), Charles in Charge (1985), Silver Spoons (1986), Just the Ten of Us (1988) and Highway to Heaven (1988). Perry would be a series regular on Boys Will be Boys...

Actor Matthew Perry, best known for his role on the hit comedy series Friends, has passed away.

Per THR, Perry was found dead on Saturday at a Los Angeles home where he "appears to have drowned," according to law enforcement. The report noted that first-responders had originally responded to a call for cardiac arrest before Perry was found deceased in a jacuzzi at the home. Reportedly, no drugs were found at the scene, and cops do not suspect foul play was involved. Perry was just 54 years old.

Perry rose to fame with his unforgettable role as Chandler Bing on the popular sitcom Friends. He played the role from 1994 to 2004 across ten seasons, garnering an Emmy nomination for the part. In 2021, Perry joined his co-stars from the series for the Max (then HBO Max) special Friends: The Reunion, reflecting on his time spent on the show. Given his association with the show,...

Actor Matthew Perry, known for his role in Friends, has died at the age of 54, possibly due to drowning in a Jacuzzi. No drugs were found at the scene, and law enforcement believes there was no foul play involved in Perry's death. Perry, who recently published a memoir about his struggle with substance use disorder, had turned 54 in August.

There is more sad news today as we learn that actor Matthew Perry has died at the age of 54 after an apparent drowning incident, though reports are still coming in. A cardiac arrest call came in, and law enforcement officers found Perry was found dead at an L.A. home. According to People, "[TMZ] reported that Perry was found in a Jacuzzi at the home, and no drugs were found at the scene. TMZ was also told that there was no foul play involved, and their sources said first-responders were called...

Seasons three through six of Friends had some of Chandler Bing’s funniest and most character-defining moments. There he is handcuffed, without pants, to a filing cabinet; remaining in “time out” in a box for nearly a full episode; hooking up with—and later marrying—Monica…We all remember them fondly. The one who doesn’t? Matthew Perry, who says these seasons were a blur due to his problems with substance abuse.

Wtf Happened to…Matthew Perry?

But to truly understand what the fuck happened to Matthew Perry, we go back to the beginning. And the beginning began when he was born on August 19th in Williamstown, Ma, the son of two prominent people: actor John Bennett Perry and mother Suzanne, who later served as press secretary to Canadian Pm Pierre Trudeau.

Perry developed an interest in acting after he served it up on the tennis court as a youth,...

Exclusive: Neve Campbell (The Lincoln Lawyer) has joined the cast of Peacock‘s Twisted Metal in a recurring role. Campbell will play Raven opposite Anthony Mackie, Stephanie Beatriz, and Thomas Haden Church.

From Cobra Kai writer Michael Jonathan Smith and based on an original take by Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick, Twisted Metal is a half-hour action-comedy about a motor-mouthed outsider (Mackie) offered a chance at a better life — but only if he can successfully deliver a mysterious package across a postapocalyptic wasteland. With the help of a trigger-happy car thief (Beatriz), he’ll face savage marauders driving vehicles of destruction and other dangers of the open road, including a deranged clown who drives an all-too-familiar ice cream truck.

2022 Peacock Series & Pilot Orders

Alongside Mackie and showrunner Smith, executive producers also include Kitao Sakurai — who also will direct multiple episodes — Reese, Wernick, Will Arnett, and Marc Forman via their Electric Avenue production company,...

Exclusive: Neve Campbell has inked with new representation including The Gersh Agency, Anonymous Content for Management and attorneys Johnson Shapiro Slewett & Kole.

The news comes in the wake of Campbell’s success with Paramount/Spyglass Media’s relaunch of Scream, one of the bright spots at the box office, grossing over $135M WW to date and sending the five-picture genre franchise’s tally to $739M-plus.

Upcoming, the Party of Five vet will star in the Netflix drama series The Lincoln Lawyer which is based on Michael Connelly’s second book, The Brass Verdict, in the legal thriller novel series.

In 2020, Campbell starred in the Disney+ film Clouds in which she plays Laura Sobiech, the author whose memoir Fly A Little Higher: How God Answered a Mom’s Small Prayer in a Big Way the film is based on. Campbell was also seen opposite Steve Coogan in Hot Air and...

Apple TV Plus has announced that the new dark comedy anthology series, “Roar,” will premiere all eight episodes April 15 on the streaming platform.

