The Amateurs

As in, amateur porno film makers. A small town apparently populated by numbskulls, knuckleheads and nymphos (?) bands together to make a skin flick, for some reason. I was prepared to report that this quickie is at least better than Zack and Miri, just to dig at Kevin Smith a bit, but the truth is the Amateurs came up short in the end. Neither movie has much to offer besides a grab bag of assorted hearty laughs, and while they're plenty good while they last (best scene: the gang holds a meeting in a gazebo, but business is interrupted by the ravenous devouring of corn chips), sadly the Amateurs bag is down to crumbs by the end of act two. Smith I think offered a few more yuks, and was at least more honest about his intentions; the Amateurs dawdles on a lot of extraneous bullshit about ex-wives and film festivals and way too many irrelevant and unfunny characters. Jeff Bridges works overtime, though, to prop up the ungainly thing, and we can be grateful for the leftover Lebowski he throws our way.