trailer break: ‘The Rebound’

Gonna have to call bullshit on this. A 40-year-old man is romantically partnered with a 30-year-old woman in a movie, and Hollywood doesn’t utter a peep of acknowledgement about the age difference, never mind make it the purpose of the entire movie. Hell, movies don’t acknowledge age differences of 20 or 30 years, as long as it’s the man who is older. Heller still, in a different movie, Catherine Zeta-Jones -- who is all of nine years older than Justin Bartha, her romantic leading man here -- could get cast as his mother, and no one would bat an eye.

But the notion that a 40-year-old mother of two children might be sexually attracted to a cute guy who just happens to be a little younger than her? Panic in the streets!

Also: Lots of 40-year-old women read Harry Potter novels in their spare time.

According to IFC News, this movie is unlikely to ever seen a North American release, despite the fact that it’s from respected director Bart Freundlich and features a marquee name in Zeta-Jones; heck, Bartha’s not a household name, but he was in The Hangover, which you’d think would be a selling point. It has been released all over the world -- you can even buy the DVD; just turn off the Dutch subtitles -- but I bet this weekend’s U.K. release will be a dump job into only a handful of theaters. (It’s not garnering good reviews from the British press.)

It all brings to mind what Sony head Amy Pascal said about still having to sell movies even when they’re bad: This is one way to do it.

The Rebound opens in the U.K. on July 23; no U.S. or Canadian release dates have been announced.