Funny People (Adam Sandler, Seth Rogen, Leslie Mann, Eric Bana, Jonah Hill, Jason Schwartzmann) – I have expressed my general disdain of the so-called “reefer comedies” many times. So I had low expectations for this Judd Apatow film featuring his usual troupe, including Seth Rogen, Jonah Hill, Jason Schwartmann and real-life wife, Leslie Mann. The only hope I had was the presence of Adam Sandler, whose best films have been more layered comedic romps like Punch-Drunk Love, Click and Spanglish. Well, I was very pleasantly surprised with Funny People.
Apatow is an excellent director, having helmed good modern movies like The 40-Year-Old Virgin and Knocked Up. He is a prolific writer from his days on The Ben Stiller Show, The Larry Sanders Show and Freaks and Geeks and extending to Pineapple Express, Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story, Fun with Dick and Jane and, for Sandler, You Don’t Mess with the Zohan. Some of these were quite good; some, like Zohan and Pineapple Express, misfired. As a producer, he has been even less discriminating, in my view.
But Funny People shows some depth that I found both interesting and entertaining as well as – dare I say – funny. Sandler plays George Simmons, a very successful comedian who has long since forgotten how he got there. His ego is large; his career is declining; and he is miserable. And then things get worse. He is diagnosed with a terminal illness. So he decides to spend his last days making things right and returning to stand-up comedy where he got his start. He hires a “never-has-been,” Ira Wright (Seth Rogen), to be his assistant and pen a few jokes for him after seeing him try stand-up comedy. Ira is eager, both to get a job and to work with a comedy genius. But he ends up much more than that. He becomes friend, confessor, and confidante. And all this takes place amidst hysterical comedy routines and throw-away lines. The film is funnier than my description implies but this is also a serious story. Leslie Mann, who plays in many Apatow films as well as in movies like Cable Guy (where she was Matthew Broderick’s love interest), plays Laura, the girl who got away from Simmons. He still loves her. When she finds out he has cancer, they reunite. But by now, she is married to a globetrotting Australian named Clarke (Eric Bana) and has kids (played by her and Apatow’s real children, Maude and Iris). Will she leave her womanizing husband for Simmons? That is the sub-plot of the movie. The main plot revolves around Simmons’ soul-searching, his stand-up performances, and his relationship with Wright.
As the trailer tells us, he suddenly finds out that his disease is in remission and his life changes again. His relationships change the most, both with Ira and with Laura. For a comedy, the plot outcomes here are not predictable. That is part of the appeal of the movie. Sandler continues to show that he is a versatile actor with a dark side as well as a zany one. In this way, Funny People takes its rightful place with Punch-Drunk Love, Spanglish and especially Click. This is a fine, but long, film aimed at mature adults but with enough of the Apatow-induced “f-bombs” to attract a younger audience as well.