Adam Mckay

BEFORE Tim Heidecker and Eric Wareheim were famous for being funny, they were Temple film geeks, watching David Lynch movies and David Byrne videos. "At that point in our lives, the idea of comedy was not something that seemed possible; in fact, it wasn't even a cool thing to think about. We were in bands, or doing film installations. It wasn't like we were ever part of a sketch group," said Heidecker, whose decidedly weird first comedy, "Tim and Eric's Billion Dollar Movie" opens tomorrow.

Step Brothers begins with an epigram from our 43d president: "Families is where we find hope. - George W. Bush. " It's a line that got laughs and groans at the prerelease screening the other day, and the laughs and groans kept coming - sometimes so fast, and outrageously, that it began to hurt - as the latest happily imbecilic Will Ferrell comedy proceeded to its goofball finale. Directed and cowritten by Adam McKay, the Malvern-raised comedy mastermind who collaborated with Ferrell on Anchorman and Talladega Nights , the loose-limbed Step Brothers makes room for dual leads: Ferrell is Brennan Huff, a 39-year-old slacker who still lives at home with his mom, Nancy (Mary Steenburgen)

We've all experienced the horror of the guest who wouldn't leave. But what if that malingerer were your own child? We find out, in raunchy, raucous "Step Brothers," a movie about 40-year-old "boys" (Will Ferrell, John C. Reilly) forced to share a room when their parents (Mary Steenburgen, Richard Jenkins) marry. On a superficial level, the movie is a one-joke comedy about arrested development - Will Ferrell squeezing into the same Pablo Cruise T-shirt he wore when he was 14, fighting with his new stepbrother about an off-limits drumset (infantalized man, of course, is right up Ferrell's alley)

TEMPLE GRADS and local-boys-make-good Tim Wareheim and Eric Heidecker are masters of the absurdist comedy in short bursts. Their contributions to Cartoon Network's "Adult Swim," and FunnyOrDie.com have won them a small but disturbed following. In "Tim and Eric's Billion Dollar Movie," they try stretching their brand to feature length, starring as numbskull versions of themselves in a story of two would-be filmmakers who blow a large sum of studio money on a failed movie, then go into hiding at a rundown shopping mall, hired out as managers.

More Brahms, please, and pass the popcorn From Peter Dobrin's ArtsWatch artswatch/ The Philadelphia Orchestra could end up in pictures. And sound. In a deal with SpectiCast and Bryn Mawr Film Institute (BMFI), nine of the orchestra's 2010-11 concerts will be offered live starting this fall to North American movie houses with high-quality projection and audio systems. SpectiCast is already simulcasting Philadelphia Orchestra concerts to about 55 assisted-living and community centers in Pennsylvania, Florida, Texas, California, Illinois, and Wisconsin, and is utilizing BMFI's familiarity with theaters and film societies to expand the audience, said SpectiCast president Mark Rupp.

The Ellen DeGeneres Show (3 p.m., NBC10) - Actress Amy Poehler ( Parks and Recreation ); actress Fran Drescher discusses her skin care line. The Oprah Winfrey Show (4 p.m., 6ABC) - Oprah talks to guests who have overcome incredible obstacles. How I Met Your Mother (8 p.m., CBS3) - A freaked-out Lily (Alyson Hannigan) wants to get a gun after Marshall (Jason Segel) is mugged, a prospect so frightening that it motivates her hubby to come up with an increasingly complicated variation on the incident to calm her fears and keep her from following through.

"TRESPASS" stars Nicolas Cage, Nicole Kidman and a cast of thousands. Of Botox injections. Look, I don't want to be mean, but you've got people in this movie who can't move their upper lips. It's bizarre. And ironic. There's a plot point about a hypodermic needle filled with a paralyzing chemical, and when one actor holds it to the neck of another, you're thinking: Too late, bub. "Trespass" is a home invasion thriller featuring Cage and Kidman as a wealthy couple held prisoner in their own home by a group of masked thugs who believe that the house contains cash and diamonds.

FORBES magazine has released its list of the most overexposed celebrities, and all the mag's advanced analysis got them to the same place Tattle gets to every day. 1. Kim Kardashian 2. Lindsay Lohan 3. Nicole "Snooki" Polizzi 4. Nadya "Octomom" Suleman 5. Paris Hilton * Speaking of Lindsay Lohan, she is a free woman. Judge Stephanie Sautner on Thursday ended the long-running probation of the problem-prone actress in a 2007 drunken-driving case, after a string of violations, jail sentences and rehab stints.

Armed with mega-size sideburns and mustache - not to mention ego - the titular hero of Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy is the top newsman in the San Diego market. He can read the TelePrompTer with unwavering - and unwaveringly vacant - precision, and when he's not charming his TV audience, you can usually find him at a wild soiree, charming his female fans - many of whom, this being the swinging '70s, are parading around in their underwear. An engagingly knuckleheaded comic vehicle for former Saturday Night Live trouper Will Ferrell, Anchorman lampoons the ratings-dependent world of local TV newscasts, and sends up the easy-target decade of flared pants, loud plaids and bad pop. (An impromptu vocal jam of "Afternoon Delight" is one of the movie's high points.