Based on a short story collection by Cecelia Ahern, the series tells futuristic and magical realism stories that mirror the common dilemmas of modern women in today’s world. The episodes will feature acclaimed actors including Nicole Kidman, Issa Rae, Merritt Wever, Cynthia Erivo, Alison Brie, Betty Gilpin, Meera Syal, Fivel Stewart and Kara Hayward.

“Roar” is created by Liz Flahive and Carly Mensch, who showrun and executive produce alongside Kidman and Per Saari via Blossom Films; Bruna Papandrea, Steve Hutensky and Allie Goss for Made Up Stories; Ahern through Greenlight Go; and Theresa Park for Per Capita Productions. The series is produced by Endeavor Content. Apple has also released first look images for the series: view below.

Also on today’s TV news roundup:

Dates

Apple...

Brat TV, the Gen Z-skewing digital production outfit, has onboarded two new staffers to elevate its programming and talent initiatives.

Emmy-winning screenwriter and producer Rodney Vaccaro has been named head of development, while former Digital Brand Architects (Dba) manager Shannon Wachtell has been named head of talent.

Vaccaro will leverage his background – having previously worked on HBO’s Night Of The Running Man and Warner Brothers’ Three To Tango – to lead development. Wachtell, for her part, will oversee Brat’s talent team, seeking to identify and nurture next-gen creators. At Dba, she oversaw TikTok initiatives, working with the likes of Amelie Zilber, Riley Hubatka, and Zahra Hashimee.

Visit Tubefilter for more great stories.

Neve Campbell has signed on to reprise her iconic role as Sidney Prescott from the preceding four films in the ‘Scream’ franchise.

Campbell joins previously announced legacy cast members David Arquette and Courteney Cox who will return as Dewey Riley and Gale Weathers, as well as new cast members Jack Quaid (“The Boys”), Melissa Barrera (“In The Heights”) and Jenna Ortega (“You”).

Campbell said, “After spending time speaking with Radio Silence, they have shown such love, respect and admiration for Wes Craven and all that he’s created in the ‘Scream’ franchise. I am beyond excited to step back into the role of Sidney Prescott and return to Woodsboro.”

Also in news – Anne Hathaway to join forces with Doug Liman for pandemic movie ‘Lockdown’

Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett will direct the latest instalment to the franchise. James Vanderbilt and Guy Busick have penned the screenplay. Creator Kevin Williamson and...

Neve Campbell will reprise her role as Sidney Prescott in Paramount-Spyglass’ relaunch of Scream.

She joins previously announced Scream gang David Arquette and Courteney Cox as Dewey Riley and Gale Weathers, and new cast members Jack Quaid, Melissa Barrera and Jenna Ortega. Production is planned to shoot in Wilmington, North Carolina for a Jan. 14, 2022 theatrical release.

Radio Silence said, “We’re pinching ourselves! It’s hard to express how much the character Sidney Prescott shaped our love of movies and to have the chance to work with Neve is truly a dream come true. It just wouldn’t be a ‘Scream’ movie without Neve and we’re so excited and honored to join her in Woodsboro.”

Campbell said, “After spending time speaking with Radio Silence, they have shown such love, respect and admiration for Wes Craven and all that he’s created in the ‘Scream’ franchise. I am beyond excited...

Neve Campbell will reprise her iconic role as Sidney Prescott in Spyglass and Paramount’s relaunch of “Scream.”

Campbell joins previously announced cast members David Arquette and Courteney Cox who will return as Dewey Riley and Gale Weathers, respectively, as well as new cast members Jack Quaid (“The Boys”), Melissa Barrera (“In The Heights”) and Jenna Ortega (“You”).

Production will shoot in Wilmington, North Carolina, and Paramount will release the film worldwide on Jan. 14, 2022.

Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett (“Ready Or Not”), of the filmmaking group Radio Silence, are directing the film. James Vanderbilt and Guy Busick are co-writing the screenplay. Plot details are being kept under wraps.

“After spending time speaking with Radio Silence, they have shown such love, respect and admiration for Wes Craven and all that he’s created in the ‘Scream’ franchise,” Campbell said. “I am beyond excited to step back into the role of Sidney Prescott and return to Woodsboro.

Sound on Sight undertook a massive project, compiling ranked lists of the most influential, unforgettable, and exciting action scenes in all of cinema. There were hundreds of nominees spread across ten different categories and a multi-week voting process from 11 of our writers. The results: 100 essential set pieces, sequences, and scenes from blockbusters to cult classics to arthouse obscurities.

