There’s one particular Minion gag in Despicable Me 4 that I can’t stop thinking about. It’s so simple, but every time I remember it, I chuckle. Basically, one of Gru’s Minions gets stuck in a vending machine, and he can’t figure out how to get out. For the entire movie. So he’s just perpetually in the background of whatever else is going on, sleeping on piles of chips or reading a book called The Vending Machine Diet. Other shenanigans play out on screen, but he’s stuck behind the glass.

It’s hilarious, but it made me realize that even though Minion-filled scenes often devolve into annoying gibberish, there is a correct way to use them, an ideal quantity of Minion gags to pepper between other scenes — a Golden Ratio. The Minions were only a small part of the original 2010 Despicable Me, but they’ve since eclipsed former villain Gru and his family in the greater cultural landscape. But putting them front and center means missing what Minions are best at.

The Despicable Me movies work best on both a story and a comedy level when filmmakers use the Minions sparingly, and don’t overwhelm scenes with them. Even though the vending-machine gag is........

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