Oldie But Goody: ‘Die Hard’ Gets the ‘Ben Stiller’ Treatment
It’s a nice moment of synchronicity that just as Judd Apatow is enjoying a career high point with Knocked Up, an old Ben Stiller Show bit is more relevant than ever. Apatow executive-produced the dearly departed Fox sketch show when he was just 24; as New York contributing editor Stephen Rodrick wrote in The New York Times Magazine, “Between production meetings, Apatow read The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People in hopes of learning how to manage a staff.†But the Stiller team already knew how to make a great parody: Add supermarket and stir. Behold Die Hard 12: Die Hungry, which really isn’t any less ridiculous than this exchange in the Live Free or Die Hard trailer: Justin Long: “You just killed a helicopter with a car!â€; Bruce Willis: “I was out of bullets!†Yabba dabba doo, dabba dooby dabba dooby dabba indeed. —Ben Wasserstein
The Ben Stiller Show — “Die Hard 12: Die Hungry†[YouTube]
Live Free or Die Hard trailer [YouTube]