“Funny People” Movie Review
Let’s be honest here: Adam Sandler hasn’t been funny for years. The last time one of his movies made me laugh was 1998’s “The Waterboy” (and that was only so-so). Since then he has become the cliché for awful Hollywood comedies and is probably now more notorious for unleashing the endless stream of Rob Snyder abortions than he is remembered for his own body of work.
In “Funny People”, popular director Judd Apatow begins his movie by reminding us just how truly hysterical and inspired Sandler once was. Using old home video he shot when he and Sandler were roommates years ago, we are treated to the “old school” Sandler who used to make people laugh so hard they would get the hiccups. Unfortunately, this is the high point of the movie.
“Funny People” is the story of an everyday schlubby guy in Hollywood (played by Apatow regular Seth Rogen) trying to break thru into the stand up comedy circuit. One night at a local comedy club, he gets to follow a rare performance by superstar George Simmons (Sandler) and Simmons is impressed by him. He hires Rogen on as his personal assistant/joke writer and the two start to form a very strained bond. I’m not spoiling anything from the plot that the trailer hasn’t by telling you that Sandler’s character has recently found out he has terminal cancer. He stumbles through the first part of the movie either moping about and feeling sorry for himself or verbally abusing Rogen. After about the one hour mark, something happens to Simmons that changes the plot entirely and sends it off into a whole new direction. It’s this key plot point that ruined the entire movie for me. Once this revelation occurs, the film almost becomes it’s own (inferior) sequel as the second half of the story has almost nothing to do with the first part. The plot meanders on for another excruciating hour and a half (making the total run time over 2 ½ hours!) before coming to an abrupt and unsatisfying ending.
Performances in this movie aren’t terrible, they’re just nothing you haven’t seen before. Rogen plays the same guy he always plays and Sandler is basically portraying an exaggerated (I hope) version of his real life. There are supporting roles inhabited by Jonah Hill, Eric Bana, Jason Schwartzman and Leslie Mann that warrant a few chuckles here and there, but they are mostly for filler. None of these characters are particularly sympathetic as we are shown certain situations where they all make very selfish decisions that eventually hurt others around them. Even Mann’s character, who is Sandler’s long-lost love now married with 2 young girls, does something towards the end of the movie that made me seriously question her parenting skills.
“Funny People” tries to be that rarest of films: a drama with light-hearted comedy sprinkled throughout. I don’t fault Apatow and company for attempting to stray a little from the norm, but their failure can’t be denied. Ultimately what I took away from this movie is that most people in Hollywood are selfish jerks… but I’m pretty sure I knew that already.
Jason’s Rating: 2 out of 5
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