Funny People Review

Published by Jeff Leins on: August 1st, 2009

After You Don’t Mess with the Zohan, I thought I was done with the collaborations of former roommates Adam Sandler and Judd Apatow.  Having tried Sandler’s silly style, I guess the partnership thought maybe they should try something for adults this time.  The result is Funny People, an odd mixture of depth, laughs, loneliness, and ambition that perhaps works out too much material in its 149 minutes.

Never one for brevity, Apatow directs another rambling movie about relationships that delivers plenty of laughs but could use an edit from an impartial party.  What starts out as a smart comedy for fans of funny and centers on revelations stemming from a leukemia diagnosis turns into a meandering subplot about lost love.  While most movies usually span three acts of arching development, this one goes halfsies on terminal illness (actually quite Funny) and the importance of close relationships (there’s your People).  However, for a movie about cancer there is a whole lot of dick jokes.

As George Simmons, a successful comedy actor, Adam Sandler gives an emotional performance we haven’t seen since Reign Over Me or perhaps Punch-Drunk Love.  By shedding some of the goofball material he usually relies on, Sandler is a hybrid of genuine expression and great comic timing.  It’s a self-reflexive role that allows him to almost wink at the audience and say, “I know those kids movies I do are lame.  I apologize for Bedtime Stories.”  He mockingly mixes in the occasional voice gag and it seems heartfelt, but I’m not sure I’m ready to forgive him yet for Bugsy the guinea pig sidekick or an entire movie about a magical remote control.

While Simmons is realizing fame isn’t everything, Ira Wright (Seth Rogen) is struggling to make it as a stand-up comedian.  He spends his days selling sandwich meat at the local deli and nights snagging open mic time before crashing on his friend’s couch.  Wright’s buddies are a mildly successful TV star (Jason Schwartzman) and another comedian (Jonah Hill) who spend a few hilarious scenes trading punchlines with Rogen.

A chance encounter at a comedy club link up the rising Wright and the falling Simmons, who strike up a working relationship and a fast friendship.  Simmons divulges his medical secret and Ira helps him reunite with an ex-fiance (Leslie Mann, Apatow’s actual wife).

Apatow’s kids also appear in the story, along with cameos of famous faces like Ray Ramano, Norm MacDonald, Dave Attell, and an unnecessary Eminem.  At times, especially during the second half, the film feels self-indulgent.  It’s as if Apatow was having so much fun with his family and friends he couldn’t bear to trim away the flabby sections caught on film.

Since the movie itself wanders into conceit, I’d like to point out I’ve been making comedy out of my cancer for over twenty years.  Judd Apatow makes a movie about it and makes millions.  I feel like there was some kind of missed opportunity there, like I should have been looking around at the oncologist and realized, “Hey, wait a minute.  This could make an edgy dramedy about discovering what’s important in life.”  Of course I was five, so that sort of insight wouldn’t come for another ten… maybe fifteen months.  But by then it was all string theory this and perpetual motion that.

It’s admirable that Apatow, who in his third directorial effort has only shot movies about getting laid thus far, matures with a story about complex people in complicated situations.  Also serving as the only screenwriter, he literally looked at death and said, “That seems funny, let’s joke about that.”  That’s confidence in his ability to direct a layered film and surround himself with the kind of people who can pull off comedy and authentic drama.  If only one of those people would have encouraged a leaner cut.

3.5 out of 5.