Serious Movie Lover

Here's to good friends, and the hope that Apatow's kids get camera-shy real quick.

FUNNY PEOPLE (2009/IN THEATERS) On his third directorial effort (following the hilariously vulgar sweetness of The 40-Year-Old Virgin and the very quotable New Comedy Classic Knocked Up), Judd Apatow attempts a full-on dramedy about a dying (and then not dying) Adam Sandler–like famous comedian (played by, uh, Adam Sandler) trying to connect with a younger comedian (Seth Rogan) with mixed, and often disappointing, results. While it portrays the backstabbing world of every-comic-for-himself with a detailed realism—almost to the point of discomfort (the good kind)—for the most part Apatow forgets to actually make the funny characters funny. But, no! This is not a comedy, you say. It is a Drama! Well, it kinda fails there, too. Since Funny People’s trailer already ruined the whole will-he-die-from-the-fatal-disease? question, the dramatic tension instead lies in Sandler’s mortality-freaked attempts at nurturing two new relationships: making a connection (and eventually, an actual friendship) with starstruck joke writer Rogen, and attempting to rekindle a long-dormant romance with the beautiful—and now married mother of two—Girl He Left Behind (played winningly by Apatow’s own stunning spouse and mother of two, Leslie Mann). Unfortunately Apatow’s casting of their two adorable daughters as Mann’s on-screen kids again, a stunt that worked wonders in Knocked Up, feels stagey and forced this time around. And the use of a real-life home video of the older daughter performing “Memories” from a school production of Cats IN ITS ENTIRETY as a way of testing Sandler’s character—after distractedly texting through the viewing he tells Mann, “I’ve seen the real one and it was better”—is more than just a little obnoxious. And why would an audience buy that Mann’s character would be torn over choosing between super rich and famous Sandler (who yes, happened to not be moved to tears by her kid’s caterwauling) and her distant, unfaithful, and creepily aggressive Aussie husband (played by Eric Bana’s awful haircut)? It’s when the third act is busy revealing just which of these unpleasant people’s relationships will survive—with ye olde racing-to-the-airport-to-save-a-relationship bit trotted out once again—that you realize that you really don’t care.

Oh, man! Remember that time that nothing really interesting happened and we were awful and unpleasant and kinda boring? That was awesome.

A tiresome ongoing bit with Sandler’s character talking mostly unscripted death and dick jokes with a stiff, never-ending parade of real comics yields some awkward moments, the worst being comedian Dave Attell’s grossly inept delivery. As Himself. For my money, the funniest moments onscreen are the few minutes featuring fellow no-name comedian Randy, portrayed hilariously over-the-top by Human Giant’s and Parks and Recreation’s Aziz Ansari—a performer who delivers the most ordinary jokes in the most extraordinary ways and is exactly what this film could have used a few more of. You know: funny people.

Grade: C (This grade prolly would’ve been a C+ if anybody but Apatow had been at the helm. I grade hard because I love.)