You’ll struggle to find a more insubstantial film than “Cedar Rapids” this year, a well cast but weakly stitched together comedy that encourages yawning over laughter.

In retrospect 1981’s “Arthur” was hardly a classic, merely a box-office success that oozed moderate amounts of charm. A solid cast of performers (namely Dudley Moore and John Gielgud) sailed the film into agreeable comedic waters, leaving audiences fairly amused and feeling good. This 2011 remake achieves more or less exactly the same thing

If “Your Highness” teaches you anything, it’s the value of a decent screenplay. Reasonably well acted and technically impressive, the picture’s only major failing is in its writing, but that’s enough to completely sink the flimsy enterprise.

The Farrellys appear to have lost their creative touch for gross-out tomfoolery, “Hall Pass” blundering through some very stale territory in search of giggles. Nothing here approaches the hair gel gag in “There’s Something About Mary”, whilst the welcome energy found in efforts like “Dumb and Dumber” just isn’t present.

“Rango” isn’t necessarily a great film for kids, but mature audiences are bound to love it. Screenwriter John Logan clearly penned “Rango” as a love letter to the spaghetti western, stocking it with cute genre references and even surreal dream sequences.

I used to be all for geeks inheriting the Earth, but if that means more films like “Paul” then maybe now I’m not so sure. Written by Simon Pegg and Nick Frost (also the film’s stars), “Paul” is an overindulgent and only sporadically amusing sci-fi farce, undone thanks to a lackluster screenplay and some problematic pacing issues.

To label “The Virginity Hit” an outright abomination would be harsh, after all the production does at least attempt to aesthetically shake some dust off the surface of its stale and perpetually horny genre.

As bubblegum escapism “The Green Hornet” is a nifty accomplishment, a fulfilling ride that actually boasts a pretty solid post converted 3D job. It’s unlikely to be regarded as the most viscerally rewarding slice of Hollywood bombast you’ll see this year, but it certainly brings giddy laughs with aplomb.

Released in 2000, “Meet the Parents” was a sly and deserving box-office smash, an expertly cast comedy that rolled out the giggles with both encouraging energy and refreshing regularity. Its 2004 sequel “Meet the Fockers” was slightly less inspired, but on the whole still offered a serviceable roster of laughs. Now in 2010 we have “Little Fockers”, thus completing a trilogy nobody asked for.

With a title like “Hot Tub Time Machine” and a cast stacked with notable comedians, audiences won’t have to ponder too hard concerning the content and tone of this motion picture. Sadly the film’s name is its most memorable asset, the actual movie amounting to little more than a by the numbers Hollywood farce