Charlie Day

CHICAGO – The summer of the R-rated comedy, which was SO clearly inspired by the success of “The Hangover” and its sequel, was an interesting case of the law of diminishing returns. If you over-saturate a market, critics and viewers will turn away. By the time that “The Change-Up” and “30 Minutes or Less” thudded into theaters, we all remembered why they don’t make that many R-rated comedies in a year any more — most of them are dumb. Looking back on the trend, two films stand out as the R-rated comedies of Summer 2011 — the widely-beloved (and a bit overrated) “Bridesmaids” and Seth Gordon’s very-funny and consistently-entertaining “Horrible Bosses,” recently released on Blu-ray and DVD.

CHICAGO – The most gleefully misanthropic show on the air returns tonight, Thursday, September 15th, 2011 at 9pm CST with the seventh-season premiere of “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia” on FX. Not much has changed for the gang at Paddy’s Pub but there is a darker edge to the humor for the start of this season, as hard as that may be to believe.

CHICAGO – There’s a theory that a film that should be judged based on how well it succeeds at what it attempts to do. If it’s a comedy, does it make you laugh? “Horrible Bosses” has some issues but it is an undeniably funny movie.

CHICAGO – It’s far from a perfect comedy but considering the amazingly-broken state of the romantic comedy genre, the wasteland of horrendous films that have continued to give talentless stars like Katherine Heigl a career, “Going the Distance,” recently released on Blu-ray and DVD, is a surprisingly-effective flick. A somewhat-bizarre blend of “dude humor” with typical genre cliches may turn some viewers off but this flick is two things most romantic comedies aren’t — romantic and funny.

CHICAGO – How funny are the first four episodes of the new season of “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia,” starting tonight on FX? Even though I’m knee-deep in screeners for new and returning shows, I watched all four episodes twice.

CHICAGO – Drew Barrymore no doubt is working hard to become Queen of the Romantic Comedy. She has done over ten of them, more if you count “Bad Girls.” (kidding) When recycling themes even the best of them can get redundant when seeing the same actress involved. “Going the Distance” is not even among the best of them.

CHICAGO – Nanette Burstein, known mostly for her excellent documentaries “The Kid Stays in the Picture” and “American Teen,” makes her narrative feature film director debut with the comedy “Going the Distance,” with Drew Barrymore, Justin Long, Jason Sudeikis, Christina Applegate and Jim Gaffigan.

CHICAGO – Yes, comedy fans, there is a Santa Claus, and he’s here early with a raunchy, gleeful take on holiday traditions courtesy of Rob McElhenney, Kaitlin Olson, Charlie Day, Glenn Howerton, Danny DeVito, and the twisted writers of “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia: A Very Sunny Christmas”.

CHICAGO – Thanks in part to extreme popularity online at sites like Hulu and a few great season box sets, FX Networks’ “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia” has become a cult comedy hit. People who love the misanthropic freaks of “Philly” truly LOVE this show and they won’t be disappointed by a great season premiere.