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Lately, there have been three kinds of comedies, the stupid comedy is the most common, and the very occasional smart comedy pops up every so often, but the most intriguing kind is the smart-stupid comedy. The smart-stupid comedy is a movie that looks stupid and pretends to be stupid, but is actually very smart. Critics and audiences can very easily detect which of these movies is which, and everyone seems to prefer the smart-stupid brand. Examples from recent years include Office Space, Napoleon Dynamite, Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle, Wedding Crashers, The 40 Year-Old Virgin, Clerks II, Borat, Talladega Nights, Blades of Glory, The Simpsons Movie and the new Superbad. Even the Jackass movies -- which I haven't seen -- have their defenders among the intellectual elite.

If you can strike this formula, you're in for box office and critical gold -- and perhaps even an Oscar nomination. Knocked Up (297 screens) has been one of the summer's most enjoyable movies and one its biggest surprises. I almost didn't attend a press screening because it looked like a variation on the dreadful American Pie movies, but the buzz got to me and I went, and I'm glad I did. Judd Apatow's movie isn't much different from the formula of a beautiful girl redeeming a pathetic schlub, but this time it feels as if it came from a genuine place, as if the schlub really felt these things and was expressing his gratitude. For the lowbrows in the audience, Apatow gives his hero a selection of even dorkier roommates with lots of hilarious, shocking things to say and do, but the movie's main drive is pure.

The last time we heard about Fox 2000's adaptation of Marley & Me, it had a script by Don Roos and was to be directed by Shawn Levy. Now Variety reports a new draft is being written by Scott Frank (Out of Sight) and the project will be helmed instead by The Devil Wears Prada's David Frankel. The studio seems to have made the switch due to the looming actor strike, as it apparently wants to push the thing into production as quick as possible. According to the trade, Fox 2000 has also been struggling to get a cast together for the movie, which kinda shows in the unlikely pairing of Owen Wilson and Jennifer Aniston, who will be starring. The movie, based on John Grogan's 2005 memoir, is about a Labrador Retriever who turns out to be quite a handful for two newlyweds (presumably Wilson and Aniston) but who also wins the heart of many.

As we saw in Wedding Crashers -- even if it is fictional -- Wilson and Vince Vaughn are compatible with very different types of women. So it is hard to imagine Wilson with Aniston, who fits appropriately with Vaughn on screen and off. But I guess everyone in the "Frat Pack", aka the man-boy circle of friends, needs to play against Aniston. Ben Stiller has done it. Paul Rudd has done it. Does John C. Reilly count now? Because he's done it. Now we just need to see her as the love interest for Will Ferrell, Steve Carell, Luke Wilson and Jack Black. Personally, I don't really care who Aniston acts opposite -- my main concern with Marley & Me is that the title keeps putting the Muppet Christmas Carol song "Marley and Marley" in my head -- and surely audiences will be too enamored of the dog playing Marley to be bothered with the chemistry between the actors. This year, Grogan's book was adapted into a children's picture book and a young reader's version, so no matter who else is cast, Fox 2000 should have a lot of success with whole families.

Rat pack. Brat pack. Frat pack. Splat pack. Whenever a group of actors and/or filmmakers begin to star alongside each other in a series of movies or unite with a common goal in mind, the entertainment media is usually quick to point out that a new pack has arrived. Over the weekend, as Knocked Up raked in roughly $29 million at the box office (not bad for a comedy facing Pirates of the Caribbean in only its second week), I began to ponder whether Judd Apatow had branched off and started his own pack. This would be a completely new pack, and different from the Frat Pack (which consists of folks like Vince Vaughn, Will Ferrell, Owen Wilson, Ben Stiller, Luke Wilson and Steve Carell). The way I see it, the Frat Pack no longer exists; sure these guys randomly show up in the same movies, but it appears they've all handed in their Frat Pack I.D. cards and gone their separate ways.

Which brings us to Judd Apatow, whose pack is far from a Frat -- unless we're talking Revenge of the Nerds here. This pack consists of Apatow, Seth Rogen, Paul Rudd, Michael Cera, Jonah Hill, Jason Segal, Martin Starr and James Franco. But that's just the first tier; on the second level, you have Will Ferrell, Adam McKay and Harold Ramis. Then, you have potential members who consist of folks like Jack Black and Owen Wilson. I'm probably leaving out a few folks (some writers, etc), but these are the central players; some of which were recent members of the Frat Pack. So, if there is a new pack in town, what do we name it? I'm horrible with names, but I imagine it has to rhyme with 'rat' in order to count and it should, in some way, reflect who these guys are and what their brand of comedy is all about. Fat Pack? But they're not all fat. Geek Pack? Doesn't rhyme with 'rat.' Joke from a Hat Pack? Okay, that's just lame.

So, I ask you: Is there a new Judd Apatow pack, or should they be considered part of the Frat Pack? And, if there is a new pack, help us name it.