Judd Apatow has a lot to answer for. In recent years he’s been behind virtually every big comedy hit to come out of Hollywood, and has created bona fide stars in Seth Rogan, Paul Rudd, Katherine Heigl and his wife Lesley Mann. It’s his ability to produce masculine, gross-out comedies with sensitivity at their heart that brings in the audiences, and his third feature as director, Funny People, mixes these two elements more than ever before. But is this a good thing, or does it just make for a confused, bland film that aspires to much more than it actually achieves?
Many people will already be aware of the plot thanks to the trailer, but a quick recap is always useful. Aging comic superstar George Simmons (Adam Sandler) is a lonely playboy, cloistered in his California mansion, addicted to yet bored of the excess of his lifestyle. He is also dying from a rare form of leukaemia, and in order to ease the solitude of his final days he hires unknown stand up Ira Wright (Seth Rogen) to write jokes for him and support him on a final stand-up tour. Wright becomes Simmons’ confidant, assistant and verbal punching bag as he wistfully works his way towards death. Wright also inspires him to reconcile himself with his estranged family and the girl that got away over a decade ago, Laura (Leslie Man). Of course an experimental medicine is able to cure Simmons and with his new lease of life he goes about trying to regain the affections of Laura, now married to a hyper-masculine Australian businessman (Eric Bana) with two kids. Wright is dragged along for the ride, and in the process falls out with his own friends as he becomes entrapped by Simmons’ quest for perpetual companionship.
There is the feeling that this, like Apatow’s other films, represents a semi-autobiographical outpouring which once again privileges ‘bromance’ over heterosexual relationships. Women are always the unattainable, heart-breaking objects that any normal man is unable to hold onto because of his own inadequacies. It also tackles the hardships of the stand up comedy scene, with both the big players and the nameless microphone monkeys having a tough time keeping it together. The result is a bunch of cameos from comedy stars and celebrities who pop up unexpectedly and get their 30 seconds to tell jokes both onstage and off. The competitiveness and tension which exists between comics is nicely handled, with each conversation crippled by a constant one-upmanship which feels authentically uncomfortable to watch.
One of the problems with Apatow’s other directorial efforts was their length. Both The 40 Year Old Virgin and Knocked Up were well received and are enjoyable on repeat viewings, but the unrated releases run at over 2 hours each. Funny People falls foul of this same issue, and with a run time of two and a half hours it certainly offers value for money. Which isn’t really what most people look for in a comedy movie. Anyone who has seen the film could probably think of at least two or three scenes that could have been cut completely and not have impacted the plot in any significant way. Apatow needs to improve his self-censorship in order to avoid the rambling mess that Funny People sometimes descends into. But with his ever-increasing power and profitability there’s little chance that his whims will ever be curbed.
Being a comedy, you would hope that Funny People was… well, funny. There are plenty of moments that will make you laugh out loud, and performances by Eric Bana and Aziz Ansari in particular stand out. However, there’s only so long the Apatow/Sandler brand of humour can last before it becomes tired, and after the 50th penis joke comes out of Simmons’ mouth you get the feeling that the comedy, like the comedian himself, is past its prime. This is exacerbated by the film’s length, and it’s really only the destructive, tragic elements of Sandler’s character that holds together the latter portion.
Funny People is too jaded, too flabby and too introspective to really hold your attention or keep you laughing throughout, and it will make you miss the vigour and youthfulness that Knocked Up or the excellent Superbad brought to our screens.
