Norbit (2007)

Comedy Rated PG-13

As a black comic, Eddie Murphy has the cultural green light to traffic in black stereotypes, but Norbit is rife with so many that it makes you wish his creative license could be revoked. Norbit (Murphy) is a nerd who is married to a boorish Big Momma type (Murphy again). They live in a small

Puccini for Beginners (2007)

Comedy Rated NR

If Woody Allen, at the height of his smugness, were to make yet another angst-ridden, New York romance and add a lesbian twist, it might look something like the insufferable Puccini for Beginners. Painfully pleased with its own cleverness, of which there isn’t much, the movie follows a romantic triangle involving an on-the-rocks New York

Last Shot, The (2004)

Comedy Rated R

Screenwriter and first-time director Jeff Nathanson gets his chance to call the shots with this Hollywood satire about a wide-eyed, aspiring director (Matthew Broderick) who thinks he’s been given his first chance to helm a movie but actually is serving as a front for an FBI operation targeting industry-related organized crime. Nathanson is so thrilled

Dogma (1999)

Comedy Rated R

Writer-director Kevin Smith is hell-bent on proving that God has a sense of humor with this self-described “comedic fantasy,” in which an abortion-clinic worker (Linda Fiorentino) tries to save the world from a pair of murderous angels (Matt Damon and Ben Affleck). There’s enough sharp, satirical humor here – and honest intention – to make

Year of the Dog (2007)

Comedy Rated PG-13

Treading lightly between bemused affection and outright derision, Year of the Dog infuses one of society’s standard wallflowers, the single dog-lady, with uncommon dignity. The lady in question is Peggy (Molly Shannon), a mousy cubicle worker whose life revolves around her beloved dog Pencil. Shannon’s face rarely reveals anything but a pleasant, benign smile, yet

Bedazzled (2000)

Comedy Rated PG-13

Director Harold Ramis’ Bedazzled relies on the same obvious humor that made his Analyze This feel like one of Jay Leno’s inane Tonight Show monologues. Here Brendan Fraser’s computer nerd trades his soul to the devil (Elizabeth Hurley) for seven wishes, each of which leads to gags that could be followed by a drummer’s rim

Matador, The (2005)

Comedy Rated R

Pierce Brosnan gloriously goes to seed as Julian Noble, a hard-drinking hit man who parades his ample gut around in skimpy swimsuits and uses his assassination assignments to sample the world’s brothels. Working in Mexico City, Julian buddies up with a nerdy businessman (Greg Kinnear) for some fun and games that turn serious. Actors who

Miss Congeniality (2000)

Comedy Rated PG-13

This piece of fluff – about a tomboyish FBI agent (Sandra Bullock) who goes undercover at a beauty pageant – looks tempting, but be wary. Bullock performed lame pratfalls about five times in the original trailer, and that’s just the tip of the iceberg. She – and we – deserve better.

Miss Congeniality 2: Armed and Fabulous (2005)

Comedy Rated PG-13

Sometimes a movie is so committed to its own brand of silliness that you can’t help but be swept up along with it. This sequel to the woeful 2000 hit, in which Sandra Bullock played a tomboy FBI agent who glams up to go undercover during a beauty pageant, sails around on its own giddy

Beauty Shop (2005)

Comedy Rated PG-13

Diminishing returns continue for the Barbershop franchise with this third entry, in which Gina (Queen Latifah) heads from Chicago to Atlanta and opens her own salon. There is far more plot than necessary, but the shop itself features enough comic camaraderie among the stylists to forgive many of the movie’s weaknesses. When these ladies start