Talentless

Don't feed the troll.

How very droll and original. Are you actually Judd?

Well seriously, how could your post be considered anything but a troll? You don't provide any compelling argument, just a bunch of adjectives that don't amount to much.

Ok "madguy", you are right. To my eternal shame, I am one of those rare fools who posts a subjective opinion on a movie forum - renowned as they are for being oases of rational thought and pure logic. I hope this provides an adequately cogent argument for the adjectives I so casually employed in my prior post.
1. "An APPALLING track record of MASS-MARKET, UNFUNNY, CRAP films".
Lest we forget, this is the man working on the new Pee-Wee Herman film. Take that in for a moment. As a producer, 5 films in production for 2011. Consulting producer on the Critic. Producer of The Cable Guy, Forgetting Sarah Marshall, Drillbit Taylor, Pineapple Express. About the only decent thing he's been involved with was the Larry Sanders Show, and possibly Anchorman (which I personally thought was overrated.)
2. "This guy totally lacks integrity, a sense of humour or perspective".
For lack of integrity, merely consult his IMDB history - I don't need to repeat it all here. He has worked on countless absolutely god-awful pieces of *beep* As for the sense of humour and perspective, witness his recent reaction against Ricky Gervais at the Golden Globes, which was hypocritical in the extreme - making personal attacks whilst at the same time decrying them - and also pathetically misguided in standing up for the fragile egos of a few touchy Hollywood "names" who couldn't take a joke. He needs to learn that the task of comedy is to afflict the comfortable and comfort the afflicted. He seems only capable of doing the reverse. What a bitch.

Well first off, I'm not sure how giving Pee-Wee a new film is a terrible thing. Pee-Wee's Big Adventure is a beloved movie, and a generation (mine, specifically) grew up watching Pee-Wee's Playhouse. Not to mention he's had a popular, recent run on Broadway.

Whether something is funny or not is pretty subjective. But, leaving my and your personal opinions out of it, Forgetting Sarah Marshall, Pineapple Express, and The Critic are pretty well-regarded. Even The Cable Guy is considered by a lot of people to be criminally underrated, and for a summer tentole film, was FAR from mass-market, beyond the casting of Jim Carrey in the starring role. Not that there's anything wrong with appealing to a lot of people. What I've enjoyed about his films was that they don't insult your intelligence the way that a lot of mainstream mass-market comedies like, for example, Big Momma's House do. As for the films he's directed, 40-Year-Old Virgin and Knocked Up received rapturous reviews all around-- and for good reason, they're probably going to be seen as comedy classics in the next couple of decades. If you don't like them, fine, but you're in the vast minority here. So the argument of "An APPALLING track record of MASS-MARKET, UNFUNNY, CRAP films" doesn't hold up from an objective standpoint. Question, have you seen Freaks and Geeks or Undeclared?

I read about his reaction to Ricky Gervais, and while I enjoyed Ricky Gervais's hosting of the Golden Globes, I can see where Judd's coming from. I don't see it as standing up for the egos of his Hollywood peers (who probably didn't give much of a crap about being roasted anyway). He's saying Gervais was unnecessarily mean, which didn't lend itself to great comedy. And I kind of agree-- funny yes, but laughing at some guy call another guy fat in front of an auditorium doesn't make anyone feel great about themselves. It's possible to "afflict the comfortable" in a way that doesn't come across as, well... downright mean. As a longtime comedy guy (and one with a good track record no less), I think Judd has earned the right to make this kind of critique-- especially when Gervais's polarizing performance was just begging for it. Anyways, this incident doesn't really have anything to do with Judd's level of talent.

Firstly, consider the troll fed :). I'm not sure we'd ever agree on this, but I do take on board your points and I can understand why you clearly like Judd Apatow's work.

However working on a Pee-Wee Herman film in my personal opinion lacks credibility, and I can't imagine Woody Allen, Larry David or Christopher Guest getting involved in the project, let's just say that. Even Mel Brooks would probably steer clear. Of course there's a great deal of subjectivity in what is funny, and to an extent that renders all discussions such as these pointless, but why not embrace that subjectivity and play different views off against each other? I can't understand why you endorse the subjectivity of comedy on the one hand, and then criticise me for not satisfying "an objective standpoint" on the other. Likewise, on the one hand with the Cable Guy I'm wrong because I agree with the critics rather than the "lot of people" [citation needed] who consider it underrated, and on the other I'm wrong because I don't agree with the critics on Forgetting Sarah Marshall and Pineapple Express - which, by the way, were not universally loved, thus making the subjectivity all the more apparent. Furthermore, I'm not sure who is going about praising The Critic, but everything I've ever read about it has been less than glowing.

Of course there's nothing wrong with being popular, but I think there's a huge difference between popular and mass-market. A film can be popular without being anodyne or making sacrifices - it's a good piece of work, and so people like it. Mass-market on the other hand, is being targeted specifically at being as popular as possible, with no regard for quality. It is into the latter category that I would put the 40-Year-Old Virgin, and the former that I would put Spinal Tap, or Annie Hall. Do you see what I mean?

If your question about Freaks and Geeks and Undeclared is a recommendation, then I will take it and actually go and watch them. Perhaps it will change my entire view of Judd. But as far as the Gervais incident goes, I totally see where you're coming from re. meanness, but meanness implies a small mindedness and vindictiveness that I don't think was intended at all. Yes the fat joke was a lame one, but he's made hundreds directed at himself on the same subject, and I get the impression he doesn't view it as a big deal or something to be taken as anything other than silliness. I think Judd lost all perspective on this and came out in defence of a target it took quite a lot of bravery to take on, who are considered above mockery by many.

i agree, I've heard a lot about him so I looked up the films he's done and they're crap

I'm not going to jump in on a conversation about comedy and subjectivity, and I do admit to enjoying most of Apatow's work, but I must say that Freaks and Geeks is one of the best shows ever made. In my subjective opinion that is.