Mainstream comedies tend to split down gender lines:

We have our chick-friendly rom-coms and we have our frat-friendly guy films.

Going the Distance attempts to merge the two genres. But since neither genre is particularly reality-based (they have their own rules, but not necessarily rules that exist anywhere else in the universe) the result is somewhat jarring. It reminded me of the time that Ally McBeal (a comedy) had a very special crossover episode with The Practice (a drama). Hey, who’s world are we in, anyway?

At least I get what Drew Barrymore and co. were driving at. One of the (many) reasons why I love Drew Barrymore is that she likes to choose roles that subvert gender stereotypes—and stereotypes in general. So her damsel was most definitely not in distress in Ever After; her heroines were very much of the riot grrrl variety in Whip It (the film that she directed), and she is the only female I’ve ever seen on film look at the snot content of her own tissue after blowing her nose (in Home...

You can view Lottery Ticket in one of two ways: As a cliché-ridden tale of inner city poverty, filled with warmed over jokes and borderline offensive stock characters. Or as a sweet rags-to-riches ghetto fairytale.

Either way, you’d have a point.

Kevin Carson (Bow Wow) is a nice young man who lives with his gossipy grandmother (Loretta Devine) and works at Foot Locker. On a lark, he buys a $370 million lottery ticket—and wins!

The only problem? The lottery offices are closed for the long Independence Day weekend, so he has to hang on to that ticket and not get swept up in the fortune-fueled frenzy that now follows him.

Kevin has a two best friends, the manic Benny (Brandon T. Jackson) and the girl-next-door Stacie (Naturi Naughton). Once he strikes it rich, he is preyed upon by an avaricious preacher (Mike Epps), the town Godfather (Keith David), the...

I instinctively steered clear of Elizabeth Gilbert’s autobiographical Eat Pray Love because its blend of travel guide and self-help book didn’t appeal to me.

Nothing I’ve seen in the movie version has led me to feel otherwise, but I suspect that lovers of the book will be satisfied. They have been given an expensive, handsomely mounted, and, from what I’ve been told, extremely faithful adaptation that stars none other than the Artist Formerly Known as the Biggest Movie Star on the Planet herself: Julia Roberts.

The story starts as journalist Liz (Roberts) is having something of a spiritual crisis. She is married to a directionless man-child (Billy Crudup) and feels unfulfilled by the house she so meticulously decorated for them. On an assignment in Bali, she meets with a medicine man (Hadi Subiyanto) who tells her that she will remarry, lose all of her money (but get it all back), and find spiritual balance. It’s enough to set her on a journey of self-discovery—first, by leaving the husband and jumping straight into the arms of a hippie-type actor...

The comedy Dinner for Schmucks (based on the French Le Diner de Cons), is supposed to be a story of redemption, but there’s one problem: Our hero doesn’t need to be redeemed.

When Tim (Paul Rudd) is invited by his boss to a mean-spirited dinner party—the goal is to invite the most idiotic person you can find—he knows the premise is odious and he wants no part of it. He only even considers going because he thinks it will help him get a promotion—and maybe finally a “yes” to that marriage proposal from his girlfriend Julie (Stephanie Szostak). But when he literally runs over the nerdy Barry (Steve Carell)—IRS agent by day, mouse diorama artist by night—he feels the cosmos are pretty much ordering him to go.

But Barry is one of those walking trainwrecks—everything he touches becomes a complete and utter disaster. In short order, Barry has ruined Tim’s apartment, his car, and his relationship with Julie. And maybe because Tim is such a decent guy, it’s all the more frustrating to watch Barry hijack his life.

We’re...