Part 1 of 10: There’s nothing like the thrill of a chase. A bank robber pulls off an elaborate heist only to be pursued by a dogged detective on foot. A soldier escapes from enemy territory but must outrun the angry combatants on his tail. A man wrongly accused of murder has just his wits and his two legs to flee the authorities. It’s the immediacy that appeals: characters relying on their stamina, agility, and wit to stay alive, without the aid that a car, boat, or plane gives them. For filmmakers,...

After making it out of the jungle and back to the office by the end of last week’s premiere “The Holdout,” our beloved Sterling Archer isn’t given much time to rest on his laurels in “Three to Tango.” Archer has delivered many ‘mission’ episodes throughout its run, and this week’s installment certainly fits into that category, even if it feels a tad slighter than most.

We kick off with new CIA handler Slater briefing Archer and Lana on a top-secret mission to extract a CIA freelancer from Buenos Aires before Argentine intelligence officers catch up with him. The only reason Slater is bringing the pair in on it is that they have some past experience with the freelancer – who turns out to be none other than dashing handsome double agent (and possible Jewish Santa) Conway Stern. Apparently, Bionic Barry is still suffering over in Russia and wasn’t available for this plotline.

What better way to stave off suspicions when you’re pretending to be lesbians and trying to get your rocks off?

It was only a matter of time before Karma and Amy, the fake lesbians (well, only one of them is) at the center of MTV’s surprisingly charming Faking It, would let a “womanizing hetero-normative bro-douche” bridge the sexy gap between them. That bro-douche in question is Liam, who’s been waiting to pull the tantric trigger with Karma for quite some time. Could a three-way finally be the solution to getting him in the sheets?

The real surprise here is Amy,...

At this point, Sony Pictures’ remake of the musical classic Annie is turning into the latest Mad Libs production to come out of Hollywood, with studio executives just randomly yelling out names of people who should be working on getting the long-in-development feature off the ground. The project certainly made sense at first as, back in January of 2011, it was announced that Will Smith would be producing the project as a potential vehicle for his daughter, Willow Smith (thank the success of The Karate Kid for that). A few weeks after that, we got wind that Jay-z would also be producing alongside Smith, which continued sound like a solid way to make a fresh, new Annie, and then Emma Thompson came on board to write the script and any concept we might have had of the new film went right out the window. Thompson’s screenwriting work in the kiddie realm primarily consists of the Nanny McPhee films...

Not every romantic movie match was made in heaven. We submit it's quite the opposite in a lot of cases.

This baker's dozen batch of film titles in particular, boasting some shamelessly twisted pairings, has definitely given our gag reflex an unhealthy workout over the years. From incest to incomprehensible deception to just plain strange, there are a lot of different variations of yuck to be experienced within this group.

Some are worse than others, sure, but none are very well-suited for the faint of heart or imagination.

13. 'What Women Want'

Ah, pre-bigotry-slinging Mel Gibson. Those were some good old days, weren't they? Except, of course, for "What Women Want." Gibson's hyper-successful ad man Nick Marshall knows his way around a bedpost, but every female in his life pretty much loathes him. Lucky for him, an accident bestows upon him the desirable ability to read women's minds. Old...

They're practically the same age, with names so similar they give dyslexics seizures, and both have played love interests of Julia Roberts. But Dermot Mulroney and Dylan McDermott are not the same person. We swear.

The two actors have both had steady careers, with Mulroney sticking mostly to character roles on the big screen ("Zodiac," "J. Edgar") while McDermott found fame on the boob tube starring in hit shows like "The Practice," "Dark Blue" and Ryan Murphy's current FX series "American Horror Story."

What would happen if these two went toe-to-toe for nine electrifying rounds in our ring of pop culture minutiae? With McDermott set to join Will Ferrell and Zach Galifianakis on the election trail in "The Campaign" this week, there's no better time than the present.

Best Movie Role

Dermot Mulroney: Randall Hertzel, "About Schmidt" (2002)

Dylan McDermott: Secret Service Agent Al D'Andrea, "In the Line of Fire" (1993)

Advantage: Mulroney,...

Screenwriter Aline Brosh McKenna‘s resume is bizarre. Start at the bottom – Three to Tango, Laws of Attraction, some TV movie, The Devil Wears Prada, 27 Dresses, Morning Glory – you see the pattern, right? But after penning generally mainstream romantic comedies since 1999, McKenna veered wildly off course in 2011. Her credits for that year? I Don’t Know How She Does It (horrible, offensive tripe) and We Bought a Zoo (charming, inoffensive family stuff directed by no less than Cameron Crowe). Now McKenna is reportedly set to go even further away from her bread and butter, as the scribe is apparently set to rewrite the script for the Will Smith and Jay-z-produced remake of Annie. Perhaps even McKenna bristled at last year’s New York Times profile that sold her as the go-to writer of “Cinderella stories for the Blackberry set of professional women.” (Oof.) McKenna will reportedly “draw on both the hit Broadway musical and the comic...

