Jim3k
08-16-2009, 04:33 AM
So who knew Adam Sandler could be a dramatic actor? I guess it’s true that comedians can more easily adapt to drama than a dramatic actor can move to comedy, but I had never considered Sandler in a drama. Well, of course Funny People is really a mixture.
Let me start by saying I recommend the movie. I would give it 3-1/2 stars out of five, so I’m not jumping up and down over it. Plus, I think it’s too long at 2:20.
Without (hopefully) providing any spoilers, it is director/writer Judd Apatow’s effort to root around in the underbelly of the world of professional comedians and writers, particularly the undiscovered/unappreciated sorts. It results in a collaboration between Sandler’s character and Seth Rogen’s. There is some significant man-bonding/mentoring between two comedians who have yet to grow up. Apatow explores the duality between real persons with real personalities and their professional, immature comedic counterparts. Life, death, divorce, marriage, infidelity, and naïveté are all part of this film. So are outrageous language and strange neuroses -- Sandler needs someone talking to him to help him sleep – and Rogen can’t get out of his own way when it comes to an actual girl.
Rogen can’t quite believe his luck when Sandler asks him to write jokes for him – but they become friends and confidantes – even when Sandler pushes him away because – well, he just can’t acknowledge having a real friend. That tension leaves things unsettled between them in a way Rogen can’t understand at least until an epiphany near the end. At that point, the movie asks, “Which of these two underdeveloped men will finally grow up?”
Leslie Mann adds to the confusion as Sandler’s ex-love currently married to Eric Bana (who plays a wannabe Aussie footer.) In real life, Mann is actually married to Apatow and their two children play delightfully as products of the Bana-Mann marriage.
Anyway, the polarity of artificial comedy versus the demands of being a real person permits a look into Sandler’s character that is quite poignant. And it’s worth the time to get there, even if, as in real life, things never quite get resolved. Sandler's performance here is to be admired.
Finally, the one thing former comedian Apatow can do is to get real comedians to perform cameos playing themselves. Mostly it’s just one-liners, but they are a pleasant distraction from those places where the movie lags. Not to mention a surprise performance by James Taylor.
This movie has lots of sexual references and crude language. It’s funny, but it’s not mindless or gross just to shock; it's usually used in a way that demonstrates something about the character making the statement.
Let me start by saying I recommend the movie. I would give it 3-1/2 stars out of five, so I’m not jumping up and down over it. Plus, I think it’s too long at 2:20.
Without (hopefully) providing any spoilers, it is director/writer Judd Apatow’s effort to root around in the underbelly of the world of professional comedians and writers, particularly the undiscovered/unappreciated sorts. It results in a collaboration between Sandler’s character and Seth Rogen’s. There is some significant man-bonding/mentoring between two comedians who have yet to grow up. Apatow explores the duality between real persons with real personalities and their professional, immature comedic counterparts. Life, death, divorce, marriage, infidelity, and naïveté are all part of this film. So are outrageous language and strange neuroses -- Sandler needs someone talking to him to help him sleep – and Rogen can’t get out of his own way when it comes to an actual girl.
Rogen can’t quite believe his luck when Sandler asks him to write jokes for him – but they become friends and confidantes – even when Sandler pushes him away because – well, he just can’t acknowledge having a real friend. That tension leaves things unsettled between them in a way Rogen can’t understand at least until an epiphany near the end. At that point, the movie asks, “Which of these two underdeveloped men will finally grow up?”
Leslie Mann adds to the confusion as Sandler’s ex-love currently married to Eric Bana (who plays a wannabe Aussie footer.) In real life, Mann is actually married to Apatow and their two children play delightfully as products of the Bana-Mann marriage.
Anyway, the polarity of artificial comedy versus the demands of being a real person permits a look into Sandler’s character that is quite poignant. And it’s worth the time to get there, even if, as in real life, things never quite get resolved. Sandler's performance here is to be admired.
Finally, the one thing former comedian Apatow can do is to get real comedians to perform cameos playing themselves. Mostly it’s just one-liners, but they are a pleasant distraction from those places where the movie lags. Not to mention a surprise performance by James Taylor.
This movie has lots of sexual references and crude language. It’s funny, but it’s not mindless or gross just to shock; it's usually used in a way that demonstrates something about the character making the statement.