Then I saw the trailer and I knew my barfometer would not sustain a 2+ hour sit down for what would have been great fun were it not for casting.

Casting is a lot of what's wrong with Hollywood these days. The writing generally sucks but with a good enough cast and special effects, we can overlook that. Casting is the one thing that cannot be overlooked. When we sit down in the darkened theatre, we want to believe the people we're seeing on the screen ARE the characters they're playing. Will Ferrell no longer is an actor or a comedian. He's just another Lefty making fun of George Bush — a dime a dozen. Casting Ferrell in anything is a big mistake, casting him AS anything but Bush is a bigger mistake. Like Tina Fey was destroyed by her determination to destroy Sarah Palin, Ferrell has been destroyed by the character he tried to mock.