From Tad Friend's profile of Steve Carell, "First Banana" in the most recent New Yorker (July 5, 2010):
Bucket Brigade[1] movies are usually ensemble affairs in which every character is funny, as opposed to an Eddie Murphy movie, in which Eddie Murphy is sometimes funny.
Of course, the Bucket Brigade also made Pinapple Express and Funny People, both of which felt as though they had been designed by a committee. And while the latter was at least occasionally funny, the former was just idiotic. Also, Beverly Hills Cop.
The point: Despite Friend's wit, that a movie is created by the "Bucket Brigade" is neither a necessary nor sufficient condition for humor.
[1] As Friend explains it:
Nowadays in the comedy industry, a Bucket Brigade of actors, writers, and directors pitches in to punch up one anther's films; the nearly all-male group includes Roach, Ben Stiller, Owen Wilson, Seth Rogan, Jonah Hill, Nicholas Stroller, Jason Segel, John Hamburg, Garry Shandling, Sacha Baron Cohen, Robert Smigel, Adam McKay, and Will Ferrell.
Basically, it's the family resemblance category that links nearly every popular comedy in the last few years.
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