Our top moments of the week:

11. It Takes Three to Tango Award: Kim Zolciak sets the scene for a romantic evening with her man, Kroy, on Real Housewives of Atlanta: candles, rose petals and a bathtub built for two. But is there room for one more? Because Kim's father suddenly barges in on the new parents' date night. He offers this sage advice. "I want you to be careful," he says. "If you can't be careful, be good. And if you can't be good, then just name it after me." Father knows best!

10. Best Kiss: It's been a rough road this season for Aria and Ezra on Pretty Little Liars. After they were forced to split up, Aria leaves Ezra a message, asking him to meet her under the clock tower to give their relationship just one last chance. He shows up, of...

Read More >...

"Big gestures are common currency in Cameron Crowe country," begins Vadim Rizov at GreenCine Daily, and that's the gist, too, of Sam Adams's piece for Slate: "He's made bad movies, but never a bad trailer." Vadim: "John Cusack holding a boombox over his head in Say Anything..., Jerry Maguire's much-quoted romantic highlights ('You had me at hello'), an unironically lovestruck-and-desperate run alongside a moving bus in Almost Famous. Crowe openly states his method in We Bought a Zoo: 'All you need is 20 seconds of insane courage,' dad Benjamin Mee (Matt Damon) tells lovestruck son Dylan (Colin Ford). 'And I promise you, something great will come of it.' This is both a baldly stated stab at future quotability and a declaration of Crowe's full investment: every time his characters do something outsized and cornball, he's the one hoping a great moment rather than a fiasco will emerge from it.

20th Century Fox has acquired the film rights to the graphic novel Rust: Visitor in the Field from Royden Lepp . The studio has already hired Aline Brosh McKenna to write the script for the project. I can't say I'm a big fan of McKenna's work, she's written films such as 27 Dresses, Morning Glory, Three to Tango, and The Devil Wears Prada, which was actually a decent movie. She also wrote Cameron Crowe's new film We Bought a Zoo. The graphic novel is set to debut at this years Comic-Con.

Here's a description of the story:

A high-octane adventure set in the prairie lands of an unknown time. Life on the Taylor family farm was difficult enough before Jet Jones crashes into the barn, chased by a giant decommissioned war robot! Oldest son Roman Taylor struggles to keep his family’s small farm afloat as the area heals from a devastating world war.

by Janet Manley

Today's release of Adam Sandler and Jennifer Aniston rom-com vehicle, “Just Go With It,” will blaze away the winter chill with its sunny twin rays of confusion and misdirection.

Sandler’s character, Danny, uses a wedding band to attract women. When the bodacious Palmer (Brooklyn Decker) falls for his trick but insists she can't date a married man, Danny asks his long-suffering assistant, Katherine (Aniston), to pretend to be his wife so he can project cozy family vibes, act out a divorce, and net the babe. Pretend to be married to your boss? Involve your precious kiddies in the ruse? Go through with a fake divorce? That sounds like a scenario for surefire moral turpitude and occupational chaos, right? Not according to Aniston’s character, who decides to “just go with it.” Not to worry, on the big screen, no one ever gets caught in his or her own web of lies!

Training Day producer Robert Newmyer has died of a heart attack. He was 49. The film-maker died on Monday of a heart attack triggered by an asthma attack while we was working out at a Toronto, Canada, gym. Newmyer started his film career as vice president of production and acquisitions at Columbia Pictures, before forming Outlaw Productions in the late 1980s with partner Jeffrey Silver. Silver says, "He liked to move people. He liked to make them laugh, and he liked to make them cry. We formed Outlaw to make film fares that the studio didn't know how to make - lower budget, edgy." During his career, Newmyer produced Sex, Lies And Videotape, The Santa Clause, Don Juan De Marco and Three To Tango.

Spyglass Entertainment has picked up Aline Brosh McKenna's pitch 27 Dresses for Outlaw Prods. to produce. The project marks the fifth collaboration between Brosh McKenna and Outlaw. The scribe wrote the company's Warner Bros. Pictures feature Three to Tango and rewrote the upcoming Jennifer Love Hewitt starrer If Only for Intermedia Films. She also worked on Outlaw's Season in Central Park and The Official Scorer, both in development at Warners. Dresses is about a woman fed up with always being a bridesmaid. Spyglass' Gary Barber and Roger Birnbaum are producing with Outlaw's Robert Newmyer, Jeffrey Silver and Scott Strauss. Spyglass' Jonathan Glickman is executive producing, with company executive Stephanie Striegel overseeing. Brosh McKenna is repped by Devra Lieb at Hohman Maybank Lieb.

