comedy – News Stories About comedy - Page 14

Apr 27, 2008 7:02 PM CDT

Baby Mama Tickles Box Office Rally

Chick flick laffer helps spark 17% ticket surge

(Newser) - Comedy sparked a box office comeback this weekend as Baby Mama banked $18.3 million from mostly female film-goers, Variety reports. Also fueling the 17.2% hike over last year's frame were stoner sequel Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay with $14.6 million in second, and Jackie Chan's...

Harold and Kumar Slacks Off

movie review

Apr 25, 2008 10:42 AM CDT

Harold and Kumar Slacks Off

Pacing poor, comedy wildly uneven

(Newser) - Sometimes it's hard not to laugh at the slacker/stoner comedy Harold and Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay, writes James Berardinelli in ReelViews. At other times, it's hard not to cringe at the film, a sequel to Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle. That's because the humor in Escape, about...

He Gets Paid So You Can Slack

Apr 20, 2008 10:55 AM CDT

He Gets Paid So You Can Slack

CollegeHumor.com editor dishes on the unlikely science of wasting your time

(Newser) - Wasting people’s time is an odd job—but it’s also a big business, writes CollegeHumor.com editor Streeter Seidell in the New York Times. Seidell spends his days wading through an “ocean” of submitted videos and other items, choosing which funny or bizarre selections deserve publication. Yet...

Drillbit Taylor a Total Bore

movie review

Mar 21, 2008 7:31 AM CDT

Drillbit Taylor a Total Bore

Critics describe high-school comedy as aimless, 'listless'

(Newser) - Combine the talents of the creative team behind Superbad and Knocked Up with the considerable charms of actor Owen Wilson and what have you got? The "dispiritingly mediocre tweener comedy" Drillbit Taylor, writes Marc Savlov of the Austin Chronicle. He's far from alone in his assessment of the movie,...

Letterman to Spitzer: 'Get Out of Office!'

Mar 12, 2008 8:05 AM CDT

Letterman to Spitzer: 'Get Out of Office!'

'Who is running the state?' demands serious late-night host

(Newser) - David Letterman has made as many Eliot Spitzer jokes as anyone since the governor’s indiscretions broke, but last night he went on a punchline-free rant against Client 9. “He should have stepped down yesterday,” he said. “Get out of office. Who is running the state, for...

'SNL' Regains Its Political Mojo

OPINION

Mar 3, 2008 7:45 AM CST

'SNL' Regains Its Political Mojo

Clinton joins the resurgence

(Newser) - Hillary Clinton's appearance on "Saturday Night Live" confirms not just that the show is back from the writers' strike, writes Matt Roush in TV Guide, but back "smack dab in the center of today’s political dialogue." The sight of Clinton and identically dressed alter ego Amy...

Semi-Pro Not Even Semi-Funny

NEW RELEASE

Feb 29, 2008 8:34 AM CST

Semi-Pro Not Even Semi-Funny

Ferrell's basketball comedy has critics crying foul

(Newser) - Semi-Pro, a comedy set in 1976 that stars Will Ferrell as the owner/coach of and player for a losing professional basketball team, is the cinematic equivalent of an air ball, say critics, who call the film erratic, repetitive, and dull. "If you're on the prowl for a Ferrell yuk-fest,...

Huck Funny Where
It Counts on SNL

Feb 25, 2008 3:19 AM CST

Huck Funny Where It Counts on SNL

Quips he's 'more of a miracle guy' than a math guy

(Newser) - Ok, so he's not a math guy, but GOP presidential contender Mike Huckabee proved on Saturday Night Live that he can take a ribbing as well as anyone. “Weekend Update” host Seth Meyers pointed out to Huck that even if he wins every remaining delegate, the candidate would still...

Bueller, Er, Bartlett Is a Pill

NEW RELEASE

Feb 22, 2008 12:06 PM CST

Bueller, Er, Bartlett Is a Pill

Charlie Bartlett takes a sophisticated approach to the old teen movie

(Newser) - Charlie Bartlett, about a charming but troubled high school student who dispenses advice and prescription medication to his classmates, is being given mostly passing grades by critics. Sure, the teen film hits the expected themes of "angst, alienation, loneliness, disenchantment, and drug use," writes the Hollywood Reporter's Kirk...

Rewind Spins Out of Control

NEW RELEASE

Feb 22, 2008 8:13 AM CST

Rewind Spins Out of Control

Jack Black comedy too experimental for its own good, critics say

(Newser) - The Jack Black comedy Be Kind Rewind isn't predictable, but at times it's not coherent either, critics say. The film—about a guy who inadvertently erases a video store's VHS inventory, then, using a camcorder, re-creates popular movies for the store to rent—"never stops experimenting, even when the...

