Funny People

Funny People is the latest movie from popular writer/director Judd Apatow. For the past few years, Apatow has been box office gold with his raunchy 80's throwback comedies. He has been the driving force behind hits such as The 40 Year Old Virgin, Superbad, Knocked Up, and Pineapple Express. However, Funny People shows a different side of Apatow as it marks his first foray into more dramatic fare. Don't get me wrong, there are still plenty of Apatow trademarks as his T & A jokes have a huge audience.

Adam Sandler plays comedian George Simmons, who has just learned he has a terminal disease and does not have long to live. Seems Simmons was kind of a jerk to everybody when he became a star and does not have any close relations at all. The knowledge of dying leads him to take a young comedian under his wing named Ira Wright, played by Seth Rogen. Wright becomes Simmons confidant and eventually his only friend. But this proves to be challenging for the starstruck Wright as Simmons has no idea how to relate to people, hurting Ira and those closest to him over and over again.

And I think that is really the problem with this movie. Are we meant to be compassionate for Simmon's predicament? That's hard to fathom when your main character is a whopping jerk. Throughout the whole movie I found myself telling Ira he should tell George to just stick it. That it was not worth it. Simmons seemed more interested in passing his suffering along then genuinely trying to atone for his past mistakes. In the end, Apatow tries to give us the payoff that eventually comes with this type of movie, but by the time it plays out, you find that you just don't care. And, boy, does this movie play out. I thought it's 2 1/2 hour runtime was about 40 minutes too long.

There is not many surprises in the cast itself. Sandler is basically asked to play himself. Rogen is what Rogen always is. Sometimes funny, sometimes boring. He did drop a lot of weight before this role and my first reaction was "kudos!", he looks good. Jonah Hill is becoming tiring the more I see of him. It was surprising to see Jason Schwartzman and Eric Bana in this though, and they are some bright points, especially Bana.

There is a line at the end of the movie where Simmons basically says to Ira: Hey, I'm new at this. I'm still learning.

Maybe that is the excuse we should give Apatow on this flick. It is a break from his normal formulaic movies. Hopefully, the next one is better.

Grade: C