It’s not the best movie of the summer, not by a long shot, but if there’s such a thing as smarter dumb fun, this is probably it.

20 Feet From Stardom is frequently sad and frustrating. But while there’s heartbreak aplenty, the film doesn’t function as a pitying paean to unmined talent — it’s ultimately a celebration of the unsung.

Jordan’s tone is consistently drab and morose, which is fitting enough, but the story drags a bit, bouncing back and forth in time in a manner that is sometimes useful, sometimes not. Overall, though, it’s an intriguing addition to the genre.

This well-intentioned buddy-road-trip flick lacks the danger, the drama and the sex appeal that most moviegoers will be looking for.

A too-good Gru is a boring Gru. No matter how much you crank up the adorability factor or offer up the occasional laugh, there is no getting around that.

The Lone Ranger is a frustrating exercise in overkill, a kind-of, sort-of interesting idea buried in summer-movie excess.

Redemption doesn’t have the chutzpah to let loose and be as dumb as it needs to be, so it instead bores the audience comatose with long stretches of sad-face Statham putzing around an apartment to justify the too-brief bursts of giddy bone-breaking.

Everything is so bizarre and deadpan, the humor just sort of sneaks up on you, until you’re laughing without even meaning to. It’s a neat mix of subtlety and over-the-top bloodshed, with everything played with a straight face.

It’s a maudlin, meandering bit of moviemaking that sheds little light on the loyal opposition in the North.

Scenes go on too long. Jokes outwear their welcome. The plot, though perfunctory (it’s no more complex or intriguing than the average hourlong television crime procedural), gets muddled. Even though McCarthy keeps the laughs coming, The Heat doesn’t really pack enough.

It’s predictable. It’s saccharine. It’s silly. It’s also, thanks to the consummate talents of Stamp and Redgrave, occasionally a joy.

White House Down aims to be a low-brow slab of mindless summer fun. Most of the time, it comes pretty close to hitting the bull’s eye.

Although not everyone in the cast is as comfortable with the dialogue as Acker, for whom it seems natural, there is a clear love for the material here in every performance, in every shot. It’s not stuffy or remote. It’s fun.

It’s fun while it lasts, but ultimately forgettable, kind of like the people they stole from.

A by-the-numbers thriller that wouldn’t even have made for a particularly good hourlong episode of a weekly crime procedural, never mind an honest-to-God feature-length movie.

It doesn’t offer anything new to the genre, but chugs along pretty well until the plot holes begin to pile up.

It’s cute, funny, exciting to look at but not quite magical.

Even as big-budget blockbusters go, this is a hard movie to connect with.

These are characters for whom true belief in a cause has probably become impossible; they know how much that costs. Marsh does a compelling job of illustrating that for the rest of us.

You certainly won’t find a lot of films like Sightseers. To call it a dark comedy is to undersell “dark” and oversell “comedy.” A very British affair, it exists to suggest laughter more than induce it.

It is a smart, well-acted drama, and another chance for Marling to exercise her unique talents, creating intriguing characters on the page and the screen.

If you like your summer-movie explosions huge, Man of Steel delivers. But it seems as if it might have delivered even more than a glorious noise.

The Is the End is a different take on the R-rated comedy, a raunchy laugh riot that actually gives you a little to think about.

Sometimes, a movie just has a magic about it, something that makes you look past implausibility and plot holes and whatever other shortcomings it may have and leaves you feeling good just for having seen it.

What a great movie.

We Steal Secrets: The Story of WikiLeaks is at once an awkward mingling of two complex life stories and a gripping, necessary look at how information is gathered, shared and, yes, stolen.

The Purge is one of those unimaginative horror flicks that depend on skreeky music and sudden appearances to startle, but never actually frighten, the audience. The characters are undeveloped, the twists clumsily telegraphed and unsurprising.

The Internship has some funny moments. The cast is too talented for it to come up completely dry. But for a movie about a place so filled with ambitious climbers, it is far too lazy.