DVD Review: Funny People

If you look hard enough while watching a Judd Apatow film you will find yourself amazed that there is material that exists – lurking beneath all the penis and fart jokes – that is capable of moving you. I don’t think there has been a writer who has been more polarizing or misunderstood since David Mamet decided to start making movies. Like Mamet, Apatow’s points are often lost on casual audiences who can’t seem to wade their way through the pervasiveness of the vulgarity. Mamet has his “eff bombs” and racial/homophobic slurs, and Apatow has a joke bin that consists of penis/male grooming and fart jokes. Why am I saying all of this? Because I think with Apatow’s language, like Mamet, has a certain rhythm to it, and either that music jives with you or it doesn’t. Mamet’s actors are often looked at as wooden and boring – one note if you will – but the music that is Mamet’s script calls for a certain delivery that, to someone who is not a fan, seems stilted…I find it hypnotic and infectious. The same goes for Apatow, and even though his latest endeavor, Funny People, has a horribly long and awkward third act it doesn’t make the film any less enjoyable. I like the music that the dialogue makes in an Apatow film…it’s a refreshing break from the usual mainstream comedies that Hollywood spits out every year, so even when Apatow fails, it’s a fantastically interesting failure.

The film’s identity can only be described as schizophrenic. However, despite the odd ebb and flow of the film and all-wrong final act there is something interesting going on in Apatow’s film. The story is about George (Adam Sandler), a famous comic who struggles with trying to understand the latest bit of news he’s gotten from the doctor: he has a blood disease and he’s going to die. George doesn’t have the circle of friends one is supposed to rely on in this particular time, so one night while slumming it at a local Improv he decides to go on stage right before another comic, Ira (Seth Rogen). This kick starts not a typical new-friend-to-the-dying-man type formula one would expect, but more of an opportunity for Ira the comic, as he is employed by George to start writing jokes for him.

For the first hour of the film I was enthralled – completely fascinated by the plotless meanderings of Apatow and his actors as they provide a glimpse into a secret society of stand up comics. Apatow has a lot of authority on the subject as he was writing for comedians when he was only 19. Apatow puts a lot of obvious love and care and authenticity into these early scenes (he and the other actors, some who had never done stand up before, all went out to clubs and honed their craft…going all method for the film) where we see Ira and George bouncing ideas off of each other, and the way that comedians are always dying inside when people expect them to always be funny. It must get really annoying to always have people respond with “are you serious?” …I wonder how any comedian can get through something without their motives being questioned.


Throughout the first hour Apatow seems to be achieving something that we’ve never seen from him: a real film. That’s not to discount his other two films, The 40 Year-Old Virgin and Knocked Up (I loved both), but I think with Funny People we see the maturing Apatow (now 41) going for more nuanced laughs (there’s still plenty of penis jokes, don’t worry) amid his usual pandering to the weed smoking thritysomethings that he seems to be writing for. There are still some great Apatow moments where he really digs his claws into pop culture, but the dialogue in this first hour felt more natural than in his previous films – as funny as those lines are (“I always thought Matt Damon was kind of a Streisand, but he’s rocking the shit in this one”…”If any of us get laid tonight it’s because of Eric Bana in Munich”) – I actually felt like the characters here weren’t just existing to spout his clever, pop culture infused dialogue that often act as momentum breakers – “look at me” type jokes that are damn funny, but don’t flow with the film (kind of like Mamet’s language…very showy…impressive, but showy). 

One example of this is the addition of a new actor to the Apatow troupe, Jason Schwartzman. He plays Mark, one of Ira’s roommates (along with Leo played by Jonah Hill, who is thankfully dialing it down here, sticking with the maturation theme) and fellow comedian who got himself a sitcom called “Yo, Teach”, and in a hilarious bit we see Mark watching a clip of his own show (where he asks the students who the best rapper is…they reply Kanye West…he responds: “You know who else was a great rapper…”William Sh-Sh-Sh-Shakespeare”) with a girl who isn’t all that impressed with his performance (the actual clip of the show they did for the movie is one of the funniest things of the film, and a lot of it has to do with Schwartzman).