Definitely a Winner

NEW RELEASE

Feb 15, 2008 1:22 PM CST

Definitely a Winner

Movie about divorced dad rises above usual cliches

(Newser) - Definitely, Maybe, the story of a soon-to-be-divorced dad whose 11-year-old daughter wants to hear how he met her mother, is definitely a cut above most romantic comedies, critics say. "It's a lot fresher and a bit more sophisticated than the ordinary run of maudlin chick flicks," writes Ken...

All That Glitters Isn't Fool's Gold

NEW RELEASE

Feb 8, 2008 3:29 PM CST

All That Glitters Isn't Fool's Gold

Comedy produces sinking feeling right from the start

(Newser) - Fool's Gold reunites Matthew McConaughey and Kate Hudson, to less-than-golden effect. Playing off the name of their successful 2003 collaboration, Michael Rechtshaffen of the Hollywood Reporter snipes that the "soggy, listless" adventure comedy "could have been called How to Lose an Audience in 10 Minutes."

Hottie Is Stone-Cold Awful

NEW RELEASE

Feb 8, 2008 9:21 AM CST

Hottie Is Stone-Cold Awful

Comedy starring Paris Hilton is idiotic and offensive

(Newser) - Critics are decidedly cool about Paris Hilton's latest movie. The Hottie and the Nottie, in which the hotel heiress plays "The Hottie," is, among many other things, crass, shrill and idiotic, writes Nathan Lee of the Village Voice. In addition, the script, which has Hilton's character trying to...

Damon Wayans Launching Comedy Website

Feb 7, 2008 4:13 PM CST

Damon Wayans Launching Comedy Website

Star hopes to use WayOutTV.com to 'nurture' new comics

(Newser) - Actor/comedian Damon Wayans is launching a new comedy video website, WayOutTV.com, which will feature videos from amateur comedians “overseen” by Wayans, the Los Angeles Times reports. The "My Wife and Kids" star is hoping to turn the site into an informal production studio to guide young talent...

Over Her Dead Body Lifeless

NEW RELEASE

Feb 1, 2008 10:26 AM CST

Over Her Dead Body Lifeless

Longoria Parker picture about a vengeful ghost is most disappointing

(Newser) - The screwball comedy Over Her Dead Body isn’t as bad as, say, The Hottie & the Nottie, “this year's gold standard for cinematic awfulness,” writes James Berardinelli of ReelViews.com. Still, it’s ”as mediocre a motion picture as you're likely to find in a multiplex...

Leno's Secret: He's Beloved Boy Prince of
Mediocrity

OPINION

Jan 31, 2008 11:41 AM CST

Leno's Secret: He's Beloved Boy Prince of Mediocrity

Despite strike, Jay still has Dave on the ropes

(Newser) - Despite a dearth of guests willing to cross Writers Guild picket lines and near-scab status himself, late-night host Jay Leno has still managed to trounce rival David Letterman in ratings. Not that either is that funny, but Letterman at least returned with "a fetching gray beard, and the moral...

Smithsonian Enshrines Colbert

Jan 22, 2008 2:10 PM CST

Smithsonian Enshrines Colbert

Portrait hangs near the bathroom, but still

(Newser) - Stephen Colbert has finally been enshrined as the “national treasure” he insists he is. His portrait now hangs in the Smithsonian, the LA Times reports. OK, so it’s next to the Portrait Gallery bathroom, but that just means that, in Colbert’s words, “There has never been...

Nothing Funny About This Money

NEW RELEASE

Jan 18, 2008 4:29 PM CST

Nothing Funny About This Money

Star-studded heist comedy offers few laughs

(Newser) - Even Oscar-caliber talent like Diane Keaton and Queen Latifah can't save Mad Money, about three cash-strapped women who join forces to pull off the perfect heist. The movie, which also stars Katie Holmes, "fails to hit the stratosphere," Stephen Schaefer writes in the Boston Herald, because it "...

Heigl Can't Save 27 Dresses

NEW RELEASE

Jan 18, 2008 9:37 AM CST

Heigl Can't Save 27 Dresses

Formulaic script and direction make this comedy forgettable

(Newser) - Despite actress Katherine Heigl's undeniable appeal, her first role as a leading lady is in a film of such little consequence "that seeing it and skipping it are the exact same thing," writes Robert Wilonsky of the Village Voice. In 27 Dresses, Heigl plays Jane, a perennial bridesmaid...

Dewey Cox Rocks!

NEW RELEASE

Dec 21, 2007 4:35 PM CST

Dewey Cox Rocks!

Despite being a little uneven, Judd Apatow parody provides lots of laughs

(Newser) - Judd Apatow's Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story "is less thoughtful satire and ... more the distant cousin of Airplane!," writes Brian Orndorf of OhMyNews.com. Starring John C. Reilly as a blues prodigy who ultimately experiences success, failure, and redemption, it plays like "an extended riff on...