Bruno: Prepare to Cringe, Laugh

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.”

Suit accuses Baron Cohen of trying to incite riot among factions at gay rally

(NEWSER) - A cameraman who says he was shoved around by Sacha Baron Cohen's camera crew during a gay rights rally is taking the comedian to court. Baron Cohen—in character as the flamboyantly gay Austrian fashionista Bruno—joined protesters opposed to legalizing gay marriage at the Los Angeles rally, and journalist Mike Skiff says he was shoved, pulled, and threatened with wooden signs when he tried to film him, AP reports. More»

With the goal, oddly, of getting revenge on Borat

(NEWSER) - Seems like everyone loved Sacha Baron Cohen’s fictional Kazakh character Borat … except the actual people of Kazakhstan, whom the Borat movie made into a punchline. Four years after Cohen’s film, Kazakhstan is getting its revenge—via an unauthorized sequel. My Brother, Borat is about an American who is taken on a sure-to-be-flattering tour of Kazakhstan by Borat’s brother, Bilo, Cinema Blend reports. More»

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."