For Stupid's Sake

by Zoe Pollock

I don't entirely agree with this read on Judd Apatow's critical success, but it's an interesting take:

They strain to wring relevance out of Apatow's pro-family message. (Who in America is against families and children?) They strain to argue for his place in a tradition. They use him as a cudgel against flawed filmmakers who are both smarter and more ambitious than he is. All the while they miss the simple moving force behind the gratuitous cameos, the accumulating in-jokes, the...