Seth Rogen half the man he used to be – ‘Funny People’ Review

Posted on August 3, 2009 - 7:35pm by michael In perusing some other reviews of Funny People online I can tell already that it is going to be a slightly misunderstood film, which is tragic because the movie is absolutely brilliant. Many critics are criticizing director Judd Apatow for following up the likes of The 40-Year-Old Virgin and Knocked Up with a movie where he tries to act all mature before he’s really established himself as a serious director. Others say that just when he is about to approach something real about life and mortality, he loses his nerve and reverts back to profanity and low-brow humor. Normally I don’t pay much attention to other critics when I’m writing my reviews, but this movie is so outstanding that I feel compelled to defend it against people who missed out on one of its central and most important themes. It is a little known fact that some of our most successful and talented comedians – Jim Carrey and Mike Meyers, as just two examples – have suffered immense personal tragedies in their lives, and have therefore turned to comedy from a very young age almost like an automatic defense mechanism to help them deal with their emotional traumas. For people like that, pursuing a life in comedy is as much of a psychological reaction to traumatic experiences as anything else, and Funny People is formed around this theme like a raindrop around a speck of dust. And the fact that most of the major characters are essentially playing themselves adds another level of realism to the proceedings that is almost nonexistent in the “low-brow” comedy field. But make no mistake, Funny People is definitely not a low-brow comedy. And it is not Judd Apatow “getting all serious” after a stream of less intelligent comedies. It’s an amazingly well written and performed story of a professional comedian who receives some mortal news that he is totally unprepared to deal with. There are times when the movie approaches deeply serious themes and then backtracks into crassness and profanity, but this isn’t Apatow losing his nerve, it’s the very real people portrayed in the movie dealing with life in the best way that they know how. The movie exists firmly within the hermetically sealed environment of stand-up comedians, hence the title, but it is an amazingly heartfelt and realistic presentation of how they live through difficult times. And best of all, even amidst all the talk of disease and death, it’s still funny. So here’s your plot in exactly 100 words – George Simmons (Adam Sandler) is a hugely successful comedian and actor who discovers that he has months to live. His success has left him so isolated that he has no one to turn to, and he deals with this news by lashing out at his audience. One such performance is followed by a young comedian named Ira Wright (Seth Rogen) who’s trying to make a name for himself. He makes fun of Simmons’ dark performance, earning himself a job writing jokes for him. Their resulting business friendship provides huge opportunities for comedic drama, and Apatow goes to town with it. I am still reeling from the depressing experience of watching Bruno, and the immense feeling of disappointment that such trashy sex humor was supposed to be the best that we could expect at the movies these days, but Funny People has absolutely blown my expectations out of the water. It’s amazing to consider that there may very well be more sex humor in Funny People than there was in Bruno, even if only because of sheer running time, but this is sex humor done right. This is sex humor that is actually about something, that has intelligence and depth. I know that sounds weird, but I am predicting that Funny People will be represented in several categories at the Academy Awards for 2009. Some of the possibilities are Best Actor for Adam Sandler, Best Supporting Actor for Seth Rogen, Best Actress for Leslie Mann, Best Director for Judd Apatow, and something in the way of Best Music and Best Screenplay. Best Picture might be a bit lofty, but at this point I wouldn’t mind seeing it at least get nominated. I hesitate to call these actual predictions because the Oscars can be so unpredictable sometimes, but mostly I’m just trying to impress upon you that you need to go see the movie. It’s a rare opportunity to see some of our most talented comedians (the horizonless stream of celebrity cameos provides one of the movie’s many charms) acting like real people while still acting like comedians. You’ll understand when you see it. Just make sure to go see it… The Bean Meter [caption id="attachment_48735" align="aligncenter" width="384" caption="5 Beans out of 5."][/caption]