Drillbit Taylor a Total Bore

(NEWSER) - Judd Apatow doesn't dispense entirely with his raunchy humor in Funny People, but his venture into more serious themes meets mixed success with critics. Most, however, love Adam Sandler as a gravely ill comedian confronting the emptiness of his life.

• Peter Travers, Rolling Stone: "Apatow scores by crafting the film equivalent of a stand-up routine that encompasses the joy, pain, anger, loneliness and aching doubt that go into making an audience laugh."
• Manohla Dargis, New York Times: "There’s something irritatingly self-satisfied about (it), which explains why, though it glances on the perils of fame, it mostly affirms its pleasures."

Gory comedy could be a summer hit

(NEWSER) - A stoner comedy and action flick rolled into one, Judd Apatow’s Pineapple Express will entertain audiences looking for more of the good stuff from the Superbad crew, critics agree. “You don't have to be in an altered state to appreciate the ludicrous humor,” Claudia Puig writes in USA Today. “The laughs—mostly crude, profane, and drug-addled—are almost non-stop.” More»

Dirty but adorable teen romp looks like a non-sleeper sleeper hit

(NEWSER) - Superbad, the tale of two high school seniors' attempts to get laid in a single day and night, is an honest teen comedy in the mold of recent movies that are foul-mouthed and raunchy but actually kind of sweet, critics say. Says Carina Chocano of the LA Times, "for a film so deliriously smutty, 'Superbad' is supercute." More»

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."

Pair slams her for 2007 'batshit crazy' comments

(NEWSER) - Critics hate Katherine Heigl’s new movie and Internet commenters hate her attitude—and it turns out her colleagues aren’t too happy with her either, the Los Angeles Times reports. Heigl’s Knocked Up director and co-star are still pissed she implied the film was sexist back in 2007, and they took the opportunity to slam her as a hypocrite on Howard Stern's radio show. More»