Actor Tim Allen has finally found a comedy that has driven him crazy -- and even though he stars in and directs it, he's never felt more sane. And that's a pretty amazing thing considering "Crazy on the Outside" marks his film directorial debut.

"It wasn't what I thought it would be since there was no downside," Allen said in a recent @ The Movies interview. "I thought I was going to be terrified, but since I was so well-prepared, that wasn't the case. I studied the script inside and out and re-wrote it with the screenwriters three or four times, I went over it with actors and did rehearsals. By the time I was done with it, I knew the script literally more than any script I've ever done. I knew it better than I knew my lines."

Opening Friday in select theaters nationwide, "Crazy on the Outside" stars Allen as Tommy, a convict sprung from the joint after doing three years for pirating movies. But once on the outside, Tommy finds that life is far more strange that it was in prison, as he encounters his pathologically lying sister (Sigourney Weaver) and her lecherous husband (J.K. Simmons), an ex-partner in crime (Ray Liotta), an ex-love (Julie Bowen) and her new flame (Kelsey Grammer), and a probation officer (Jeanne Tripplehorn) who becomes a potential love interest.

"Crazy on the Outside" marks the first time Allen has been behind the camera since directing an installment of his smash sitcom "Home Improvement" in 1999. Basically, Allen said, he didn't direct anything in between the stints because he didn't have a desire to.

"It's just not something I wanted to do because I wanted to be the actor," Allen said. "But then Kevin Costner told me, 'You can do both. It's just a different discipline.' It something that you eventually have to go after, though, otherwise you'll always wonder if it's something you could have done."

A New Quest

Allen, of course, has had the opportunity to work with many talented co-stars over the years, and many of them turn up in "Crazy on the Outside." Chief among them is Weaver, the on-again, off-again romantic partner of Allen's Peter Quincy Taggart in the funny and intelligent sci-fi movie send-up "Galaxy Quest."

The actor-director said he loved the chance to work again with Weaver (known predominantly for her sci-fi and dramatic films) to show off the acclaimed actress' comedic flair.

"Boy, does she ever have a funny bone and she is such a smart a--," Allen said with a laugh. "I've known her since 'Galaxy Quest' and have never stopped making stupid calls to her. I told her, 'I want you to read the script for my movie,' and even though she just got off of 'Vantage Point' and was working on 'Avatar' for over a year, she said she would. She said she loved this part so much. It's such of a great role for her. Her acting is so intricate because she can do the comedy and then some drama -- when she gets so sad when it looks like my character is going to go off the wagon. She was amazing."

With the youngest of the core cast members clocking in at 39 ("Modern Family" star Bowen is three months shy of 40), Allen, 56, said there's a good reason why he chose to cast veteran actors over younger ones for "Crazy on the Outside." He wanted to show his target audience -- the same audience as his comedy "Wild Hogs" -- that actors in their 30s, 40s and 50s could roll with the best of them when it came to romance.

"Mostly, Kelsey was afraid of being seen naked with Julie Bowen," Allen recalled. "But I told him that he looked buff and great. The movie is really an homage to older people. We're all kissing and making love with our shirts off. It's not about college kids getting some, it's about people falling in love and having problems."

"It's not 'Wedding Crashers.' It's not about the unmarried young guys after young women. Not that that isn't funny and not that I wouldn't do something like that, but 'Wild Hogs' assured me that there's an audience out there for us," Allen added. "Sure, people our age don't go to movies on Friday, they go when they can. It took a while, but it made $168 million in theaters."

Allen's confident that viewers will come away from "Crazy on the Outside" with much the same feeling they did with "Wild Hogs," because, like the runaway motorcycle hit, "Crazy" has relatable characters to compliment the comedy.

"I told the staff on the movie, if it's all supposed to be funny then it makes no sense. If that's the case, then birds can talk," Allen said. "If it's all funny, then people will just expect it to get funnier and at some level it doesn't. Big comedies fail because there's nothing to ground the characters ever."

Following "Crazy," keep your ears open to hear Allen in yet another comedy. He blasts off for the third time as the energetic astronaut action figure Buzz Lightyear in Disney-Pixar's "Toy Story 3" on June 18.