'The House' First Look: Will Ferrell And Amy Poehler Start An Underground Casino

Will Ferrell and Amy Poehler got their start in show business at the late night comedy institution known as Saturday Night Live. Since then the two have gone on to become two of the biggest comedy starts working today. However, despite their history together, they've only been seen in Blades of Glory and Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues with each other, and neither had them sharing much screen time. But they'll finally take the lead together in a new R-rated comedy from the writers of Neighbors.The House sees Will Ferrell and Amy Poehler as a couple of parents who discover that they've somehow blown through the college fund they started for their daughter. To ensure that their daughter still has an opportunity to follow her dreams, they decide to start an underground casino in their living room. But as the make more and more money, greed begins to transform them, and we can see that change taking place in The House  first look photo that has been revealed.

Here's the The House first look photo from Entertainment Weekly:

If the photo wasn't enough of an indicator, Will Ferrell explains that the two parents at the center of the story "basically become Sharon Stone and Robert De Niro in Casino." The casino doesn't seem to be the only thing that has Ferrell and Poehler acting wild though as Ferrell continues, "They're dealing with the idea of being empty-nesters and what that's going to do to their lives."

Director Andrew Jay Cohen (who also co-wrote the script with Brendan O'Brien) says the couple begins to regress back to their more immature days. Specifically, Poehler's character ends up living up to the nickname she was given from her youth: Smoke a Lot of Pot and Pee Outside Kate. It's not the most clever or brief nickname (that's probably the joke), but at least we know how she got it.

It appears that Cohen and O'Brien are tapping into the same comedic style they brought forth in Neighbors where the lead female character gets to have as much immature fun as the lead male. Poehler explains, "It's not that typical thing with the wife rolling her eyes commenting on how dumb her husband is while the husband complains that his wife keeps him from having fun. Once we decided that, it changed the dynamic. We turn into criminals at about the same time. It just makes things easier." That's something that made the dynamic between Seth Rogen and Rose Byrne so great in Neighbors, and it's nice to see that carrying over into a comedy like this.

You'll also notice that Jason Mantzoukas (The Dictator, The League) has gotten in on the money-rubbing in this photo. He plays the couple's "sad-sack gambling-addicted friend" who ends up enabling them in their greedy ways. Mantzoukas is a secret weapon in comedy, making the most out of even the smallest of roles. I can't wait to see what he does with comedic talents like Ferrell and Poehler.

Otherwise, the rest of the cast includes Allison Tolman, Andrea Savage, Rob Huebel, Michaela Watkins, Steve Zissis and Kyle Kinane. With the first look photo arriving today, we should be getting the first trailer anytime now, so stay tuned.

The House arrives on June 30.