Funny People
Review
by Anthony Morris
In the past Judd Apatow
has been really, really good at finding ways to find the comedy in real
people.
Much of it is thanks to his much-vaunted commitment to improvisation -
anyone who has watched the extras to The 40 Year-Old Virgin
or Knocked Up
will know that he lets his actors run on and on looking for the funny.
But it also comes from telling stories that have a nugget of truth
buried deep in the wacky set-ups and endless dick jokes.
The 40 Year-Old Virgin
was, at it's heart, the story of a guy becoming someone who could have
a relationship.
Knocked Up was about how tricky is it to become a father.
Now, with Funny People,
we get to see Judd Apatow talking about what it takes to settle down
into a proper adult life.
But being an Apatow film, it doesn't start off as a lecture on adult
responsibilities: it starts off with would-be stand up comic Ira (Seth Rogen)
trying to get his career going.
While his flatmates seem to be climbing the career ladder just fine -
Mark (Jason Schwartzman)
is the star of a crappy sitcom called Yo, Teach! while
Lee (Jonah Hill)
seems to be free of self-doubt, perhaps because everyone loves a funny
fat man - the slimmed down Ira is racked with doubt.
Meanwhile, George Simmons (Adam Sandler) is a massive comedy star
thanks to what seems to be a stream of fairly lame gimmick movies (he
is a Merman; he is a baby... again) and yet lives alone in his huge
mansion, perhaps because he doesn't exactly seem all that
likeable.
Then he gets a rare, fatal blood disease and through a chain of
circumstances ends up hiring Ira as a joke writer
because, hey, he just isn't feeling all that funny at the
moment.
What develops between them is the usual Apatow male bond, but Sandler -
who is in amazing form here in a largely serious role - and Rogen bring
a heavy core to their banter and gags that gives the film a heft Judd
Apatow's previous films didn't have.
But just when you think you have got this film pegged as a serious tale
made tolerable through humour, there is a twist: Simmons gets
better.
With a new lease on life, he decides to rectify the mistakes of the
past. Namely letting true love Laura (Leslie Mann) get away.
She is now married (to Aussie Eric Bana, who is hilarious here) but a
new life is tempting, and suddenly we have gone from a film about
struggling comics to a family drama.
The shift works even though most of the comedy falls away for a while,
but it gives the film an odd rambling feel, like it would have worked
better as a TV mini-series.
But Apatow knows what he is doing, and he knows what he wants to say;
if you are willing to go with it, you will find there is a lot to like
about Funny People.
4
out
of 5
Funny
People
Australian release: 10th
September,
2009
Official
Site: Funny People
Cast: Seth Rogen, Adam Sandler,
Leslie Mann, Jonah Hill, Eric Bana
Director: Judd Apatow
|
