Jonah Hill

Lately Jonah Hill, the potty-mouthed teddy bear of Superbad , resembles a stuffed animal that's lost its stuffing and gained muscle tone. Did Hill shed those pounds by running the bases on the set of Moneyball ? In the movie that opened Friday he is Peter Brand, statistics wonk, a composite of all the real-life wonks who helped Oakland Athletics general manager Billy Beane (Brad Pitt) spot baseball players with high on-base percentages and low salaries. Baseball, however, is not responsible for Hill's newly slim silhouette.

IN "THE SITTER," Jonah Hill and David Gordon Green deliver a massively raunchy update of the B-movie miniclassic "Adventures in Baby Sitting. " "Sitter" is, from its bawdy opening sequence (watch out, Mom and Dad), a decidedly more vulgar movie, but I wouldn't say funnier. Hill plays a college dropout who, against his will, ends up sitting for a neighbor's three kids. The laughs are built around the idea that Hill's shiftless, irresponsible character is completely ill-suited for the task at hand.

"Cyrus" takes its name from one of its characters, a stay-at-home-with-mom twentysomething played by Jonah Hill. The set-up would seem to be topical - the lousy economy has kept many post-grads at home, saving on rent, sharing the car, getting a free meal and laundry. But Cyrus - who's backstory is intentionally left blank - seems to be something more complicated. He's a socially awkward hermit, friendless, needy, incredibly jealous of his single mother's attention, which causes problems when mom (Marisa Tomei)

7 tonight FX Two high-school nerds (Jonah Hill and (right) Michael Cera) decide that it's time to lose their virginity. Tomfoolery and ineptness ensue. Christopher Mintz-Plasse is hilarious as the buddy known as McLovin.

Conan (11 p.m., TBS) - Jonah Hill; John Noble. Late Show With David Letterman (11:35 p.m., CBS3) - Dakota Meyer; Sofia Vergara; Chris Cornell. The Tonight Show With Jay Leno (11:35 p.m., NBC10) - Jamie Foxx; Michelle Monaghan; Bush performs. Jimmy Kimmel Live (Midnight, 6ABC) - Ellen Pompeo; Sammi "Sweetheart" Giancola and Ronnie Ortiz-Magro; Daryl Hall.

In "Get Him to the Greek," Russell Brand reprises his role as the wild-maned and out-of-control rock star from "Forgetting Sarah Marshall" (a movie I'd like to forget). This time out, hilarity ensues when the easily-flummoxed Jonah Hill is charged with getting Brand's character - you guessed it - to the Greek Theater in L.A. But the poster works. Really. I know exactly that this movie's about and why I want to see it. It's also clearly the modern version of "My Favorite Year," a great movie with Peter O'Toole, whose larger-than-life character imparts a lifetime of wisdom to his much-younger handler.

Superbad is a high school comedy that takes place over 24 hours during that most anxious of seasons, post-college acceptance but pre-graduation. Intermittently hilarious if also interminable, the film is about guys who get sloppy drunk one night and, on the morning after, see the errors of excess. What distinguishes Superbad, produced by Judd Apatow (Knocked Up), from most other teen comedies about backward boys trying to be sexually forward is that instead of losing their virginity, they gain emotional maturity.

Among those surprised at the sleeper success of "Despicable Me," no doubt, were the folks at DreamWorks Animation, and not in a good way. "Despicable Me" covers much of the same ground - halfhearted evil genius finally gives in to his sentimental side - as their new 3-D movie "Megamind," and does it a little better. "Megamind," though, is by no means a knockoff, and if you get past the eerie coincidences (characters named Minion, the lead's mangled diction), you see that it stakes out different territory, playing around with superhero mythology (especially Superman)

In Jeff, Who Lives at Home, the latest low-key number from filmmaking siblings Jay and Mark Duplass , Jason Segel plays a neo-philosopher type who wanders around his mother's house in a state of perpetual oscillation - stoned and sedentary. He's a 30-year-old who doesn't have a job and doesn't have a reason to get dressed, but he's not a loser, really. The Duplasses love this guy, and their empathy for the lumbering layabout shows. "He's simultaneously tragic and sad and funny and hilarious," says Mark Duplass, who was in town last fall premiering his offbeat character study at the Philadelphia Film Festival.

NOW MIGHT BE a good time to rethink your lifetime ban on comic remakes of moldering TV cop shows. Because against all odds, "21 Jump Street" is actually pretty funny and lifts movie comedy out of its recent creative rut. A rut that's arisen from insular, too-chummy collaborations among the usual comedy suspects. "Jump Street" shakes things up, bringing in directors Phil Lord and Christopher Miller, who directed the animated sleeper hit "Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs," a huge crowd-pleaser back in 2009.

IN "THE SITTER," Jonah Hill and David Gordon Green deliver a massively raunchy update of the B-movie miniclassic "Adventures in Baby Sitting. " "Sitter" is, from its bawdy opening sequence (watch out, Mom and Dad), a decidedly more vulgar movie, but I wouldn't say funnier. Hill plays a college dropout who, against his will, ends up sitting for a neighbor's three kids. The laughs are built around the idea that Hill's shiftless, irresponsible character is completely ill-suited for the task at hand.

Late Show With David Letterman (11:35 p.m., CBS3) - Jonah Hill; Kristen Johnston; Ryan Adams performs. The Tonight Show With Jay Leno (11:35 p.m., NBC10) - Robert Downey Jr.; Abigail Breslin; Alison Krauss. Late Night With Jimmy Fallon (12:37 a.m., NBC10) Steve Martin; Emily VanCamp; Snoop Dogg and Wiz Khalifa.

Movies New Year's Eve See Steven Rea's preview above. Shame See Steven Rea's preview above. The Sitter Jonah Hill stars as a suspended college student who embarks on an unexpected adventure when he agrees to babysit for his neighbor's kids. Tomboy See Steven Rea's preview above. A Warrior's Heart A high schooler (Kellan Lutz) copes with the death of his father while training for lacrosse. Young Goethe in Love The great German writer falls for a woman whose hand has been promised by her father to a man of higher social rank.