Jim Carrey In Talks For Cover Band Comedy 'Under Cover'

Summit Entertainment doesn't have much experience with comedies—their latest, Furry Vengeance, looked like an abomination—but that's not stopping them from going forth with Under Cover, a high-concept comedy about "a recently divorced father of two who joins a youthful cover band so he can earn enough money to win his custody battle against his ex-wife". Hit the break to learn more.

Pajiba broke the news, announcing that Summit is looking to Jim Carrey to take on the lead role. Or as they describe it, he's being "courted"—though I can't imagine they'd need to do much courting. From the premise alone, the film falls right in line with the rest of Carrey's filmography.

The screenplay comes from Amy Talkington, who is currently scripting remakes of Valley Girl and Private Benjamin. All that really tells us is that studios apparently see Talkington as a good fit for remaking mostly forgotten '80s comedies. Maybe her script for Under Cover has an '80s sensibility to it as well?

I'll reserve judgment until at least a trailer, but considering Carrey's recent comedy track record, I'm not holding out much hope if he's cast. The premise sounds like exactly the same high-concept, boilerplate fluff comedy Carrey's been doing for years. He already adopted the divorced father role in Liar Liar, a film which also had a custody battle as a major subplot, and a gag in Yes Man featuring Carrey playing a cover of the song 'Jumper' by Third Eye Blind was arguably the worst scene in it. From that 2-minute sequence alone, I'm already worn out on Carrey doing song covers, and unless I'm simply not seeing the potential hilarity inherent in the premise—he's an old guy! they're youngsters! hijinks ensue!—I'm not convinced the premise has enough comedic value to sustain a whole film. That said, I do like Carrey, so I'd be happy to be proven wrong.

Those that haven't seen Yes Man can watch the terribly unfunny bit below.