Simon Pegg Gains Godlike Powers In 'Absolutely Anything' Trailer

If you're a superhero, the saying goes that with great power comes with great responsibility. If you're a supervillain, you're terrible proof of the truism that absolute power corrupts absolutely. If you're just some ordinary Joe, though, total power first offers an excuse to make a predictable dick joke.

That's the takeaway from the first Absolutely Anything trailer, in which Neil (Simon Pegg) discovers he suddenly has the power to do, well, absolutely anything. His first instinct is to give himself a better body, a talking dog (voiced by Robin Williams), and a better look at a hot neighbor (Kate Beckinsale) who lives downstairs.

Terry Jones directed, and he and his Monty Python castmates (Terry Gilliam, Eric Idle, John Cleese, and Michael Palin) voice the aliens who give Neil that power in the first place. Watch the Absolutely Anything trailer after the jump. 

Lionsgate UK debuted the first Absolutely Anything trailer.

While Neil uses his new abilities to indulge in some easy self-improvement, the stakes are actually quite high. See, he's been selected at random by some sort of intergalactic council, as some sort of test for our planet. If Neil can use absolute power for good, Earth will be saved; if not, it will be destroyed.

To his credit, it looks like he does eventually try and help the world, albeit in epically misguided ways. An attempt to bring back the dearly departed, for example, results in zombies roaming the Earth. The trailer makes Absolutely Anything look, more or less, like a British Bruce Almighty, but between Pegg's charm and Williams' comedy chops (in one of his last roles), this could prove a fun diversion.

Absolutely Anything opens August 14 in the U.K. No U.S. date has been set.

Absolutely Anything follows a disillusioned school teacher (Pegg) who suddenly finds he has the ability to do anything he wishes, a challenge bestowed upon him by a group of power-crazed aliens (voiced by Cleese, Gilliam, Jones, Palin & Idle), watching him from space.

As he struggles to deal with these new found powers and the events that subsequently arise, he calls upon his loyal canine companion Dennis (voiced by Robin Williams) to help him along the way.

Mishap after mishap finally leads him to the ultimate conundrum that all men dread and at which many have failed....should he choose the girl... or the dog... ?