I failed yesterday to acknowledge the box-office triumph of The Expendables, particularly its overtaking the initial lead of Vampires Suck on Saturday to claim the weekend crown with an estimated $16.5 million at 3,270 locations for a $5045 per-screen average. And to note that Eat Pray Love only dropped 48% for the weekend (as opposed to the Friday-to-Friday drop of 57%) for $12 million and a third-place showing.

Nobody seems to care very much about Lottery Ticket, The Other Guys, Nanny McPhee, etc. Who am I to argue?

I could argue that the failure of The Switch to make more than $8.3 million at 2010 locations ($4125 per screen average) betokens or foretells the gradual collapsing of the Jennifer Aniston brand…or I could just let it go. I’m glad that Bill Simmons didn’t. His 8.20 piece on Aniston (“Why she can’t find a man” and “Why her film career is what it is”) is the best piece of analysis I’ve read about any actor’s’ career in a long time. L.A. Times columnist Patrick Goldstein more or less agreed the same day.

Aniston “hasn’t faded into B- and C-list obscurity because of the Angelina/Brad/Jennifer love triangle,” Simmons wrote. “[It is] like Brett Favre‘s comeback/retirement/comeback routine multiplied by 10, but has been cruising along for twice as long. She lost her scummy husband to a seductive co-worker. Maybe it was the worst thing that ever happened to her personally, but professionally? Godsend. She became America’s adorable little victim for seven years until Sandra Bullock finally pushed her aside.”