Steve Carell is a master at playing the well-meaning buffoon, and the experience seems to serve him well in four clips released in anticipation of Disney’s adaptation of Judith Viorst’s book “Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day.”
The film centers around the concept that everyone can have a bad day, and then takes that to the extreme. It’s the story of 11-year-old Alexander (Ed Oxenbould), who knows bad days very well, but it’s not something the rest of his family seems to know anything about.
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That is, until they oversleep one day, which turns out to be the best part of the next 24 hours.
Imagine an entire family experiencing the worst day possible, and you’re still not quite there with this Disney adaptation that pushes everything to the extreme. Starring Carell and Jennifer Garner as parents to four children just trying to get through a day so awful it needs all of those adjectives in the title to describe it.
Compared to the film’s wild trailer, things are relatively tame in most of these clips released by Disney, though we do get an extended scene of Carell’s sleeves on fire in the sushi restaurant. Another scene features Garner sparring with Megan Mullally over a promotion she wants at work, though how much is she willing to give up to get it?
Alexander’s older brother, Anthony (Dylan Minnette) is at the center of the other two clips, with one spotlighting his relationship with his demanding girlfriend, and the other Alexander’s fears about Anthony taking his driver’s test in the middle of this horrible day. Again, anyone who’s seen the film’s trailer knows how hilariously bad his test goes.
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“Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day” also stars Kerris Dorsey, Sidney Fulmer, Bella Thorne, Donald Glover, Jennifer Coolidge and Dick Van Dyke. It was directed by Miguel Arteta from an adapted screenplay by Rob Lieber. Produced by Lisa Henson, Dan Levine and
You can see Carell on fire, with an introduction by the book’s author Judith Viorst, above. The other three videos are below.