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Will Moviegoers Love Raymond?

Everybody loves Raymond, and for some reason, people seem to like The King of Queens, so why not team the CBS funnymen for a feature film? Apparently, that's a question the sitcom's stars — Everybody Loves Raymond's Ray Romano and King's Kevin James — asked themselves as they agreed to join forces for the upcoming Paramount pic Bridge and Tunnel. The film's writer/director, Jon Favreau, tells TV Guide Online that the comedians approached him to helm the project because they enjoyed his humor in Swingers and Very Bad Things. "They wanted to find something with that sense of humor and tone," explains the auteur, who plans to shoot from April to June. "These two have a lot over most stand-ups that I've seen in film — a lot of chemistry together that no one's seen yet." Romano describes the comedy as

William Keck
William Keck

Everybody loves Raymond, and for some reason, people seem to like The King of Queens, so why not team the CBS funnymen for a feature film? Apparently, that's a question the sitcom's stars — Everybody Loves Raymond's Ray Romano and King's Kevin James — asked themselves as they agreed to join forces for the upcoming Paramount pic Bridge and Tunnel.

The film's writer/director, Jon Favreau, tells TV Guide Online that the comedians approached him to helm the project because they enjoyed his humor in Swingers and Very Bad Things. "They wanted to find something with that sense of humor and tone," explains the auteur, who plans to shoot from April to June. "These two have a lot over most stand-ups that I've seen in film — a lot of chemistry together that no one's seen yet."

Romano describes the comedy as a "sort of buddy picture — a Swingers for the thirtysomething/fortysomething crowd. I play a man who's newly separated from his wife and Kevin's my physical trainer, trying to bring me out of my doldrums. He's a little unorthodox, rowdy kind of guy, and I play a small doctor in Queens.

"Well, he's not really a small doctor," Romano deadpans. "He has a small practice."

"The fact that my character is a personal trainer is comedy right there," adds James, who actually worked as a trainer himself before becoming rich and famous. "I didn't have a very long client list, though. I was more into the energy bars."

James explains that Romano's character becomes a loner after he gets a divorce. "Then these guys find themselves bonding, and through our friendship, [Ray] ultimately finds love again," he says, before adding with a laugh, "but not with me."