When it was announced that David Wain would be directing Role Models — taking over from The Girl Next Door’s Luke Greenfield — there was room for disappointment. After all, for Wain to follow up his anarchic cult favorites Wet Hot American Summer and The Ten with a seemingly mainstream man-child comedy — one more suited to the talents of Todd Phillips or, well, Greenfield — was to crush his fans’ hopes for something more along the lines of his wacky web series, such as Wainy Days and Stella, or the old MTV sketch comedy show, The State.

But Role Models does look funny, probably because Wain ended up rewriting (with Paul Rudd and Ken Marino) Timothy Dowling’s original script. And it’s not as if Wain has suddenly gone and sold out with a bunch of really broad family films, as did his former State mates Thomas Lennon and Ben Garant, the screenwriting duo behind The Pacifier, Night at the Museum and Taxi. Still, many of us are holding out for that rumored State movie, or even better, a big screen adaptation of any of the following State sketches:

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Another bit of exciting news from Jason Bateman [again via MTV Movies Blog] regarding the Arrested Development movie: “the ball has started rolling down the hill again.” Okay, so it’s not too exciting, nor is it revelatory in the least, but at least he says all the creatives are on board. Meanwhile, the actor also commented on his role in the American movie adaptation of the British TV mini-series State of Play, which, combined with MTV’s other post about the American TV series remake/adaptation of the British TV series Spaced, has me putting a little thought into the subject of theatrical spin-offs versus movie adaptations.

Certainly those of us who are fans of a series would rather see it continued with all original talent on board (even if we are cynically fearing the result) than see it adapted into a movie version many years down the line, whether the approach be faithful or parody or an attempt at both. Try to imagine another cast playing the Arrested Development and Sex and the City characters. Imagine the pointlessness a future X-Files remake/adaptation compared with the immediate cinematic extension we received. Or live-action versions of The Simpsons or South Park somewhere down the line rather than the big-screen supplements.

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Last October, we learned that David Wain (beloved director of Wet Hot American Summer) would be taking over the helm of Universal’s Little Big Men, a pre-packaged comedy starring Paul Rudd, Seann William Scott, Elizabeth Banks, Jane Lynch and Christopher Mintz-Plasse (Superbad’s “McLovin”). For all of us who love WHAS, The Ten, The State, Stella, Wainy Days and anything else having to do with Wain, it was great news. The script was re-written by Wain and Rudd and Ken Marino, who also co-wrote The Ten, and was adapted (I’m guessing) from the earlier screenplay by Timothy Dowling (George Lucas in Love). And it features some of Wain’s regulars, including Kerri Kenney, Joe Lo Truglio, and A.D. Miles. According to a recent interview with Wain on IESB.net, the film is currently in post-production with hopes of an August release.

But according to MTV Movies Blog today, Wain claims his latest film, which is supposed to be getting a new title, won’t be as absurdist as his fanbase is used to. Wain hints that we should actually be prepared for some tears, in fact. The blog notes that he was being sarcastic, but considering the disappointingly un-Stella-ness of Michael Showalter and Michael Ian Black’s solo writing and directorial works, it wouldn’t be that surprising if Little Big Men is actually more tame and straight-forward that we want from a Wain picture. Oh well, I’m sure he was just joking with MTV, and I have nothing to worry about. I mostly just wanted an excuse to write about Wain and the film. Also, I wanted to note that in that IESB interview, which is about a month old, Wain admitted that he and the gang are currently working on a State movie. Fortunately, there’s no possible way that one could be sappy. I’ll still bring the Kleenex, though, because I’m sure to tear up from laughing so hard. Check out the video above for some classic State-era Wain.