FORBES magazine has released its list of the most overexposed celebrities, and all the mag's advanced analysis got them to the same place Tattle gets to every day. 1. Kim Kardashian 2. Lindsay Lohan 3. Nicole "Snooki" Polizzi 4. Nadya "Octomom" Suleman 5. Paris Hilton * Speaking of Lindsay Lohan, she is a free woman. Judge Stephanie Sautner on Thursday ended the long-running probation of the problem-prone actress in a 2007 drunken-driving case, after a string of violations, jail sentences and rehab stints.

WHEN YOU watch Will Ferrell in "Casa De Mi Padre," the word that springs to mind is: Cojones. Even if you're not Ferrell's biggest fan, you have to admit the guy's got some huevos grandes. He stretched to play an alcoholic in "Everything Must Go," and has made wildly absurdist contributions to "Eastbound and Down" and the unclassifiable "Tim and Eric's Billion Dollar Movie. " Necessity is the mother of Ferrell's reinvention. Hollywood turned down his pitches for "Anchorman 2" and a few other tentpole ideas, so the comic found himself with a lot of free time.

TEMPLE GRADS and local-boys-make-good Tim Wareheim and Eric Heidecker are masters of the absurdist comedy in short bursts. Their contributions to Cartoon Network's "Adult Swim," and FunnyOrDie.com have won them a small but disturbed following. In "Tim and Eric's Billion Dollar Movie," they try stretching their brand to feature length, starring as numbskull versions of themselves in a story of two would-be filmmakers who blow a large sum of studio money on a failed movie, then go into hiding at a rundown shopping mall, hired out as managers.

BEFORE Tim Heidecker and Eric Wareheim were famous for being funny, they were Temple film geeks, watching David Lynch movies and David Byrne videos. "At that point in our lives, the idea of comedy was not something that seemed possible; in fact, it wasn't even a cool thing to think about. We were in bands, or doing film installations. It wasn't like we were ever part of a sketch group," said Heidecker, whose decidedly weird first comedy, "Tim and Eric's Billion Dollar Movie" opens tomorrow.

Funny or Die, the comedy website founded by Will Ferrell, is pointing the way for Web-based entertainment companies by combining the scrappiness of an Internet start-up with A-list talent that attracts viewers. What started as a lark for Ferrell and writing partner Adam McKay has become a profitable company, with revenue approaching $30 million this year, according to a person with knowledge of the Los Angeles-based business. Funny or Die's third show on cable TV, Billy on the Street , started Thursday on Madison Square Garden Co.'s Fuse network.

AH, THE OUTRAGEOUS behavior of Big Finance - we remember like it was only yesterday. Because it was. It's essentially only yesterday that Bank of America transferred all of its potential Merrill Lynch gambling debt to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. and the taxpayer, even as it tried to impose a $5 debit-card fee. Only yesterday that MF Global went bust after mingling investor money with the company's gambling account and making stupid bets, reaffirming the wisdom of Glass-Steagall, and exposing the lunacy of Wall Street compensation - MF head Jon Corzine tried to pay himself $12 million on the way out, after taking the stock from $7 to $1.50.

"TRESPASS" stars Nicolas Cage, Nicole Kidman and a cast of thousands. Of Botox injections. Look, I don't want to be mean, but you've got people in this movie who can't move their upper lips. It's bizarre. And ironic. There's a plot point about a hypodermic needle filled with a paralyzing chemical, and when one actor holds it to the neck of another, you're thinking: Too late, bub. "Trespass" is a home invasion thriller featuring Cage and Kidman as a wealthy couple held prisoner in their own home by a group of masked thugs who believe that the house contains cash and diamonds.

PLAYING A downward-spiraling drunk in the art house picture "Everything Must Go" isn't where you expect to find Will Ferrell on the eve of the summer season. Truth be told, it wasn't his first choice. Ferrell loves his serious turn in "Everything Must Go," but he came to it only after pitching several ideas for mainstream, bigger-budget comedies, including an "Anchorman" sequel. There were no takers. A sign of how radically the business has changed, and how quickly.

IT SEEMS AS IF the iPhone has more uses than leveling your wall hangings and dangerously allowing you to talk while driving. Acclaimed South Korean film director Park Chan-wook has used it to make a movie. Park, director of "Old Boy," "Lady Vengeance" and "Thirst," said yesterday that his new fantasy-horror film, "Paranmanjang," was shot entirely on his Apple smart phone. "Paranmanjang," which means a "life full of ups and downs" in Korean, is a 30-minute movie about a man transcending his current and former lives after catching a woman while fishing - a much more relaxing pickup than going to a bar. It was shot on the iPhone 4 with a budget of $133,000 and is to open in South Korean theaters Jan. 27. Park made the film with his younger brother, Park Chan-kyong , also a director.

THIS LOOKS like Stocking Stuffer week on the DVD market, and there are gifts here you won't be embarrassed to give. Like Ben Affleck's "The Town" an enjoyable throwback cops-and-robbers movie about a heist mastermind (Affleck) trying to transcend his crime-culture roots, and falling in love with a woman (Rebecca Hall) he once held hostage. Jeremy Renner is Golden Globe-nominated as Affleck's pal. For kids, there's the charming animated movie "Despicable Me," about a halfhearted evil genius (Steve Carell)