Not Funny "HA", but Funny "Ohhhh"
First off, it’s not that funny. The funniest bit IMO being comedian Aziz Ansari as his character “Randy” who is a hacky comedian. But I really liked the film. It’s very beautiful in a way although the last half of the movie just loses focus. The film plays out like a meandering, contemplative of what happens to a person who works hard for success and then once there, has to take stock of what they gave up to get there. And it was engaging, tender, funny and sad to see that journey. So meandering is fine and good. But then there’s the kind of meandering where you begin to wonder, “Are we there yet?” That’s how the last half of the film feels. I thought I was in a time-loop.
“Funny People” centers on George (Adam Sandler) a successful actor/comedian who finds out that he has a life-threatening disease. George meets Ira (Seth Rogen), an aspiring comedian, who works in a deli and shares an apartment with his two friends, Leo (Jonah Hill) another aspiring comedian and Mark (Jason Schwartzman) who stars in a cheesy sitcom. When George hires Ira as his joke writer and assistant and lets him in on the secret of his disease, Ira prompts George to reconnect with those in his life; which leads George back to his ex-girlfriend Laura (Leslie Mann).
That’s just the quick and dirty rundown of the film. It doesn’t encompass the authentic film of the film as it relates to a comedian’s life. Not that this is a true roman a’clef of writer/director Judd Apatow’s life, but there’s so many similarities that it’s easy to see he culled from his life: like George he was a young comedian who made it big, George hires Ira and Leo to write for him; Apatow took Seth Rogen and his friend/writing partner Evan Goldberg in under his wings and to writing positions on “Freaks and Geeks” and “Undeclared” (Seth and Evan also serve as executive producers on this film). Apatow had to have serious back surgery years ago right before “Freaks and Geeks” was cancelled, not as dire as a life threatening disease, but there are familiar situations that run through the film. What resonated more to me was the aspect of celebrity and a comedian’s life. They show George, already a sad sack, after his diagnosis and he’s being stopped by fans for pictures and he gamely does it. George on stage singing a mocking song about how people put his films on to cheer them up, the unspoken being, “Who cheers me up?” ; and also the community of comedians who pop up in the film as theirselves who are the stand-up peers of Apatow and Sandler: Paul Reiser, Carol Leifer, Ray Romano, Sarah Silverman, Norm McDonald, George Wallace, Andy Dick, Charles Fleischer, Dave Atell. It was like watching “A Night at the Improv” reunion. Also touching were the clips of Adam Sandler from his MTV days that were used to profile’s George’s starting out. There’s a scene where George gives a toast to Ira’s twenty-something friends and talks about feeling old and I thought, “F*ck, I’m old.” I remembered when Sandler was on “Remote Control” and doing stand-up on MTV. If he’s starring in a movie about a early-middle aged guy taking stock of his life, what does that make me??
These tangential relationships and how it could be seen as a harbinger of things to come in Ira’s was the best part of the film, something that unfortunately, gets tossed aside to focus on George and Laura and her troubled marriage to Clarke (Eric Bana), an overbearing man who is frequently away for business. The George and Laura relationship is important because the audience sees how heart-hardened and jaded George is and Laura is the insight of how he used to be and could be, but I swear the last half of this film felt like a showcase for the Apatow-Mann family as it featured Judd’s wife Leslie and their two daughters and it slowed the film down considerably.
I think it’s worth watching. Maybe not if you want a knee-slapper, but it’s a great side of Apatow to take in. It’s a loving look at comedians (Ira’s apartment is peppered with photos of comedy greats Redd Foxx, W.C Fields, Rodney Dangerfield, Lenny Bruce, Chris Rock and John Belushi) and another great dramatic performance by Adam Sandler. And if you can deal with hipster trash (because I CAN’T STAND HIPSTERS), you’ll be okay. I, personally, wanted to rip the Beirut and The Raconteurs t-shirts off of Hill and Rogen. I get it, you like indi-music, you’re so damn kewl. And if you can bear the insipid overuse of dick jokes.
Some viral marketing for Jason’s character’s show in the film, “Yo, Teach!”
Click to viewI’ve decided that while I still love Jason Schwartzman (who also served as music supervisor on the film as I could tell by his use of McCartney and Lennon material), but I don’t think I want to smash. I’d go out to coffee with him, listen to him play music, rub his hairy, hairy arms and legs. Then I’d go and do his brother Robert.
~I’m going to make this a SV post even though it’s not.
Justin being daddy
And young!Kyle Gallner in “Wet Hot American Summer”
A Youtube user is uploading vintage Tom vids. Here’s a random rant from 2004. His hair!! So bad.