Movie review: Funny People
Funny People presented me with a dilemma going in.
On the one hand, I was a fan of writer-director-producer Judd Apatow and his muse, Seth Rogen.
On the other hand, I've rarely found Adam Sandler funny. I recognize that there's an entire generation that regards Sandler as a comic god; I would submit that they worship a false deity.
Still, I never would have predicted that, at the end of Funny People, I'd have more kind things to say about Sandler than Apatow.
Having reeled off a string of hits as a director or producer (The 40 Year Old Virgin, Knocked Up, Superbad, Adventureland, Pineapple Express), Apatow apparently has reached an exalted state where no one in Hollywood questions his judgment about the movies he makes (despite the fact that Knocked Up and 40 Year Old Virgin were both 20 minutes too long). He also seems to have started believing his own press about being the preeminent fount of comedy in the modern world, infallibly in touch with the zeitgeist (OK, maybe not infallibly; otherwise, how to explain Year One, Step Brothers and Drillbit Taylor?).
So, naturally, this is the moment he decided to make his comedy epic, the movie he apparently has been dying to make. It can't just be a standard movie -- it's got to be big enough to encompass all of Apatow's many great thoughts.
As a result, Funny People is 146 minutes, approximately the same length as Transformers 2, Harry Potter 6 and Public Enemies, the summer's longest films. Unfortunately, it runs out of laughs after about an hour -- and out of inspiration after 90 minutes. That leaves another hour to fill -- and filler is what we get.
For the rest of this review, click here to reach my website: www.hollywoodandfine.com.
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It's a shame you'd pick this movie to bag on, there's so much crap coming out these days. This movie actually tries to have real characters with real emotions, unlike most of the comedy crap coming out these days. Oh well.
Tried to put two movies into one. The first one was funny and eye-opening/touching at times. The second movie was boring and painful to watch. Rogen and Sandler were fun to watch together, but wanted to see more of Schwarzman and Hill with Rogen. Also, Eric Bana did a great job too.
If I were 13 to 16 years old again, I'd probably think this movie was funny. As it is, anyone mature enough to be sick of sex, women, booze, drugs jokes repeated ad nauseum would find the majority of sandler's and his co-stars' moves as well, to be immature. And to think these un-funny people walk around with millions in their bank accounts.
What a sick country.
See William Bradley's Profile
The trailer and ads are filled with jokes that aren't funny.
Punch Drunk Love is the only Sandler movie I've enjoyed beside this one, and this one ain't that great. Ninety minutes in comes a big plot turn followed by its resolution which takes another hour. Some editing would solve this...but I wonder if the fact that the final hour is chock full of Apatow's real wife and kids got in the way of economy. Two and a half hours. Hey, Judd, it's a comedy not Lawrence of Arabia.
See David Wild's Profile
Again with all due respect to Marshall, I will gladly take every minute of "Funny People" -- a movie which I have already seen twice -- over the usual mall-fillers. Judd Apatow has always brought a lot of drama to his previous hit comedies, and in my opinion, his latest is a very funny, very ambitious, very worthwhile way to spend a few hours of your life.
All due respect, that's not much of a review. A bit ironic in that you complain about too much filler at the end, while the critique itself could use more meat.
What kind things did you have to say about Sandler by the end? Did the movie offer any insight into the life of a stand-up comic (something I'm particularly interested in, but not the only reason why there wasn't enough info in general)? How were the supporting players? What was it about the last half that didn't work exactly?
You touch on points with which I agree (Sandler has never been the comic genius people have made him out to be in my opinion, and I've liked most of the Apatow films I've seen thus far), but that just makes me want to know more about why you came to the conclusions you did.
You can do better.
Maybe you could do better reading? Because it says click here for the rest of the review, which it seems you missed?
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