Over the past two decades, I've maintained a simple standard for judging the comedies I review: did it make me laugh as much as an episode of "The Simpsons?"
More often than not, the answer is "no."
Thus, it was with the same standard that I went into "The Simpsons Movie," the first feature-length spinoff from the long-running animated TV series. Did it make me laugh as much as an average "Simpsons" episode? Yes. But considering the average episode elicits that much laughter in about 23 minutes, and given that this movie clocks in at over three times that length, well, let's call it a bit disappointing.