Movie summary of “Funny People” by Michael the Moviegoer.
FUNNY PEOPLE = ***1/2
“So, A Comedian Walks Into A Doctor’s Office…”
Judd Apatow’s third film as a director following “The 40-Year-Old Virgin” and “Knocked Up” stars Adam Sandler and Seth Rogan. It’s called “Funny People”. But after the first 15 minutes of this 2-and-a-half hour film goes by without a single laugh, it becomes uncomfortably obvious that “Funny People” will not be the raunchy, gross-out, adolescent comedy you were expecting. That’s not necessarily a bad thing if you’re able to quickly shift gears and prepare yourself for 2-plus hours of heavy drama about a superstar comedian who is dying of leukemia.
In fact, the movie’s second half has two children caught between their parent’s adulterous and dysfunctional relationships in a way that reminded me of Ang Lee’s “The Ice Storm”, the very last movie I expected a Judd Apatow film to remind me of.
But as a drama, “Funny People” works like magic. It’s deeply heartfelt with uncharacteristically emotional performances from its leading men. For me, the 2-plus hours just flew by. I was absorbed in every scene.
Sandler plays a comedy star quite similar to himself. He seems to satirize his own filmography with hilarious results. His character stars in a film called “Re-Do” in which Sandler’s head is placed on the body of an infant. In another film called “Merman”, Sandler plays a male mermaid. Perhaps “Funny People” is Sandler’s attempt to apologize to the world for his own slate of awful movies, which made me think for a second that this role might have also been offered to Eddie Murphy.
A long parade of famous faces pop up in cameos, including a very funny scene with rapper Eminem. So, yes, there are funny moments here. Just as there is often comic relief in any drama, especially those by James L. Brooks. “Funny People” is still a drama after all. The joke will be on video store clerks who file the DVD in the comedy section. Wrong!
DVD Double-Feature: If you enjoy dramas about the miserable off-stage lives of comedians such as “Funny People”, then check out 1988’s “Punchline” starring Tom Hanks and Sally Field. Another deep and dark drama about comedy.
Michael The Moviegoer
