2009 | U.S. | 146 minutes (153 minutes unrated)
Director: Judd Apatow
Writers: Judd Apatow
Cast: Adam Sandler, Seth Rogen, Leslie Mann, Eric Bana
Distributor: Universal Pictures
Cdn video distributor: Universal Studios
When you make a movie about stand-up comics, cast it full of comedians, advertise that it’s from the writer/director of 40-Year-Old Virgin and Knocked-Up, and then give it a title like Funny People, you’re asking for trouble if your aim is to make it a drama.
Critics love movies like this. It exudes daring via its avoidance of pandering. Audiences, if caught unaware, will feel cheated. But is it worth seeing?
That depends on what works as entertainment for you.
The best thing about it is its setting: the world of comics and the filthy rich. Writer/director Judd Apatow clearly knows a lot about both, effectively capturing the rapport of those who inhabit that scene. For example, you often see two comic characters trying to write jokes, and they never react to the process with laughter but with dry, low-key responses like “Yeah, that’s funny.” Clearly comedy in no longer fun for them. It’s work. It’s a means to pay the bills.
The other aspect it captures well — and I’ve befriended some stand-up comics in my time to know — is that these people can be both great friends with one another, as well as vicious back-stabbers. Yet they stick together because, just in case one of them hits it big, they want to hitch a ride on their rocket.
That’s precisely what our hero does, and it’s main motivator for just about everyone in this story. As for the rest — the successful ones — they relish their torment of the less fortunate (watch the Jason Schwartzman character to get a further taste of this). If that’s your idea of entertainment, you’re in for a blast.
Seth Rogen plays Ira, a struggling comedian with a minimum wage job who is best friends with Leo (Jonah Hill) — but not enough that he won’t screw him out of a golden opportunity to work for the fabulously wealthy comic star George Simmons (Adam Sandler). He grabs that gig for himself.
The story mostly follows Ira’s dealings George who is not especially likable (evidenced by his lack of friends) but one thing makes him want to change — the rare blood disorder he learns is killing him. George starts off playing mentor to Ira but, really, he just wants the company. He hates being alone, especially with death at his door. But when George miraculously cures himself of his disease, he sets off on a new mission — to reconnect with the girl he dumped years ago, Laura (Leslie Mann), now married with kids.
Everyone in this story starts off seeming nice enough, but their selfish tendencies inevitably surface. Even Laura sees the opportunity to rekindle her abandoned acting career when George re-enters her life. Husband and kids be damned. But it’s George who progressively becomes more distasteful as the story moves on. Why be nice when you’re rich, no longer dying, and can do anything you want?
This is what Funny People does well. There is little contrivance in how the characters behave, including Ira’s eventual selfless compulsion to save Laura’s marriage to Clarke (Eric Bana) who is seemingly the most awful character of the bunch. One nice twist is Bana’s performance during a lawn-fight scene. It’s fitting, tension-filled, funny and filled with heartfelt emotion and caring.
This is the kind of comedy/drama hybrid James L. Brooks (Terms of Endearment, Spanglish, As Good As It Gets) is famous for and probably explains why he’s given “thanks” in the end credits. I suspect Funny People could have been an excellent tale throughout if he was at the helm, and it’s too bad he wasn’t. It’s a delicate balancing act to build a story around people who treat each other so terribly in their pursuit of money and fame and, here, it inevitably has an alienating effect.
The funniest bits are when the characters meet various celebrities, playing themselves. They include Ray Romano, Eminem, Norm MacDonald, Sarah Silverman and James Taylor. Of course they’re not really themselves — more like self-parodies — and that’s what makes it fun.
The main characters, too, come off best when they poke fun at their own personas (e.g. the film-within-a-film clips of George’s comedy blockbusters, clearly modeled after Sandler’s related successes). Mostly, though, they treat each other badly until the final reel and, for a two-and-a-half hour movie, it’s a long time to tolerate such unsavory behaviour.
- Theatrical release date: July 31, 2009
- Video release date: November 24, 2009
- Production Budget: $75 million
- Worldwide Box Office: $61,458,982
FUN ALTERNATIVE: Punchline also aims more for drama than comedy, and its tale of the struggles of doing stand-up plays quite similarly — comics are miserable people who are not very funny in day-to-day life.
Tom Hanks‘ scenes — especially the hospital gig — solidly capture the art of stand-up, and Sally Field pulls off some genuine laughs when she finally gets a hang of things. Still, comedy is seen as work, and — judging from these movies — you only become successful if you keep working at it. Not because you’re funny.