FEATURED: Judd Apatow

Funny Men, Very Funny Women

Judd Apatow. That’s a name everone should know, especially those who like some of the best comedic films in the past decade, such as Anchorman, The 40 Year Old Virgin, Knocked Up, Superbad, Walk Hard, and the newest, Forgetting Sarah Marshall. He has beeen either a producer, writer, director, or songwriter on all of these films. Most of these films are commentary about what men are really like, which is why there is a new “frat pack”-esque of very funny men who show up in most of the movies: Seth Rogan, Paul Rudd, Jason Segel, Steve Carrell, and Jonah Hill. Notice anything missing? Women.

That’s the only thing that seems to be missing from these Apatow brainchild projects is a constant female performers. Admitedly, all of these movies are social commentaries about how men act and think, but one of their biggest subjects in how they interact with women. The women have all been great actresses and pitch-perfect in their roles: Catherine Keener in "The 40 Year Old Virgin", Katherine Heigel and Leslie Mann in "Knocked Up", and now Kirsten Bell and Mila Kunis in "Forgetting Sarah Marshall". Is it that the roles are designed specifically for characters only these different women can play, or is it that Apatow doesn't see the same versitality in women as men?

Apatow got his start by creating the short lived series "Freaks and Geeks" and "Undeclared", both of which starred most of his film stars. Another thing in common -- almost no female leads. Thats what it is about these "rat pack" and "frat pack" groups is that there isn't any women. Maybe all we need to for Tina Fey, Amy Sedaris, Sarah Silverman, Amy Poelher, and Jenna Fischer need to form their own "Cat Pack"... or hopeful something with a more clever name