Semi-Pro Not Even Semi-Funny

And that one trick is in Spanish

(NEWSER) - Will Ferrell made a movie in Spanish? Yep. Ferrell's latest flick Casa de Mi Padre is an entirely subtitled affair, sending up low-budget telenovelas. Critics are lukewarm on the results—some appreciate its zaniness, but many liken it to an overlong sketch.

• "As tickled as I was by the slaphappy one-joke silliness of Casa de Mi Padre, I’d be a lot less amused if I’d paid $23 for a pair of tickets," writes Ty Burr of the Boston Globe . It's "very much a 'Funny or Die' meme that somehow escaped the corral and is roaming free in (some of) the nation’s movie theaters. It’s a solid short film stretched to Silly Putty thinness."

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»

Will Smith, Tommy Lee Jones return for alien flick

(NEWSER) - Sure, no one was that desperate for a Men in Black 3—but it's actually a pretty good summer movie. Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones are back defending the planet from aliens, and this time, Josh Brolin's along for the ride as a young Jones.

• The movie "turns out to be so much fun," writes AO Scott in the New York Times . While it "carefully fulfills its blockbuster imperatives—with chases and explosions and elaborately contrived plot twists—it swerves into some marvelously silly, unexpectedly witty, and genuinely fresh territory."

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.”