Running time: 146 minutes
Starring: Adam Sandler, Seth Rogen, Leslie Mann, Eric Bana, Jonah Hill, Jason Schwartzman, Aubrey Plaza
Rating 7 out of 10
That Funny People reunites its writer, director and producer Judd Apatow with many of the cast and crew he used on The 40-Year-Old Virgin and Knocked Up, including his wife Leslie Mann, Seth Rogen and Jonah Hill, would naturally have audiences assuming this would be in the same vein. And while Funny People is the equal of both Apatow's previous directorial efforts in terms of humour, Funny People possesses a much darker and dramatic tone. It also features Adam Sandler's strongest acting performance to date.
Sandler proved in Punch-Drunk Love that he is capable of something other than the goofy-voiced schtick of such films as Happy Gilmore and The Waterboy, but here he shows a new level of depth and pathos as George Simmons, a successful comedian who finds himself reevaluating his life after being diagnosed with a potentially fatal illness. The character of Simmons, a stand-up comic who becomes a film star in screwball comedies, is clearly not a huge stretch for Sandler whose career has followed the same trajectory. Indeed, the most engaging element of Funny People is its relaxed, naturalistic manner. The majority of the cast are playing characters with whom they have much in common, while there is a procession of celebrities, including Eminem, James Taylor and Paul Reiser who make cameo appearances as themselves.
Funny People's overall sense of familiarity and casualness has much to do with the fact that Apatow has surrounded himself with close friends. Indeed the film begins with a youthful Apatow filming his then roommate, the equally youthful Sandler, as he makes crank calls. It then jumps to the slightly more rotund and elderly Sandler as Simmons preparing to set off from his opulent home to see his doctor. There, he is informed he has a rare form of leukemia. Prescribed with pioneering new medication, he is told he has only a slim chance of surviving.
Someone dying of cancer is not a traditional premise for a comedy, but it's this that imbues the film with its heart and gives the humour a greater impact. And there certainly are plenty of laughs. Simmons' ready wit takes on a darker hue as his impending death makes him reflective. One evening at a comedy club, he catches the fumbling act of Ira Wright (Seth Rogen), an aspiring comic by night and a deli worker during the day. Wright shares an apartment with fellow struggling comic Leo (Jonah Hill) and the egotistical actor Mark (Jason Schwartzman), star of a cheesy TV sit-com.
Simmons invites Ira to write jokes for him before hiring him as his personal assistant. Despite his fame and success, Simmons has few friends. "You're my closest friend," he later confides to Ira, "and I don't even like you." His propensity to avail himself of the numerous women that proffer themselves resulted in the demise of the only meaningful relationship of his life, Laura (Leslie Mann). Now, lonely and facing death, he reaches out to her, despite the fact she's married with two young girls (played by Apatow and Mann's real life kids). "I played it all wrong," George rues as he sees her family life and imagines what might have been.
Tender and touching, but with some hysterical moments, Funny People shows Apatow fast developing his range as a director. Not content to simply play for laughs, here he has the courage to try something more daring, more meaningful. He perhaps tries a little too hard by equating length with substance. At nearly two and half hours, Funny People is unnecessarily long, but it's a forgivable indulgence. This certainly makes you wonder, and look forward to, where Apatow goes next.
Kevin Murphy
Sandler proved in Punch-Drunk Love that he is capable of something other than the goofy-voiced schtick of such films as Happy Gilmore and The Waterboy, but here he shows a new level of depth and pathos as George Simmons, a successful comedian who finds himself reevaluating his life after being diagnosed with a potentially fatal illness. The character of Simmons, a stand-up comic who becomes a film star in screwball comedies, is clearly not a huge stretch for Sandler whose career has followed the same trajectory. Indeed, the most engaging element of Funny People is its relaxed, naturalistic manner. The majority of the cast are playing characters with whom they have much in common, while there is a procession of celebrities, including Eminem, James Taylor and Paul Reiser who make cameo appearances as themselves.
Funny People's overall sense of familiarity and casualness has much to do with the fact that Apatow has surrounded himself with close friends. Indeed the film begins with a youthful Apatow filming his then roommate, the equally youthful Sandler, as he makes crank calls. It then jumps to the slightly more rotund and elderly Sandler as Simmons preparing to set off from his opulent home to see his doctor. There, he is informed he has a rare form of leukemia. Prescribed with pioneering new medication, he is told he has only a slim chance of surviving.
Someone dying of cancer is not a traditional premise for a comedy, but it's this that imbues the film with its heart and gives the humour a greater impact. And there certainly are plenty of laughs. Simmons' ready wit takes on a darker hue as his impending death makes him reflective. One evening at a comedy club, he catches the fumbling act of Ira Wright (Seth Rogen), an aspiring comic by night and a deli worker during the day. Wright shares an apartment with fellow struggling comic Leo (Jonah Hill) and the egotistical actor Mark (Jason Schwartzman), star of a cheesy TV sit-com.
Simmons invites Ira to write jokes for him before hiring him as his personal assistant. Despite his fame and success, Simmons has few friends. "You're my closest friend," he later confides to Ira, "and I don't even like you." His propensity to avail himself of the numerous women that proffer themselves resulted in the demise of the only meaningful relationship of his life, Laura (Leslie Mann). Now, lonely and facing death, he reaches out to her, despite the fact she's married with two young girls (played by Apatow and Mann's real life kids). "I played it all wrong," George rues as he sees her family life and imagines what might have been.
Tender and touching, but with some hysterical moments, Funny People shows Apatow fast developing his range as a director. Not content to simply play for laughs, here he has the courage to try something more daring, more meaningful. He perhaps tries a little too hard by equating length with substance. At nearly two and half hours, Funny People is unnecessarily long, but it's a forgivable indulgence. This certainly makes you wonder, and look forward to, where Apatow goes next.
Kevin Murphy
