CS Weekly Archive > Weekend Read > 7/31/09

Stand-Up Guys

By jenelle riley

A struggling comic (Seth Rogen) and a movie star dying of cancer (Adam Sandler) forge an unlikely bond.

Funny People

Judd Apatow (also directed)

Writer-director-comedy guru Judd Apatow's winning streak began with his feature film debut, The 40-Year-Old Virgin, which also launched Steve Carell's career into the stratosphere four years ago. He then found another unlikely leading man in Seth Rogen for 2007's Knocked Up. For his third film, the bluntly titled Funny People, Apatow is working with an already established star—his former roommate, Adam Sandler. Going in, you may be unsure if you're getting a Judd Apatow movie—an outrageous but human dramedy focusing on a sweet manchild—or an Adam Sandler movie—a goofy, lowbrow comedy starring a generally annoying manchild. The answer is: a little of both. The first 90 minutes of Funny People is heartfelt and hilarious, but it's undone by a third act that feels contrived and unrealistic.

The plot revolves around a famous film comedian named George Simmons, played by Sandler, whose films bear more than a passing resemblance to Sandler's real-life movies. George is alone and miserable—and that's before he finds out he's dying of cancer. One night, while trying to get back in touch with his stand-up roots, he meets aspiring comedian Ira Wright (Rogen) at a club. Soon, Ira has become George's assistant and confidante and is given entre into the world of a superstar.

These early scenes work well, largely because Apatow knows the world of stand-up comedy inside-out. Apatow nails what it feels like to succeed in front of a group of strangers. He also perfectly captures the experience of seeing a comic bomb. It helps that the comedians perform acts that are full of genuinely funny jokes and one-liners. Apatow is famous for encouraging improvisation on his sets, and wisely employs real comics for many of the club scenes. Even better are the scenes between Ira and his roommates, a rising comedian named Leo (Jonah Hill) and arrogant TV star Mark (Jason Schwartzman). Schwartzman nails the entitled attitude of a young actor experiencing his first success, even if it is on a lame sitcom called Yo, Teach! Like some of George's films, the audience is treated to brief clips of Yo, Teach! and Apatow brilliantly portrays the mediocrity of these works. It would be too simple to make them outright awful; instead, he presents these projects as just bad enough to still be believable, complete with cheesy punchlines. In one film, Justin Long points out to George that he asked a genie to make him young. Cut to: a baby with Sandler's head superimposed on its body and George wailing, "I didn't mean this young!" It's purposefully terrible, but done so slyly that some film executive somewhere probably wishes he'd thought of it first.

It's no surprise Apatow can make audiences laugh, but he also shows skill with the film's dramatic scenes. George's reactions to his illness—the depression, the anger, the despair—reverberate and are wonderfully played by a subdued Sandler. But the laughter is never far away; a scene where he sees his ex-girlfriend Laura (Leslie Mann) veers from poignant to humorous when Laura asks, "How could you cheat on me? I was so hot." Even a scene set at the doctor's office where George is dealing with his illness finds levity when George and Ira begin teasing the Nordic-looking doctor (Torsten Voges).

So much of the film works so well that it feels like a cop out when—and although it's revealed in the trailer, this is a spoiler alert—George goes into a miraculous remission. The remainder of the film takes a detour into him trying to win Laura back, a move that nobody seems sure of—including Apatow. Laura's husband, Clark (played by Eric Bana), is written as a stereotype—the unfaithful jackass—but it doesn't seem like George is a better catch. Worse, this plot thread takes time away from the George-Ira relationship the audience has become so invested in. The laughs feel a bit cheaper, like when Clark tells George to fight back and he says, "I don't know how to fight, I'm a comedian." The characters stop growing; if anything, they regress. By the end, we feel like we've followed these characters on a long journey right back to where we started.

Funny People
Universal Studios
Rated R; 136 min.

Jenelle Riley is a journalist and playwright living in Los Angeles. She enjoys good food and bad horror movies.



Funny People courtesy Universal Studios

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