SUFFICIENT Comedy Trio (I guess)

To close out this overall so-so summer, Hollywood served up three hard-R comedies all full of tasteless filth and naughty words, as spouted out by a slew of our favorite funny people. All opening within almost one month of each other, STEP BROTHERS, PINEAPPLE EXPRESS and TROPIC THUNDER each had the creative firepower that promised to knock last summer's strong comedy quartet (KNOCKED UP, HOT ROD, SUPERBAD, THE BROTHERS SOLOMON) off of the top of its recently-claimed mountain.

Did it?

Almost.

Based on my rating system, EACH of these movies lands a *** (out of four), solidifying an nearly disappointing label of funny enough. Given the fact that the following names couldn't guarantee memorable comedic experiences in the theaters has to be letdown however you look at it: Will Ferrell, Adam McKay, Judd Apatow, Seth Rogen, Ben Stiller, Jack Black, Robert Downey Jr., Danny McBride.

What happened? Honestly, I'm reluctant to hand out overall positive reviews for each of these titles; frankly, I feel like they're more deserving of the dreaded **1/2 (not good when applicable to comedies). But each film delivered enough laugh-out-loud moments to justify a satisfied reaction.

Which is the best movie out of the three? Honestly, they are EQUAL. They're all good enough and flawed enough in similar ways, most notably in the storytelling department (which doesn't require a whole lot from crude R-rated comedies; but each story had enough potential to tell a good one).



I'll put it to you like this: STEP BROTHERS is better than TALLADEGA NIGHTS but nowhere even remotely near ANCHORMAN.

PINEAPPLE EXPRESS is about as good as SUPERBAD but not on THE 40 YEAR-OLD VIRGIN or KNOCKED UP's level (even FORGETTING SARAH MARSHALL, perhaps this year's best comedy thus far, is better). Saddest part about PINEAPPLE though is that it probably never could have lived up to what remains one of the best trailers I've ever seen (didn't do itself any favors leaving M.I.A.'s "Paper Planes" off of its soundtrack).

TROPIC THUNDER doesn't hold up to ZOOLANDER, which might be Ben Stiller's strongest work to date (though I'm a CABLE GUY guy).



None of them transcend their respective predecessors in any way.

What's going to salvage these titles that had high quality written all over them PRIOR to their releases? REPEAT VIEWINGS. With comedies, the more and more we watch them, it seems the funnier they become. I'll give each of these the benefit of the doubt in that regard, but I'm still convinced that, after one viewing apiece, they didn't deliver.

BUT, they've all got plenty of laughs to keep your attention.

Only slightly recommended - and it hurts me to say that.