To be frank, the trailer for Zac Efron’s next movie, which plops Efron into the theater scene of Depression-era New York, has a lot going against it. One rather unavoidable problem is that it’s a Zac Efron movie. We’re convinced he chooses movies based on whether or not they will require a haircut (period drama=’30s hair=good to go). Another strike against the film is that the female lead is Claire Danes, who, our eternal love for Angela Chase notwithstanding (BTW, My So-Called Life is now on Hulu!), has been in a string of duds lately.
But here’s an important caveat: the film was helmed by Richard Linklater, the director behind Before Sunrise and Dazed and Confused. There’s also an extremely enthusiastic blurb from Roger Ebert — unless you take into account that there aren’t that many movies about “the theater” in the first place. Check out the trailer for yourself and see what you think.