Movie comedy

In the movies, Voldemort died a richly deserved screen death in 2011, as the "Harry Potter" series came to a gratifying conclusion after a fine run (once the first two Chris Columbus-directed pictures were out of the way). But something else died at the movies this year.

Think back to February. That month spawned the Adam Sandler vehicle "Just Go With It," co-starring the galaxy¿s preferred hottie (or warmie; let's be circumspect), Jennifer Aniston. The film unleashed its unfunniness on an unsuspecting planet -- unsuspecting, that is, in the regions of the planet that didn¿t turn out to support ¿Grown Ups.¿ Nine months later, like a Satan baby, came "Jack and Jill," co-starring Adam Sandler and Adam Sandler as twins who hate each other, but love each other, but hate each other, but love each other, but mainly who aren¿t funny. In between "Just Go With It" and "Jack and Jill" the world¿s screens showcased "The Hangover Part II," which contained no Sandler of any kind. But it emitted a pretty bad odor nonetheless.

Together those three pictures took in a hair under $900 million in the global marketplace. And together, those three pictures -- a cruddy sequel bookended by a couple of infernal Sandlers -- were responsible for killing off screen comedy in 2011. Not even the heartening success of "Bridesmaids" could save it.
-- Michael Phillips