Apatow’s ‘Funny People’ Shows Us the Dark Side of Comedy (****)

Sandler (right) and Rogen share great comedic chemistry

Judd Apatow’s highly anticipated third film Funny People is, on its surface, a grim look into the world of celebrity. In the film’s first scenes, Adam Sandler broods about his vast mansion in a disengaged and disenchanted stupor. As George Simmons, Sandler plays a character, for all intents and purposes, not unlike himself. Simmons started out as a young stand-up comedian who eventually moved on to become a big comedic star and one of the most admired funnymen of his time. However, as the years set in and days have passed, George Simmons apparently feels empty. The fame remains, but nothing there’s nothing emotionally substantial in his life.

Now, not to say Sandler has these feelings himself — yet as far we’re to believe, the twilight of Simmons’ career has arrived and he finds himself at a crossroads as he is diagnosed with a rare blood disease that leaves him with not much time to live. Enter Ira Wright (Apatow-regular Seth Rogen), and up-and-coming comic who is struggling to achieve even a sliver of the success Simmons has seen. As he watches his roommates (Jonah Hill and Jason Schwartzman) start to see success as a stand-up and sitcom actor, respectively, it’s obvious that he has doubts he’ll ever make it as a professional jokester — despite his obvious talent. A talent so obvious that Simmons, taking a shine to the young comic, hires him to write jokes and act as a person confidante while he deals with his new found terminal illness.

It’s a plausible and engaging setup, one that sees Sandler truly shine in the role. Showcasing a melancholy demeanor seemingly reserved for only a Paul Thomas Anderson film, the normally goofball-ish manchild treats the role with a knowing sadness — like he’s been there before. However, as convincing as he and the film is, it remains so guarded and true to the nature of attention-starved comics that when it begins to stray to other-worldly issues, it doesn’t perform as well. The films main conflict — introduced far too late and far to sloppily — becomes a sort of love triangle between Sandler, his long-lost love (Leslie Mann) and her Aussie husband (Eric Bana).

Rogen, Sandler, Leslie Mann (right) and Eric Bana in Funny People

While you succeed to believe and empathize with Sandler and Mann’s plight, their relationship seems less like the meaningful and emotional conflict Apatow intended it to be and more like a loose end in a film that’s full of them.

Like The 40-Year-Old Virgin and Knocked Up, there’s a wealth of supporting characters who come with arcs and subplots that make the feel seem simultaneously realistic and overstuffed. In a film that is sometimes refreshingly unconventional ultimately becomes a hectic mess. Really, Funny People is three different films in one — 1)Young, struggling comic meets famous, older comic and learns life lesson, 2)Young, struggling comic helps famous, old comic come to terms with his past demons, and 3)Young, struggling comic meets famous old comic and mends his broken relationships with friends, girlfriend.

Separately, those are three fine films. Thrown all together, and it’s a structurally unsound trainwreck. There’s too many dick jokes for a drama, and it’s too dark for a comedy. Apatow obviously had a lot to say with this film, and undoubtedly this is his most personal effort to date — but while watching Funny People, one can only wish for some more focus.

Still, there’s a philosophical aspect to the film that has been featured in all of Apatows films — one that becomes most endearing when dealing with these funny people. Despite the vulgarity and the raunch, the movies he makes also double as a sort of insight on the virtuous and moral inquiries of its characters. There are no heroes or villains in Apatow’s world — but there are chances for good people to make life-altering mistakes. For the first time, Apatow gives us a glimpse at a life truly not worth living, yet does it with all the hilarity and inelegant charm he’s known for — a truly difficult feat.

All of which to say, what works in this film works marvelously. What doesn’t work, doesn’t. But at the end of day, he managed to get Eminem to ask Ray Romano if he wanted to “fuck him in the ass” — and really, isn’t that a victory in and of itself?

This entry was posted on Sunday, August 2nd, 2009 at 9:52 pm and is filed under Funny People, Jonah Hill, Judd Apatow, Land of the Lost, Leslie Mann, Owen Wilson, Reviews, Seth Rogen, Team Apatow. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.