For a screenplay that supposedly made the Hollywood rounds for nearly a decade, it's a shame a little more rewriting didn't go into "Three to Tango". Here's a potentially funny, touching comedy struggling to get out of a tortuously plotted maze of tissue-thin characters and incredulous leaps in logic.

Viewers not turned off by nearly incoherent opening scenes peopled with thoroughly dislikable characters will be rewarded with some amusing comic moments when the movie finds its footing. But it's a long wait.

With three popular, young actors above the title, Warner Bros. should attract a young crowd that may not mind the comedy's highly uneven nature. But older audiences aren't likely to tango with this production from Outlaw.

Penned by Rodney Vaccaro with an assist from Aline Brosh McKenna, "Tango" is keen to explore the mental gymnastics a young man must perform when he falls in love with a woman under circumstances in which he must pretend to be gay. The current film "Happy, Texas" achieves a similar premise with a few swift set-up scenes, but "Tango" takes nearly a third of its running time placing Matthew Perry's character in this perplexing situation.

Perry is in an architectural partnership with Oliver Platt, whose character is gay but curiously not established as such until well into the movie. The pair is pitted in ruthless competition with two former colleagues to design a multimillion-dollar cultural center, the brainchild of a Chicago tycoon (Dylan McDermott).

For some never-quite-explained reason, McDermott entrusts Perry with the thankless job of spying on his mistress (Neve Campbell), a local glass-blowing artist. It is further assumed by McDermott and Campbell -- on the basis of absolutely no evidence -- that Perry is gay. Platt insists Perry play along in order to win the commission. Then Perry develops a crush on Campbell.

Got all that?

If you do, smoother sailing lies ahead. But the movie never fully recovers from the convoluted set-up, nor from the alienating behavior of its four principal characters.

McDermott is unspeakably smug and Perry a motor-mouth nerd. Platt's moral sensibilities blow with the wind. And Campbell has a nice, perky quality on screen, but what's with her home-wrecker character and her insatiable need for unavailable men? Are those traits supposed to be endearing?

To give one instance of the script's disconnect from reality, Campbell is going out with one of the richest men in Chicago. But when she abruptly moves into Perry's apartment, she claims her landlord kicked her out for nonpayment of rent. Couldn't her boyfriend float her for a few months? And what of her art show attended, seemingly, by half of the city? Did no one buy even a single work?

The director is Damon Santostefano, making his film-directing debut after much work in theater and cable television. Toiling with an erratic screenplay, he does a credible job maintaining some coherence. The sequences during which Perry falls in love with Campbell but cannot reveal his true feelings have comic poignancy. But far too often, the film takes on the mantle of a madcap frolic when all that is taking place are tiresome gags about vomiting bad food and crazed taxi drivers.

For a movie about art and architecture, "Tango" has a rather off-putting look. On the plus side, cool Asian motifs punctuate the film, from the Buddhas in McDermott's penthouse suite to the Indian decorative trims on Campbell's costumes. But the offices and living spaces generally look cluttered and ugly, while urban streets are unusually drab.

Romantic comedies need to take place in romantic milieus.

THREE TO TANGO

Warner Bros.

in association with Village Roadshow Pictures

and Village-Hoyts Partnership

An Outlaw production

Producers: Bobby Newmyer, Jeffrey Silver, Bettina Sofia Viviano

Director: Damon Santostefano

Writers: Rodney Vaccaro, Aline Brosh McKenna

Story: Rodney Vaccaro

Executive producers: Lawrence B. Abramson, Bruce Berman

Director of photography: Walt Lloyd

Production designer: David Nichols

Music: Graeme Revell

Co-producers: John M. Eckert, Keri Selig

Costume designer: Vicki Graef

Editor: Stephen Semel

Color/stereo

Cast:

Oscar Novak: Matthew Perry

Amy Post: Neve Campbell

Charles Newman: Dylan McDermott

Pete Steinberg: Oliver Platt

Kevin Cartwright: Cylk Cozart

Strauss: John C. McGinley

Decker: Bob Balaban

Lenore: Deborah Rush

Running time -- 90 minutes

MPAA rating: PG-13...