I'm kind of on a comedy kick these days, so I rented Judd Apatow's latest comedic endeavor "Funny People." Though the movie came out on Nov. 24, I rented it this week because I had seen new releases "Public Enemies" and "Julie and Julia" and really had no desire to watch the new "Harry Potter" as I would be completely lost.
The premise of the film is that an aging, comedic superstar named George Simmons (Adam Sandler)finds out he has a lethal form of leukemia. Simmons had made a bunch of bad comedy movies that he has been paid a bunch to make. Maybe it's an autobiographical look for Sandler of his own life. Seeing his life in a different perspective than his normal womanizing, money spending ways, Simmons meets Ira Wiener (Seth Rogen) during a stand up gig at a small improv. Simmons takes a shining to Ira and hires him as his assistant/joke writer first for a corporate MySpace gig and then full time. And of course, there's the one who got away, Laura (Leslie Mann), Simmons ex-finacee whom he rekindles his relationship with once she visits him after finding out he's sick.
The movie, overall is a comedy, but I'd almost call is more of a "bromance." The reason I use this word is because it's used by an agent in the movie, but a "bromance" would be like the movie "I Love You, Man." Instead of being a romantic comedy per se, most of the film is focused on the heterosexual relationship between two men. Hence "bromance": a man romance (but not sexual). And that's what "Funny People" is. Sure, it's a bunch of comics coming together and having fun in a movie. But the focus is on the relationship between the lonely Simmons and the struggling Wiener. And yes, each has a romantic female interest as a side storyline, and yes, Simmons illness is another issue, but the relationship between the two male leads is the main storyline between beginning and end.
That beginning to end is a long time too. This movie seemed to run on about 3 hours too long, and there were a bunch of scenes that really dragged. The movie has a good concept, but I wasn't impressed with the execution, which surprised me because of the stockpile of comedic talent on the cast, and the great cameos throughout the film. A lot of the lines seemed improvised, which is appropriate for a comedy and a format I'm a big fan of. But it seemed like a lot of the jokes were bad: overused and stupid sex jokes and not enough funny, original comedy. That was disappointing to me. I've liked movies that every single one of the characters has been in, but combined, they sort of fizzled. I did like the actual scenes of stand up they did during some parts, and there are some parts that made me laugh out loud, but a lot were too much. The story is interesting, and the audience sees George learn from his ordeal, but it's kind of hard to have sympathy for him at the same time. Ira, on the other hand, ends up being the more sympathetic character, and seems more real.
"Funny People" is rated R for nudity, adult language, adult situations, etc. Not for kids.
6 out of 10 stars.
No comments:
Post a Comment