Funny People(USA) Directed by Judd Apatow. Written by Judd Apatow Starring Adam Sandler; Leslie Mann; Seth Rogen; Jonah Hill; Eric Bana; Aubrey Plaza; Jason Schwartzman; RZA; Iris Apatow; Mabel Apatow; Torsten Voges

Say what one will about Judd Apatow, the man has been responsible for a shift in the landscape of American comedy. His influence is felt in the films he has produced, written, and directed, and also in the talent he has helped cultivate from his days in charge of several critically successful, albeit short-lived television series. Since the unfortunate demise of the second of those series in 2003, the list of feature film comedies he has been associated with over the past six years include some of the most critically and financially successful of the type: Knocked Up; Forgetting Sarah Marshall; Superbad; Pineapple Express; The 40 Year Old Virgin; and Step Brothers. There have been misses thrown into the mix to be sure, but Apatow has become a kind of reservoir from whence seemingly all film comedy now flows.

Funny People, his third directorial effort, ups the drama quotient from Knocked Up and The 40 Year Old Virgin, and also marks something of a return to the general tone he achieved with Undeclared and Freaks and Geeks on TV. Apatow has employed the talents of some of the young people who starred in those shows - James Franco; Jason Segel; Martin Starr; Seth Rogen; Carla Gallo, et al to great effect, as he has actors like Paul Rudd; Jonah Hill; Ken Leung; Craig Robinson, and family members including wife Leslie Mann, and daughters Maude and Iris. And as the patriarch of some sort of comedy family tree, some of his (figurative) offspring have (often under Daddy Apatow’s auspices, of course), in turn, begun producing their own material.

Despite the frat-like raunchiness marking a lot of the comedy (which has a kind of stoner/nerd/adolescent based humor of man-boys who haven’t been around women very much) Apatow clearly values loyalty, at least in terms of staying connected to the same group of actors who helped propel his career into the stratosphere. No surprise then that here he hooks up with old real life roommate Adam Sandler, having him play a part written specifically for (and some might say, about) him.

Give Sandler credit for taking on a character that might easily be confused with his real life self. George Simmons is a spoiled comedian and movie star who makes films that are popular with the public, but not necessarily the critics. George is rich, and (perhaps because of the money, or perhaps because this is the way he really is anyway) he’s a bit of a prick. He doesn’t have any real friends left;, and has all but cut ties with his family. Unmarried and childless (Sandler is neither), and living what is essentially a hedonistic, self-indulgent lifestyle, he’s stunned to discover that he’s dying from a rare blood disease.

The news drives him back to the comedy clubs where he made his bones, and it is in this world where the film is at it’s best. George meets aspiring comedian Ira Wright (Seth Rogen), who works in a supermarket deli to support himself while trying to make his way in the world of stand-up. Ira lives in a modest apartment with his friends Leo (Jonah Hill), another comedian, and newly famous TV actor Mark Taylor Jackson (Jason Schwartzman). Ira sleeps on the couch because he can barely afford to pay his bills, has little success with women, and isn’t sure he has what it takes to make it. When George offers him a job writing jokes and being his assistant, however, he leaps at the chance the association offers, reveling in the change of lifestyle and the career boost it seems to promise.

Though sentimentality naturally seeps into this rather maudlin and cliched set up, Apatow is smart to undercut the schmaltz by having Ira be manipulative in his attempt in cashing in on the opportunity with George. Rather than help his friend Leo, who is only doing marginally better than him, Ira instead desires only to improve his own chances at success. Apatow has stated that his original hope was to be a performer, a dream circumvented by his lack of stage prowess. Though clearly nostalgic for those days of yore, Apatow still acknowledges the cut throat aspect of a business that has a bunch of hungry scavengers on the bottom vying for their place on the next step in the pyramid.

Though he is our protagonist, who is dying, and is naturally portrayed as relatively sympathetic, George is also shown to have some serious flaws. Amiable as he may be as he poses for photos with the fans who have made him millions, there is a roiling anger underneath the jokey exterior that speaks to deeper issues, some of which are mentioned when the subject of George’s father comes up. George explains at one point that his Dad was something of a prick himself, and that George spent his childhood trying to win the old man’s attention by making him laugh. It’s not a far stretch to think that similar stories abound among comedians, as not everyone has the stamina or pressing need to subject themselves to the judgement of anonymous assembled strangers while trying to amuse them.

While the basic premise of the script has been seen many times before, Apatow’s dialogue is, as always, strong. Characters try to make one another laugh, and play a game of one-up-man-ship that most guys (and particularly nerdy Jewish guys into comedy) certainly do. There is a healthy portion of pop culture references contained in the put downs, upping the hip factor ante, and also occasionally demonstrating the disparity between the forty year old George and the twenty-somethings he comes in contact with. Though he is rich and famous, tired of himself and his own ennui, sick, dying, and has been enjoying the spoils of his fame and fortune for years, George still probably has more in common emotionally with these people than he does others his own age who have gone on to traditional careers, marriages, family, etc., mostly because he never grew up.

Bemoaning the errors of his past, George contacts ex-girlfriend Laura (Mann), at first to apologize for cheating on her way back when and ruining their relationship, and then later to inform her of his disease. Laura naturally feels sorry for him, and though married to Aussie husband Clarke (Eric Bana) with two kids and a nice home, she obviously has some unresolved feelings for George. The film eventually has George and Ira traveling to Laura’s house, and it is here that things bog down some. Though there are amusing moments that arise out of the odd dynamic of George visiting the family of his ex, it seems as if the film as a whole may have benefited from this section receiving a good deal of editing down in order to keep us on track. The nearly 2 1/2 hour running time isn’t so much the problem as is the percentage of it ultimately devoted to this visit. The most interesting part of the film is George’s relationship with Ira and his own comedy roots, not his connection with Laura, which we all know is being romanticized because of the recent events in both of their lives.

Though Apatow’s impressive comedy resume goes back to The Larry Sanders Show and The Ben Stiller Show in the early to mid nineties, one should keep in mind that this is only the third film he has directed. And although the film contains the aforementioned highly overextended pit stop, a major structural misstep, Funny Peopleultimately redeems itself because Apatow refuses to succumb to the sentimentality threatening to choke the life out of plot. While we do get something of a coda in the end that has George doing a nice deed it is only after he has behaved awfully and refused to do the right or selfless thing in regards to the people he purports to care about. A testament to Apatow’s aversion to pat tie-ins is his complicating the relationship between Ira and a young, female comedian Daisy (Aubrey Plaza) with a series of events occurring between them that both speaks realistically to the nature of fame, and also seems somehow true to life. One’s fantasies about how things should go rarely turn out that way - rather, relationships are complicated, and messy, and take real effort and commitment.

There is enough solid humor to quantify this as a comedy, and the film includes several amusing scenes with RZA as Ira’s deli co-worker; a series of mostly successful semi-insider cameos from comedy stars like Ray Romano; Sarah Silverman; Dave Atell; Andy Dick; Norm MacDonald; and Paul Reiser; a weirdly funny scene with Eminem; composer/musician Jon Brion popping up as a band member George has to pay to jam with; and finally, the appearance of Ernest Thomas as a Principal on Jason Schwartzman’s characters television show, Yo Teach. And after all, any film with Raj from What’s Happenin? in it can’t be that bad, can it?

This entry was posted on Tuesday, August 18th, 2009 at 11:27 pm and is filed under In Theaters/Full Reviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.