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Funny People Review
24 Aug 2009
Critics rating: 3.5 stars out of 5
Reviewed by Tom Charity , LOVEFiLM
Funny People

Heard the one about the stand up comic dying of leukemia? No? It killed.

Okay, so that’s not too funny, but despite the risky title, the more serious subject matter and a running time that would accommodate three Woody Allen gems back in the day, Judd Apatow’s latest is consistently amusing. And for that we should be grateful.

On paper this project sounded rather ominous. Boosted by his success with The 40 Year Old Virgin and Knocked Up (and a dozen other side projects he helped get made), Apatow had parlayed his power into getting an allegedly more personal and ambitious film off the ground.

Any film buff will tell you that the history of these kind of “personal” films is littered with self-indulgent embarrassments. And the idea of watching Adam Sandler (of all people) succumbing to cancer can’t be high on many people’s list of ideal entertainments.

Funny People

Starring Adam Sandler, Seth Rogen, Jason Schwartzman, Jonah Hill
Director Judd Apatow
Genres Comedy, Drama
Run time 136 mins Certificate 15

Cast details

Sandler – sorry, George Simmons – is a comedy star with a decade or more of dumb but successful movies behind him (in one he’s a Mer-man, and in another he’s magically regressed to the body of a baby). In a rather well directed scene right at the beginning he’s told he’s very ill and likely to die from it. The fans who press him for a photo and a handshake outside the doctor’s office don’t know that. George smiles for the camera and gives them what they want.

For a long time he doesn’t tell anyone except Ira (Seth Rogen), the struggling wannabe-comic who lucks into a job writing jokes – and fetching sodas – for his hero. Simmons is by turns demanding, generous, friendly, and abusive. Ira couldn’t be happier. He’s never been so close to the beautiful people before.

At home, in the Angelino apartment he shares with two more aspiring comedians (Jonah Hill and Jason Schwartzman) Ira is considered least likely to succeed. He bombs at the comedy clubs, and he bombs with the ladies. Meanwhile his buddy Schwartzman is turning into a showbiz monster now that he’s starring in his own (terrible) network sit-com, “Yo Teach!”

Funny People: Adam Sandler and Seth Rogen

These sequences featuring the fledgling comics are among the sharpest in the movie, and obviously refer back to Apatow’s own experiences starting out in the early 90s – when his roommate was none other than Adam Sandler. (Funny People begins with home movie footage Apatow shot at the time of his buddy making prank calls.) Even so, I think this movie would have been better served without them. Young guys hanging out – this is something Apatow has shown us before and will show us again. In this picture it’s an unnecessary distraction from the main thread, which has to be Simmons’ illness and his relationship with Ira.

We must be approaching the 80-minute mark when George is miraculously cured – about the time many comedies start wrapping things up. But Apatow is in no mood to let go. Instead he develops another hour of additional material – as if the movie bred its own sequel – in which the reprieved George pursues the love of his life (Leslie Mann), Ira in tow, without much consideration for her two daughters or her husband (Eric Bana).
 

There's plenty of funny stuff here. Eric Bana has balls as the obtuse Aussie

There’s plenty of funny stuff here – Bana has a ball as the obtuse Aussie – but despite all the blue jokes, this is a more modulated, pensive effort than Apatow’s previous hits.

He’s improved, a little, as a director (perhaps the credit belongs to Spielberg’s favourite DP Janusz Kaminski, who ensures that for once it doesn’t all look like a sit-com), but it must be said he is still in dire need of a good editor.

For the most part, Funny People avoids the worst pitfalls of the near-death experience movie (though in common with Hollywood cliché, the side effects of George’s terminal illness are virtually non-existent). It’s an entertaining flick, but it’s a pity that Apatow felt the need to give us two (and a bit) movies for the price of one. They’re all pretty good, but it’s surely one of the themes of the film that more isn’t necessarily the same as better.

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