MTV Sports Dude Hits Big Screen (Sans Frosted Hair)

Each week, the Observer gets dozens of press releases for forthcoming films, most of which are filed into a special email folder where they wait for fresh eyes to scan them for screening times and release dates. But every now and then, especially when we have a lull in the late afternoon, our eyes will catch on a subject line boasting a particularly catchy, weird or enticing title. Today, this happened when a note came from FalcoInk for a new movie called Everyone Wants to Be Italian. I must be hungry, because I thought of my husband's carbonara, and how I do, in fact, want to be Italian, because I am just a Swiss/German mutt of some sort who can only competently make omelets and roast chicken.

Anyway, the really interesting thing about this movie, besides its name, is that two of the stars are Dan Cortese and Penny Marshall. We know you remember Ms. Marshall, who is famous to all as Laverne and also directed some pretty awesome 90s movies (Awakenings, A League of Their Own). Mr. Cortese, however, may have you scratching your head, wondering why we'd care. Remember MTV Sports? He was that guy, the snowboarding host that competed for hottest MTV dude with Eric Nies on The Grind. We know he's been acting for ages--he turned up on What I Like About You, that Amanda Bynes show, and we recently caught him on some Melrose Place reruns--but this looks like sort of a breakout role for Mr. Cortese, who hasn't spent much time on the big screen up to now, according to IMDB.

Also according to IMDB: Mr. Cortese is of Sicilian descent. So does everyone want to be like him? Our eleventh grade boyfriend sure used to. We'll know more when the movie opens September 5.