Review: Funny People

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Funny People, written and directed by Judd Apatow, is similar to many relationships I find myself in.  The beginning is so promising.  I think to myself, “Oh, this girl is smart, funny, good-looking . . . this could work” and then boom, honeymoon’s over desperado and suddenly after a month or so, the dame isn’t so smart.  She isn’t so funny or good-looking anymore either and now, you find yourself eyeing the Dave & Busters waitress, again counting down the hours of time wasted with her that you’ll never be able to get back.

It’s true at about the 60 minute mark I whispered over to my neighbor on how incredibly promising the movie was.  Truthfully, I didn’t use the word promising, I used the word ‘good’ but promising, it seems, is the best way to describe Funny People.

On the surface it’s about how a tragedy opens one comedian’s eyes to the things he’s missed or been missing in his life: namely, family, meaningful relationships, friendships etc.  But when you pull the curtain all the way back however, you’ll find it to be a failed attempt to commentate on the self-loathing, ultra-competitive, and semi-exclusive world of comedy.

From what I’ve seen and read on the great, all the way down to the average comedians, they’re a corky lot.  The main thing I’ve gathered is that most comedians feel disrespected.  They feel disrespected because they don’t garner as much praise and serious recognition as their dramatic counterparts.  They feel disrespected because most believe it’s harder to make you cry than to make you laugh. They feel disrespected because most people don’t understand the tough road they’ve traveled to achieve the success they’ve achieved.  Between doing free gigs at the Comedy Store to raise their comedic acuity and get their name out and working at the In-and-Out burger for decades before they even get a taste of success, the task of comedy can be daunting.

Most comedians are funny because of a lack a respect shown to them early on due to some physical or economic plight which literally forced them to be “funny or die,” as coined by Will Ferrell’s video website. See Below.

Funny People gives us a glimpse into the world of stand-up comedians, comedians as writers, and comedians as movie stars but it fails to fully bring together the profession as a linear ascension culminating in the audience’s epiphany of comedy as a skill or trade instead of comedy as a pastime.

Adam Sandler, Seth Rogen, Jonah Hill, RZA, and Jason Schwartzman were funny.  Appearances by numerous other A-list comics and stars like Eminem and Ray Ramono didn’t seemed forced.  But the hour run-on scene featuring Leslie Mann, who is Judd Apatow’s real life wife, as ‘the one who got away’ from Sandler’s character was where the movie flat-out stalled.

Trust me, if anyone wanted to love this movie and add it to the list of best of 2009, it was me. In fact, an hour in, I actually did.  But at 11:30 when I got out of the theatre after arriving to my seat at 8:50 pm, I was wondering why it couldn’t have just been a funny movie about Funny People rather than a semi-funny movie about real life Funny People with Leslie Mann’s reintroduction to Hollywood as a serious actress and no real point?

I recommend you see it even though I just bashed it. The worst jokes in this were better than anything in the Hangover.

Did you see it?  What did you think?

udothedishes . . .