Semi-Pro Not Even Semi-Funny

Jocular tie-in to Will Ferrell character to revamp brand

(NEWSER) - In its latest move to shed its image as a '70s relic, Old Spice has hired a '70s relic as its spokesman: the Afro-ed, headband-sporting basketball player Jackie Moon. Old Spice hopes Moon, a Will Ferrell character starring in the upcoming Semi-Pro, will attract the coveted young male demographic with humor, the LA Times reports. More»

Movie may be Sandler's worst ever, prompts call for his retirement

(NEWSER) - Adam Sandler’s latest comedy, in which he plays his own twin sister, is mind-numbingly bad, reviewers say—so poor, in fact, that it languished at a remarkable 0% on Rotten Tomatoes , which calls it “impossible to recommend on any level whatsoever," for most of the morning:

• “More than 24 hours has passed since I watched the new Adam Sandler movie Jack and Jill and I am still dead inside,” writes Mary Pols in Time . “It made me feel as if comedy itself were a dirty thing, mainly practiced by people eager to express ugly feelings toward everyone from homely women to Mexican immigrants.”

Even if you don't like Will Ferrell, you'll laugh

(NEWSER) - Despite a few reviewers who think it’s basically an extended Saturday Night Live sketch, The Other Guys snagged a high score on the Tomatometer —and some are calling the Will Ferrell/Mark Wahlberg cop comedy the funniest movie of 2010:

• If you’re tired of Ferrell's typical “clueless blowhard,” never fear: director Adam McKay “shrewdly varies the formula," making Ferrell the “square” and Wahlberg the “aspiring alpha dog,” writes Joe Williams in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch . “The Other Guys is the funniest movie of the year.”

Steve Carell's schmuck praised in remake of French farce

(NEWSER) - Dinner for Schmucks has a great premise and two top comic stars in Steve Carell and Paul Rudd, say critics, though opinions split widely on whether it's actually funny.

• The remake of a French farce in which heartless execs compete to bring the biggest loser to dinner "is lumbering, inconsistent, and about 20 minutes too long, but it's funny," decides Mick LaSalle at the San Francisco Chronicle . "It's funny from the beginning, and it stays funny, even as it beats scenes to death and overstays its welcome."

Jonah Hill and Russell Brand score with Apatow formula

(NEWSER) - Jonah Hill and Russell Brand keep the critics largely amused in Get Him to the Greek, another Judd Apatow-produced flick that has a nervous record exec (Hill) trying to get a troublesome rock star (Brand) from London to NYC to LA's Greek Theatre:

• Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle : "The golden age of comedy—this new golden age, which will only be apparent years from now, when it's over—continues with the release of Get Him to the Greek, which is so comically fertile and yet so grounded in the reality of its characters that it's really a kind of marvel."
• Andrew O'Hehir, Salon : "An awkward, intermittently hilarious and mostly enjoyable mishmash."