2010 has been far from the year of comedy, it has ranged from the downright terrible to the alright, even the sure-fire hits managed to misfire and the year looks set to go out on nothing more than a cheap titter in the form of Little Fockers.
The year began comedy-wise with Kevin Smith's latest film Cop Out, starring Bruce Willis. It was panned by critics and opened at number 2 in the box office behind Shutter Island. This was the first film that Kevin Smith has directed but not written.
Hot Tub Time Machine was next up, about a group of guys who go away and end up travelling back to the 80s. There was a fairly positive response from critics and it was rightly so, the film succeeded in doing exactly what it said on the tin, and the four male leads really made it a decent watch.
Date Night had a lot going for it, being released around the time Tina Fey was at her height and the hope was that she would get the best out of Steve Carell, and generally they were decent and the film was very likeable, but it didn't seem to capitalise as much as it could have on the many comic set-pieces.
Martin Lawrence and Chris Rock appeared in Death at a Funeral, a remake of the British film of the same name later in the year which played to negative and mixed reviews. Roger Ebert said that "a lot of Death at a Funeral is in very bad taste. That's when I laughed the most."
MacGruber and Killers followed, on the lead-up to the summer film season and were barely worth any mention, MacGruber was based on a Saturday Night Live sketch and failed to light up either the US or international box office. Whereas Killers was a run-of-the-mill Ashton Kutcher action-comedy.
In the summer season, Get Him To The Greek started things off, the semi-sequel to Forgetting Sarah Marshall. The film worked well enough and allowed Russell Brand to push himself across the pond and show off his acting talents.
The film worked well but wasn't pushed to its full potential, it's worth noting one of the best comic turns of the year in Sean 'P. Diddy' Combs.
Grown-Ups teamed up the long-time friends and collaborators Adam Sandler, Rob Schneider, David Spade, Kevin James and Chris Rock. They were like a mediocre comedy hero dream team and the critics came in their droves to pan this film to within an inch of its critical life.
It probably won't harm the reputation of Adam Sandler, who will still do the same films he's always done and Chris Rock will continue to delight with his stand-up. The rest of them never had a reputation to begin with, and they look like they will continue much the same.
The two films that came at the end of the summer were those that had the highest hopes, Dinner For Schmucks and The Other Guys.
The former is directed by Austin Powers' Jay Roach and stars Paul Rudd and Steve Carell in a film about a group of businessmen who come together for a dinner where they make fun of idiots. It's a remake of a French film Le Diner De Cons or The Dinner Game, there was a who's who of the comedy industry, from Zach Galifianakis to David Walliams, Jemaine Clement to The IT Crowd's Chris O' Dowd but it just didn't live up to its promise.
It had all the talent there and some of the comic set pieces worked, but so much more could have come from the film.
The Other Guys faired slightly better, the film directed by Anchorman director Adam McKay and starring his usual collaborator Will Ferrell was one of the funnier turns of the year, but didn't quite live up to the likes of Anchorman and Step Brothers.
It starred Will Ferrell and Mark Wahlberg as the rookie policeman who try to step up their game against the superstar cops, played by Samuel L. Jackson and Dwayne Johnson. It had some real laugh out loud moments and Michael Keaton was another top comedy performance worth noting.
Along with The Other Guys for best comedy film, it would have to compete against Jackass 3D. Johnny Knoxville and the boys really took 3D to a whole new gruesome level with their newest outing, from vomit to excrement, to anything that could be fired, it all came out of the screen in this film. The thing is, it was genuinely hilarious and it didn't try to do anything more than it set out to do, it grossed audiences out and made them laugh. Job done.
Due Date was another film with high expectations which didn't quite manage to deliver the goods. The film, directed by The Hangover helmer Todd Phillips, starred Robert Downey Jr. and Zach Galifianakis in a buddy road movie as Downey Jr. tries to get to his childs birth.
Overall it came across similarly to Dinner For Schmucks and Get Him To The Greek, the idea was there, the set pieces were there, but it just didn't capitalise on what it had.
The Little Fockers are set to round of this years proceedings, but ultimately, it's not looking good. The first film was decent enough, Robert De Niro plays the CIA dad, Ben Stiller plays the potential in-law and they go at it.
It never warranted a sequel, but we got one and it once again did well enough and worked well enough and now a third one is nowhere close to necessary.
So, there you have it, your round up of the year, it was more about disappointment than hate, there were plenty of funny films, but nothing that could make you fall off your chair laughing.
Early next year sees the release of Simon Pegg and Nick Frost's Paul which looks set to be the comedy frontrunner for next year.
FemaleFirst - James Butlin
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