Judd Apatow, 2009
George Simmons (Adam Sandler), a famous comic, learns that he's dying of cancer. He has no friends at all, so he takes a struggling young stand-up (Seth Rogan) under his wing and reconnects with the love of his life (Leslie Mann). Then he finds out he's cured, and doesn't know where to go from there.This is certainly Judd Apatow's best effort yet. His two previous movies, The 40-Year-Old Virgin and Knocked Up, are generally lauded for mixing lowbrow comedy with heartfelt emotion. To a certain extent that's true, and it's true of Funny People as well - but there's a critical difference that makes Funny People work so much better. In the first two films, the world presented to the audience is the world of a comedy - it looks kind of bright and plasticky, and more to the point, its filled with funny, quirky characters and everyone makes jokes that are funny because they're jokes. The character development, drama, and emotion are the external element that doesn't quite fit. In Funny People, it's just the opposite. The world of the movie is very grounded, the characters generally feel at home in it, and it's the jokes that feel out of place. This had the dual beneficial effect of putting the whole movie on a more solid footing and also making the jokes much funnier than they would otherwise have been. It also makes the bloated 2 and a half hour running time feel like less of an issue than it was in the other movies.
On the negative side of things, it really feels like two different movies (pre- and post-cure), with largely different supporting casts. There are a few too many musical montages (hey! I have an idea how to tighten up that running time!), and it really does drag, especially toward the end of the first half.
7/10
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