Penn and Allen to team up for comedy

Actors Sean Penn and Woody Allen are to appear in Why Men Shouldn’t Marry, a comedy that will mark the directorial debut of Liz Hurley's ex-lover Steve Bing.

Bing’s company Shangri-La will finance the project, studio Warner Brothers will distribute the movie worldwide and shooting begins in August in Los Angeles, according to Variety.

In the movie, Penn plays a man who rebounds from a painful divorce by becoming an anti-marriage guru. He finds himself in conflict with Max (Allen), an often-divorced man who remains wedded to the belief that a marriage can be successful.

The film re-teams the pair for the first time since Allen directed Penn in Sweet and Lowdown.

Bing wrote the script and is producing the film with Arthur Silver.

Penn is currently filming the drama Mystic River for director Clint Eastwood and then stars with Benicio Del Toro and Naomi Watts in the film 21 Grams.

Allen is completing his picture Anything Else which stars Christina Ricci and Jason Biggs.