The male leads in this film aren’t as awkward as in Apatow’s previous films, and there’s no geek fantasy at play here like in Knocked Up; Ira is awkward, but doesn’t succeed at getting the girl right away, Mark is sure of himself and his good looks and exudes that male attitude and confidence that is rare for an Apatow film (at least in a genuine way…Jason Siegel’s confidence in Knocked Up was just meant for laughs).


There’s also some nice touches with the strategic cameos Apatow has in the film: Paul Reiser, Norm MacDonald, Sarah Silverman, Ray Romano, and Eminem just to name a few don’t take away from the moment or what Apatow is trying to say – these aren’t “look at me” type cameos – rather they add to the layers of subtext buried beneath the more obvious humor: these funny people gnash their teeth behind every off-stage joke they make. It’s in these moments that Apatow really seems to be seriously explicating the love/hate relationship with being famous.

One last observation about the first hour: I found it fascinating that Apatow doesn’t really glorify the life of the stand up comic. Sure, these characters aren’t really struggling, but I like how when George calls Ira and ask him and Leo to help him write jokes Ira informs him that Leo is flaky, when in reality Ira just wants all of the glory for himself and doesn’t want to share any of the mentorship relationship he thinks he’s getting from George (another fascinating angle from the movie). These comics all bounce ideas off of each other, but they also steal jokes without giving credit and are always looking for how they can advance their own careers, friends be damned. It’s a shame that this fascinating opening had to give way to a rather conventional buddy comedy formula.

That formula consists of George hoping to get one last chance with the “one who got away”. This is Laura (played by Apatow’s wife Leslie Mann in a ho-hum performance) who is now married to the always-travelling hunky Aussie Clark (Eric Bana in a throwaway role). They’re of course having problems and she suspects of him of cheating and this all leads to the inevitable: George and Laura sleep together and dream of happier times. But George’s doctor throws a tree branch in their spokes as George receives good news: his illness is waning…he can continue living a normal life. But what does normal life mean after you’ve been told to prepare for death? This is too large an existential quandary for Apatow, but I give him effort points for at least broaching the subject. The problem lies in his reluctance to go for the jugular. George really doesn’t change his ways, and that's what is fascinating, instead we get cookie-cutter epiphanies that feel false, and by the end of the film I know I was supposed to empathize with Laura and how she feels stuck in a loveless marriage, but I actually started to loathe her, and began feeling sorry for Clark. That’s what Apatow gets wrong; the feeling at the end of the movie – the back-and-forth, jerking around of the audience’s emotions that occurs – that’s what sinks this thing from being a truly great modern comedy.

The supporting performances are all wonderful, inducing some big laughs throughout the 140 minute runtime…which is par for the course with Apatow, a director who understands the value of supporting characters and how they are crucial they are to making comedy work (this is evident throughout his career, even the movies he produces), but doesn't understand the importance of pacing. The two leads, Seth Rogen and Adam Sandler, are great, too. Sandler channels his inner Barry from Punch Drunk Love clenching his teeth between each forced bit of conversation as he tries to make nice with family and pseudo-friends before he dies. He handles Apatow’s words well, and if I have to endure Adam Sandler then this is how I would prefer doing it. Rogen, however, was shocking in this movie. The slimmed down Canadian ditches his normal comedic rhythms, not punching up the lines with his usual Rogenisms, rather, going for a more nuanced delivery. He’s still awkward as hell (he’ll always be the master of that shtick, along with Paul Rudd and Michael Cera), but it’s not as attention-getting here, and I thought it was a nice touch for Apatow to tone down Rogen and force him to do some real comedic acting (timing and such) instead of just being that funny dude that we could see ourselves hanging out with.


I’m still quite interested in what Apatow and company do next. I think he could stand to use a break and give Hollywood some time to recover from the onslaught of projects with his name attached. Still, I think he, like Mamet, remains one of the most fascinating writers working today, and Funny People is a perfect example of a filmmaker who is willing to rise up and move out of the penis and fart jokes and deliver a comedy that explicates deeper themes about being a single male who confronts the dilemmas of getting older. One half extremely fascinating procedural on the inner workings of the stand up comedy world, and the other half failed experiment, Funny People was an experience – though a tad long – that I was glad to have. It’s a film that should still be seen despite its unevenness.

