Like many of you, I saw Funny People this weekend, and I had some mixed feelings about the uneven film: parts were high-larious, other parts a lot less so. Even though Judd Apatow is famous for blending low-brow humor with substantive emotional themes, the tonal inconsistencies in the film definitely threw me, as did three notable changes from the rest of the Apatow oeuvre. These aren’t complaints so much as observations, and there are some mild spoilers ahead:
1. A lack of weed smoking and stoner humor
Herbal refreshments have played a big part in other Apatow comedies: Weed is basically a character Knocked Up, and the dudes in 40-Year-Old Virgin smoke a ton. Unless I missed it, there’s only one scene of a character partaking (Jason Schwartzman’s Mark takes one hit) and one tossed-off pot-smoking joke at the very end.
2. A love-interest girl who’s one of the guys
Historically, Apatow’s female characters haven’t been cut from the same cloth as his male ones: In Virgin, Catherine Keener’s Trish is a mature, upstanding parent, more of a good sport than an actual jokester. Knocked Up has taken some heat for its portrayal of women, though it played more to me as a story of contrasts — sometimes women can be controlling, uptight, and unpredictable; sometimes men can be lazy, self-absorbed, and unreliable. But Funny People‘s ostensible romantic pairing — Adam Sandler’s George and Leslie Mann’s Laura — didn’t really do it for me. The romantic heart of this movie was Seth Rogen’s Ira and his adorable deadpan neighbor, Aubrey Plaza’s Daisy (pictured). She’s as detached and ironic as Ira’s roommates, as sexually liberated as they are (or claim to be), and she’s a comedian, just like them.
3. Not quite enough from the supporting cast
The vivid secondary characters in 40-Year-Old Virgin are what make the movie so enjoyable, but even at a sprawling 146 minutes, Funny People couldn’t quite make room for all its players. All that online promotion with Aziz Ansari’s Raaaaaaaandy (link contains NSFW language), and he’s in the movie for like, five seconds? I wanted to see more of how terrible Yo, Teach was, or better bits of Jonah Hill’s Leo’s stand-up, or sillier back-and-forth between RZA’s Chuck and Ira. The one exception: I definitely got my fill of Eric Bana.
There are lots of other ways Funny People does and does not conform to the Apatow model. What’d you think, PopWatchers? Is this a departure — or an aberration? A new direction or a gruesome misstep?
More on Funny People
Judd Apatow’s Funny People: Harnessing the power of the Internets
Extend Play: Funny People sountrack
Movie review: Funny People
Box office report: Funny People laughs to No. 1 with $23.4 mil
Photo credit: Tracy Bennett
I agree the movie was way way toooooo long. I had high hopes but it needed more editing. Alot more.
Is poor Margaret Lyons the only one posting on PopWatch today???
Count your blessings. We could be getting more “Taylor Lautner Bicep Watch” posts from Mandi Bierly.
Movie was great. Why do movies have to be 90 minutes? Are our attention spans that bad?
I for one, enjoy being able to breath in a movie. I like extraneous scenes that give me more of a feel for the characters’ lives and personalities. Then again, I liked Broken Flowers, so maybe I’m the weird one.
It didn’t need to be 90 minutes for me too love it. I liked it fine but I’d rather if it was going to be so long that the time was spent with the roomies instead.
i agree. i’ve always been on board with the idea that apatow movies tend to be a *bit* too long, but in the case of this one i thought that it worked just fine. i thought he did a fine job of giving each part of the story, from the devestating news at the beginning to the good/bad/good direction things went, just the irght amount of time to develop and conclude in a believable, (mostly) non-contrived way.
One way this movie is NOT a departure from Apatow’s ouvre: it’s about 25 minutes too long.
Joshua, I hear what you’re saying about our reduced attention spans and letting a movie breathe. However, this has been an issue for Apatow in all the movies he’s directed (and it’s actually gotten worse each time out). For me, it’s not that too much stuff happens in his movies. It’s more that things are drawn out longer than they need to as Apatow seems to hate cutting his friends’/actors’ improv.
Like I said, I’m all for letting a movie breathe, but there’s also something to be said for something that’s expertly streamlined.
the movie was great!!! Funny People was hysterical and fantastic on a drama level. It was better than anything JUDD APATOW has ever done, I love everything he’s ever done.
thank you, margaret, for giving aubrey plaza/daisy her props. i was disappointed in the review in your magazine because it seemed overly dismissive of both important female characters to the point where i suspect that schwartzbaum went into the movie with preconceived expectations of what the women would be and refused to actually acknowledge what was playing out on the screen. obviously daisy could have used more development/screentime, but in her short time on screen she was leaps and bounds above earlier apatow females/love interests. i loved her and was happy that they made ira genuinely like her as both a person and potential mate.
This movie was a disappointment. While there were a few times when I laughed out-loud – the constant reference to male anatomy really became boring. I also found Adam Sandler very one-dimensional – and completely lacking in his portrayal as a man facing death. He was a self-indulgent ego maniac consistently from beginning to end. Seth Rogan was great, albeit predictable – and I would have enjoyed seeing more of the roomates. All and all – I would not recommend.
I was soooo disappointed, and I love Apatow movies. It was too long, with maybe 5 too many d*ck and ball jokes.
I thought it was the worst movie I have ever seen. Lots (and I mean LOTS!) of penis jokes. The first ten were funny, but the next ten started getting stupid and painfully immature. Not funny at all. Way too long. Very stupid. Two thumbs down.
I disagree with the above person that said it was 25 minutes too long. It was TWO HOURS too long. I found the movie to be tortuous and not amusing at all with extremely juvenile humor in poor taste. Without question, I thought it to be the absolute worst Adam Sandler movie in his entire portfolio. Seemed to be a very low budget movie and script like you would expect from a film festival. Not from a major movie house staring Adam Sandler. The script was very shallow and stupid. My wife and I were very disappointed after arranging a babysitter to be able to go to this; and, had we not been so jaded during the seemingly endless movie, we would have requested a refund from the Manager. Yes, it was THAT bad! I strongly suggest that you keep the money; or, put it towards another flick with a real plot. This one was a total waste of time and money.
Not funny, not a good script, not good acting, not entertaining. Stupid is the word that I feel describes it best. And that is being kind.
Very bad movie. In my opinion, stay home.
I am 44. Worst movie I have seen in my life. By far!
I went into the movie thinking it would be at least good, maybe not great, but at least good. I had seen months of previews (did anyone notice that many of the funny previews didnt even make it into the final cut) and thought I had an idea of what to expect. Well, what I was expecting (and admitdly from the previews) and what I got were two different things. I did not hate this film, I just didnt think it was very good. The directing and acting were fine but the writing was off. I think the director reached out and tried something new and it simply didnt work as he would have hoped. No harm, no foul, just go and make something better the next time around (maybe a sequel with just the roommates).
What the hell comedy needs to be 145+ min…A BAD ONE!!!!
I loved 40 Year Old Virgin and liked Knocked Up. I thought this movie was more evolved and I thought it did the whole “dramedy” thing better than I’ve seen it done elsewhere. I would not have gone to see it if I had known it was 146 minutes or that it was a dramedy BUT I AM SOOO GLAD I DID. I thought it was GREAT!