Funny People

2009-07-31
By Sergio A. Mims

CAST: Adam Sandler
           Seth Rogen
           Leslie Mann
           Eric Bana
           Jonah Hill
          Jason Schwartzman
WRITTEN AND DIRECTED BY: Judd Apatow
*** THREE STARS

In the past five years perhaps no one has defined current film comedy more than Judd Apatow, who first made his mark during the mid to late 90’s as the creator and head writer on two influential TV comedies, The Larry Sanders Show and Freaks and Geeks. But it’s with his films The 40 Year Old Virgin and Knocked Up which he both wrote and Directed, and the numerous other films he’s produced such as Anchorman, Talladega Nights, Pineapple Express, Step Brothers, Forgetting Sarah Marshall and Superbad with another nine  either currently shooting or in active development that’s he’s made his biggest impact.

However, the current that always runs through all of Apatow’s films, whether he writes and directs them or just produces them, is always the same: an immature, under-ambitious, overgrown child in the body of an adult man, after a series of life changing experiences, finally learns to grow up and take responsibility for himself. That is almost always accomplished by way of gross out jokes, foul language and outrageous humor.

It’s a theme that resounds with most men who can relate to the predicaments of Apatow’s characters.

But with his new feature, Funny People, the third film which Apatow has written and directed, it’s clear from the opening scene that he wants to show the world that he himself has grown,  even if the movie stays true to his trademark lewd and crude humor. Funny People is an ambitious, overlong (at 2 and half hours), if not fully realized work that still contains some of the best that Apatow has done. It shows Apatow - between the dirty dialogue and endless penis jokes -  searching for something deeper, more substantive, with people acting like real people and not just characterizations.

No doubt inspired from Apatow’s own experience as a stand-up comic and comedy writer, the film centers on the super rich and successful comic George Simmons, played by Adam Sandler, a guy who despite everything going for him is also lonely, cynical, miserable, aloof, disillusioned and… oh, did I mention miserable?

Unhappy that he’s sold out his skills to make dumb movies for big bucks, he fears he’s also lost his talent. When’s he’s dealt the additional blow of being diagnosed with aterminal disease, he uses it as an excuse to go back to his and recapture his soul.

On his journey he finds kinship in Ira Wiener (Rogen), an awkward, insecure, struggling comic.

Simmons, seeing something of  himself in Wiener, hires him as a joke writer while battling his illness. Together the  new team - miserable comic and star stuck fan - form a shaky, uncomfortable relationship.

For the first ninety minutes the films rolls along but with an hour left to go it makes a sudden turn that makes the wait worthwhile.

Despite its awkward structure making Funny People, in essence, two films in one, one must admire Apatow for doing something different, stretching the boundaries of the standard comedy. And it’s testament to his talent that Funny People is one of the few very comedies of such length that is consistently funny from beginning to end.

Sandler gives what must be his best performance yet in playing the troubled guy wrestling with inner demons, and a radically slimmed-down Rogen actually reveals shades of nuance to the usual loud obnoxious character he’s played until now.

Funny People is not perfect by any means but it’s a brilliantly funny, raunchy but thought-provokingfilm that is a refreshing break from the formulaic comedies that Hollywood churns out like a sausage factory.