Here's an 'episode' of "Yo Teach":

Click here to view video

MapQuesting a Meme

Rick Olson of the superb Coosa Creek Cinema has tagged me for a meme. Here's the Q 'n D of it all:

1.) Think of a place (real or fictional) and time (past, present, future) portrayed in a movie (or a few) that you would love to visit.
2.) List the setting, period, applicable movie, and year of the applicable movie’s release (for reference).
3.) Explain why, however you’d like (bullet points, list, essay form, screenshots, etc.). If this is a time and place that you have intimate knowledge of, feel free to describe what was done well and what wasn’t done well in portraying it.
4.) If possible, list and provide links to any related movies, websites, books, and/or articles that relate to your choice (s).
5.) Modify Rules #1-4 to your liking. And come up with a better name for this meme.
6.) Link back to this Getafilm post in your post, please.
7.) Tag at least five others to participate!

That's from the GetaFilm site hosted by Daniel Getahun who is the originator of this meme. I had to think about this for a little bit. I don't mind the whole meme thing, it's just sometimes it's hard for me to follow the rules. So I'll do my best. I started thinking about what places I would like to visit and oddly enough almost all of my conclusions came to some form of a director's alternate universe. These films, with the exception of one title, exist in the years they were released. As is the case with any of these lists, this is in no way a definitive culmination of my brainstorming...but it's the best I could come up with for now, so let's get to it...


I'm going to do this by chronological order of when the film came out (Oh, and all of my DVD's are boxed up in storage right now, so all screen caps are coming from the net and some of them aren't as specific as I would be had I access to my own collection):


Duck Soup (1933, directed by Leo McCarey)

Ah yes, what a maddening euphoria it would have been to exist in Freedonia. Duck Soup is a film that takes place in an alternate universe, sure, but it seems eerily absurd like The United States of America. There are a lot of parallels to Freedonia's problems and the problems we face in America today, so how great would it be to have lived in Freedonia with a president who (gasps) tells the truth. Oh how we could have used someone like Rufus T. Firefly in our previous administration to just tell it like it is...if only there was a song...

"If any form of pleasure is exhibited, report to me and it will be prohibited! I'll put my foot down, so shall it be... this is the land of the free! The last man nearly ruined this place he didn't know what to do with it. If you think this country's bad off now, just wait till I get through with it! The country's taxes must be fixed, and I know what to do with it. If you think you're paying too much now, just wait till I get through with it!"

Anyway, that's just part of the fun of this film. It's one of the all time great comedies, and I think it would have been a hell of a ride going through what we went through for eight years (and are still feeling the effects of) with someone as blunt and rudely honest as Firefly. Hey, at least we would get the truth.



The Alternate Universe that is 1970's Italian Horror (1970's, directors: Lucio Fulci, Umberto Lenzi, and Dario Argento)

Whenever I talk about Italian Horror on this blog I almost always throw around the word ethereal. These films displace the viewer creating alternate realities that are unlike anything in the genre. Sometimes that's a good thing, but more often than not it's a bad thing. Take for instance the place I would love to visit from all of these 1970 Italian Horror films: "New York City". This "NYC" is actually Rome posing as the Big Apple (except for a few of the exteriors in Fulci's Zombi 2), and often times (like Kubrick's "New York" in Eyes Wide Shut) it does create an eerie feeling (usually if in the hands of Argento or a motivated Fulci, not hacks like Lenzi) that displaces the viewer. It's also the backdrop for what are some of the craziest goings-on I've seen in any horror film. The "city" is also often the catalyst for sending our protagonists in jungles of the Amazon where they are killed by cannibals. I think I'd like to go there to tell these characters that you don't have to stand there and watch them eat your friend...you can run and get the hell out of there!


More than anything the "New York" and other alternate realities of Italian Horror (especially "Louisiana" from Fulci's The Beyond) are home to sport coat wearing zombies; killer spiders (some real, some not so much) that hiss like snakes, and chew off people's faces; and among other things, an all Jazzercise channel that gets interrupted by tons of infected, blood-thirsty scientists. Come on! Who wouldn't want to be a part of that swingin' "city".



