The rise of the "unfunny comedy": progress for cinema?

Lately, I've been seeing more "unfunny comedies" (as opposed to not funny comedies). These sorts of movies mark progress for comedy in film. Sure, if you recycle the same jokes, you'll probably get laughs over and over again. But there is something admirable about trying certain things and having them not produce monster belly laughs. Also these movies usually produce a certain pleasantness throughout the whole movie. Some of these also have pretty good character development (Mr. 3000, Girl Next Door, and I'm going to include The Waterboy even though it doesn't quite fit in with what I'm talking about) and some dramatic elements. So when I say that something is an "unfunny comedy", I'm not disparaging it at all.