Funny People

(2009)

Directed by

Judd Apatow

Review by Terry Plucknett

Posted - 8/3/09

In my mind, as well as many others, there were few movies that were more anticipated coming into 2009 than Funny People, the third directed film from writer/director/producer Judd Apatow.  The first two Apatow films, The 40 Year Old Virgin and Knocked Up, set new standards in comedies that many have tried to duplicate, but none can get it quite right like Judd.  With this kind of background, it is easy to see how the release of Funny People would be an event.  However, Apatow’s latest effort seems to more on par with his imitators than with his own trend-setters.

The story revolves around superstar comedian George Simmons (Adam Sandler) who discovers he is dying from a terminal illness.  After he receives this grim news, he realizes he has no one close to share this experience with.  To fight this feeling, he reaches out to struggling stand-up comedian Ira Wright (Seth Rogen) to be his assistant, opening act, joke writer, etc.  You realize quickly he has basically hired him to be his friend.  Ira becomes his closest friend and confidant simply because he is the only person that spends any quality time with him.  Ira encourages George to reach out to old friends to mend broken relationships before he is gone.  This includes former flame Laura (Leslie Mann), who is now married with kids.  After an experimental treatment turns out to be an apparent cure for George, he seeks to end Laura’s marriage so he can reunite with the love of his life.

This movie was unlike Apatow’s other movies in that it was more of a drama than a comedy.  It actually can work as a drama too, but it tries too hard to be both a drama and a comedy instead of being a smart and witty drama along the lines of a movie like Sideways.  I think what hurt this movie the most was the fact that every main character was a comedian for a living.  This made most of the comedy seem forced and manipulated instead of natural and smooth like Apatow’s other efforts.  The film would have been much more affective if they weren’t funny people, but instead people who happen to be funny.  Make them something other than comedians.  Comedians in general, or at least how this movie portrays comedians, use their comedy as a defense mechanism.  This means that every time there was a serious moment where the characters could shine, someone would make a lame joke to ruin it.  The other movies focused on normal people in normal private lives, and the comedy just happened around them.  This movie focuses on people that are funny for a living, and they remind you of that throughout the movie, for better or worse.

Just because I am being so critical of this film does not mean that it was a bad film.  There were a lot of good things going on throughout.  I just see what the film could have been, and am slightly disappointed.  However, this film has some great moments.  It features one of Adam Sandler’s strongest performances of his career.  It also has Leslie Mann, a great actress, acting as a bad actress, which is hard to do.  It also includes a hilarious moment with Jonah Hill and cats.  There are also many cameos, including Eminem who provides one of the best scenes of the movie as he cusses out Ray Romano.  The plot of the story is also very strong.

Ultimately, what Funny People turns out to be is a solid film that could not live up to the expectations that are attached to a movie directed by Judd Apatow.  Although it doesn’t live up to the expectations, it is still worth seeing.

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