The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999, directed by Anthony Minghella)

The Rome of Minghella's masterpiece (I must really want to visit Italy) is the most realistic out of all of these places that compile this list. The Rome I want to visit exists in the 1950's, specifically the Rome as experience by rich, easy-going playboy Dickie Greenleaf, his fiance Marge, and a mysterious "friend", Tom Ripley. Before the horrifying events unfold that really set this brilliant film in motion, the viewer is treated to a bevy of luscious scenery and stunning on-location cinematography that made me want to, for the only time in my life, wish I were rich. To be rich and to be in Dickie's position -- to drive around Rome on a Vespa with a beautiful woman, drink expensive alcohol while laying on the beach, sitting in cafes all day, have no responsibilities -- and to have it all in beautiful 1950's Rome...well sign me up. I could live there forever. Especially when Tom and Dickie go out on the boat and are surrounded by nothing but beauty and an eerie silence, a man could definitely be inspired there. Well until...you know...that thing happens...



American Movie (1999, directed by Chris Smith)

You can kind of call this an alternate reality because really I don't think amateur horror filmmaker Mark Borchardt has any idea what reality means. But man is he passionate about getting his film made, and that passion is infectious. The specific place I would want to be is in Milwaukee with Mark, all the time, talking about horror film (it's no secret what a fan I am of the genre), and hoping that just maybe, someday, I could be as passionate about something as he is about getting his film Coven made. The specific scene I'm thinking of is when he's editing late into the night at the local university, splicing together scenes at the last second, mulling over every decision like Scorsese would with his films. It's a scene that shows the drive (even though often he appears to have no drive) this man has. It's kind of like the Coens' Fargo: these people are etched out of a specific geography, and I wouldn't mind being there, because really, there's a character on every corner.



Apatown, U.S.A. (2000's, directors: Judd Apatow, Greg Mottola, and Akiva Schaffer)

This is another one of the alternate realities that I would love to live in where guys like Steve Carrell, Jonah Hill, and Seth Rogen are hooking up with beautiful women. I'm like those guys...and I guess this alternate universe isn't so far fetched since I am getting married this summer to a beautiful woman...so hey, us nerds do get lucky sometimes (for the record I don't know how I fooled my fiance...). Films like Superbad and The 40 Year-Old Virgin and Knocked Up exist in that bizarre Apatow realm where geek is chic and it doesn't matter what you look like, what your social status is, or any of that crap: it's your individuality (and weirdness...or read: geekiness) that sets apart from everyone else and makes you attractive.


I threw Akiva Schaffer's name on there, too, because he's obviously indebted to Apatow's style, plus I've been obsessed with Hot Rod lately: it's a brisk 80 minute comedy starring Andy Samberg that also exists in the same retro, thrift store habilimented (thank you Thesauras iPhone app!) universe where the dork gets the extremely beautiful girl (Isla Fisher) because they don't change who they are. By the way, the movie actually is pretty funny and I can't convince myself to stop watching whenever I come across it on Direct TV.


Well, there ya have it. I proabbly flubbed the rules a bit, but these are the places in film I would most like to visit. So...it's taggin' time:

Troy, Sam, Ed, Andrew, and Ali.

10 Best Films of 2007: #10 - Knocked Up

Judd Apatow can now do whatever he wants in Hollywood after Knocked Up, a hilariously raunchy and surprisingly sweet comedy about a slob (not unlike Bill Murray from Stripes) who thanks to the aide of alcohol (and maybe some loneliness) hooks up with uberbabe Katherine Heigel (the last thing I remember her from was My Father the Hero) who finds out she is pregnant after that one night stand. Oh, but Ben (Seth Rogen) wasn’t wearing a condom, and thanks to the always confusing “just do it already” blurted by Heigel, he scraps the condom and goes to work. The amazing thing about the movie is that amidst all of the big laughs there are some genuine tender moments (like the earthquake scene).

But it’s Apatow’s trademark postmodern, pop culture laden wit that keeps things fresh throughout the two-plus hour run time. It’s what saves the film from being another She’s Having a Baby or Nine Months and the film is highlighted by the supporting cast (most members of Apatow’s troupe from his television shows Undeclared and Freaks and Geeks) who are allowed to go for the big laughs too. The beard contest, Eric Bana references, Back to the Future references, Paul Rudd, and one of the more hilarious things I have seen in a comedy where Apatow takes a very necessary shot to Fantasy Sport geeks. It’s a film, like Anchorman, that will set the standard for the next wave of comedies. Especially watch the “morning after” scene in which Ben describes his web site and the purpose it serves, the timing and the awkwardness is both hilarious and painful.