Knock, knock. Who’s there? Lowbrow comedy. Lowbrow comedy who? It’s lowbrow comedy everywhere because it’s easy to write and cheap to produce. The entertainment industry is bigger than ever. Therein lies the problem:  Hollywood has produced lowbrow comedy for every generation,  and it now has the capability to produce dumbed-down movies in every genre tenfold. 

Kathryn Stockett’s novel “The Help” has spent more than 100 weeks on the New York Times bestseller list, and the movie adaptation is easily one of the best films of 2011. Set in Jackson, Mississippi, in the 1960s, the picture focuses on Eugenia “Skeeter” Phelan (Emma Stone), a progressive white journalist disgusted with the way black maids are being treated.