July 27, 2008

Have Judd Apatow and Company Lost Their Way?

Maybe. Finally. Hopefully.

Having less than no interest in seeing Step Brothers I was intrigued by Manohla Dargis' review in the NY Times which seems to ask the question, have we seen enough of this crap?

What’s distinct about the recent cycle of comic juvenilia are its contemporary contours — male camaraderie and self-actualization combined with raunchy guffaws and a preoccupation with women that doesn’t extend to giving them interesting roles — and the ease with which its prominent practitioners are willing to recycle their own laughs to increasingly diminished ends.

That few girls and fewer credible women are allowed in the Apatow boys’ club is old news. The only distaff comedy here is provided by the enthusiastic Kathryn Hahn, who as Derek’s pitifully desperate wife, Alice, makes dexterous use of a bathroom urinal.
These guys still have Pineapple Express coming out in the coming weeks so there will be more talk about them. Yuck.

Oh, and Mary Steenburgen plays Will Ferrell's mom even though she is just 13 years older than him. Double yuck. (thanks Liz Chesney)