Don't get me wrong.........If I come and go like fashion

Ok then.

What's new? That's the question I asked myself earlier. I was poking around online looking for anything that caught my fancy. In between political message board flaming and funny videos of people hurting themselves I started to notice a trend. Every third or fourth website had some promotion for the new Will Ferrell/ John C. Reiley movie. It's called "Step Brothers." From what I gather it's about two grown men who become step brothers after their adult parents get married.

Now don't get me wrong, I like both of these actors as much as the next guy, but aren't we going to the well once (or ten times) too often? Let's see, Take Ferrell, Reiley, wind em up and let em go. Throw in a little Apatow and we've got a movie right? So to answer my earlier question, What's new? Not much.

To repeat, don't get me wrong. This movie might be funny. It might be really funny. It might make you fall from your seat and rupture several organs in a uncontrollable laugh bonanza. But that is not the point. The point is, is there anyone else in Hollywood making comedies anymore?

I consider myself to be a bit of a movie buff. I have a good grasp of the history. I am able to spot trends. I also know a bit about how movies are written, produced, acted and directed. I'll admit, I am not an expert, but I think I probably have more knowledge than the average movie goer. When it comes to comedy I think I have an even more heightened awareness. I have paid pretty close attention these last 30 or so years, and I like to think I have noticed a thing or two.

One of the things I have noticed is how things seem to go in waves. When an actor does well enough to grab the publics attention, we get fed more of that actor until we get bored. Let's see, in my lifetime we have had the Steve Martin wave, the Chevy Chase wave, The Bill Murray wave, the Richard Pryor wave, the Eddie Murphy wave, the John Candy wave, the Steve Martin Wave (again) , the Adam Sandler wave, the Chris Rock wave, the Jim Carrey wave, the Mike Myers wave, and back to the (comedy, but more serious comedy) Bill Murray wave.. All of these came and went. It's not that the actors weren't around before and after their waves, but the waves represented their peak. For most actors it goes the same way.

Comedian makes a name for himself doing stand up sketch comedy until they build enough of a following to branch out into feature films that do very well commercially for a period of 3-5 years and then a fairly quick cooling off period e which sees the comedian have a few notable failures at the box office leading to less frequent and noteworthy movies.

This happened to every one of these actors. At one point, each of them were the highest paid comic actor in Hollywood. Each one had huge box office success. Each one had a string of successful movies. And each one eventually was replaced by someone else. It seems to be the nature of the industry. In a regular job if you show up to work and do well, you tend to hang around. You never have a situation where one day the boss says.

"Thanks for all of your hard work. It's been nice having you here, but frankly were a little bored with you. What we are going to do is phase you out for someone who people are a little more enthused about."

But that is what happens in the movie industry. In comedy, it seems to happen more abruptly. I think the actors know this. Often we see someone take a role and say, "what were they thinking?" The answer is simple. Today the roles are there, tomorrow they may not be.

For a long time, this seemed to work. There were stars, but there was still a variety. Some of these waves overlapped. Some of the genre comedies overlapped as well. But as a movie goer you always had something outside of the big name at the time. Today it doesn't seem that way. Maybe it seems that way because all of the same names are dominating the box office. I thought I would do a little research. What do you think the odds are that the highest grossing comedies in each of the last 5 years are somehow interconnected? Hmm..... I'll bet that more often than not the top comedies from those years have something in common. Let's start with the next number one guy Steve Carell, throw in Will Ferrell, John C. Reiley, either one of the Wilson brothers and the Whole Judd Apatow camp. That would be Apatow, Seth Rogan, Apatow's co-writers and directors. I'll give myself one point for each time one of these comes up and subtract one point when they don't. I'm being generous here. I'll even leave out Ben Stiller and Jack Black. But to be fair I'll take Vince Vaughn, Ready? Here we go!

2003-

Bruce Almighty- gross: $242,829,261 Steve Carell +1
Elf- gross: $173,398,518 Will Ferell +1
Cheaper by the Dozen- gross: $138,614,544 -1
Anger Management- gross: $135,645,823 John C. Reiley (uncredited) 0
Bringing Down the House- gross:$132,716,677 -1


Ok, 2003, Let's see. This year is a tie. Interestingly we had two Steve Martin comedies and an Adam Sandler movie in here. Two former top men. But notice, the top two. Moving on.

2004-

Meet the Fockers- gross: $279,261,160 Owen Wilson +1
50 First Dates- gross: $120,908,074 -1
Dodgeball- gross: $114,326,736 Vince Vaughn +1
Starsky and Hutch- gross: $88,237,754 Owen Wilson, Vince Vaughn +2
Along Came Polly- gross: $88,097,164 -1

Ok so, 2 more points. This is not even counting Anchorman which finished just outside the top 5. If that would have counted we would have an additional 6 points. Now we are getting somewhere!

2005-

Wedding crashers- gross: $209,255,921 Wilson, Vaughn, Ferrell +3
Hitch- gross: $179,495,555 -1
The Longest Yard- gross: $158,119,460 -1
Fun with Dick and Jane- gross: $110,332,737 Apatow +1
40 year old virgin- gross: $109,449,237 Apatow, Carell, Rogan +3


So 2005 =5 points.This also didn't include Bewitched. But honestly if that made it to any list we should all be ashamed of ourselves.

2006-

Night at the Museum- gross: $250,863,268 -1
Talledega Nights- gross: $148 mil. Adam Mckay, Ferrell, Reiley, Apatow +4
Click- gross: $137,355,633 -1
Borat- gross: $128,505, 958 -1
The Break up gross $118,703,275 Vaughn +1

Not taking Stiller was a mistake. And Jason Bateman for that matter. He's in half of these. Maybe he gets a post of his own. This doesn't take into account Curious George or You, me and Dupree. Still got two points.

2007-

Wild Hogs gross: $168,273,550 -1
Knocked Up gross: $148,768,917 Apatow, Rogan, Carrell +3
Juno gross: $143,495,265 (Michael Cera should count) -1
Superbad gross: $121,463,226 Apatow, Rogan +2
Blades of Glory gross: $118,594,548 Ferrell, Wilson +2

Ok another 5 points. If I had specified Michael Cera I would be through the roof. And what the hell was I thinking not taking Ben Stiller? Seriously. This list would be virtually 100% with him. Dewey Cox was also this year.

2008-
This year is not complete but given a list of upcoming and in production titles there will be plenty to add to this. Of course we have Step Brothers so that will add considerably.

So what have we learned? Well first of all I got 14 points. Second, if you want to make a comedy in Hollywood, it wouldn't hurt to involve a few key people. Again, I'm not saying there is anything wrong with any of these movies, actors, writers, directors or producers. It's just funny how tight the network can get. Don't get me wrong, I'm just sayin.