Review: FUNNY PEOPLE

Movie: Funny People

MPAA Rating: R for language and crude sexual humor throughout, and some sexuality

Running time: 2 hours and 26 minutes

Stars: Adam Sandler, Seth Rogen, Leslie Mann, Jonah Hill, Jason Schwartzman, Eric Bana

Director: Judd Apatow

Writer: Judd Apatow

Wow, I sure picked one hell of a movie to start off the website with. I do warn you though, there might be slight spoilers ahead (but I'll keep them as slight as possible). This was definitely an interesting film. It is also a good example of when editors fall asleep in the editing bay. Not to say that this movie does not contain lots of laughs, because it does, it's just hard to remember them when they become second fiddle to the overwrought amount of drama that fills the last hour. Do not get me wrong, I love Judd Apatow and what he's done for comedy in the last 6 or 7 years, but can somebody please say "no" to this guy. Like, first off, who thought it was a good idea for him to make a 146-minute comedy?! When was the last time a mainstream comedy was over 2 hours and 15 minutes in length (the extended DVD releases of Apatow's films not counting)? The answer (at least to my knowledge, please correct me if I am wrong) is "It's A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World". That film ran much longer than "Funny People" at a staggering, but consistently hilarious 161 minutes, but also didn't try to be 2 different movies at once like "FP". Apatow's films (and the ones he has produced or written for) all have bits of drama, heart, seriousness, whatever you wanna call it. That's perfectly fine, when done well, but "Funny People" feels more schizophrenic than coherent. The first 20 minutes feel very somber with few laughs (but it worked), then once Seth Rogen's character comes in the tone lightens up considerably and more laughs keep piling in. But once Leslie Mann's character is introduced later (and shortly after Sandler's good news that he will survive the disease), the film takes a nosedive with too many redundant and pointless scenes that could have been shortened or excised entirely.

Now, while this is starting to sound like a real negative review, my views on it are not all in the gray. The performances from the cast are great (especially the early scenes of Sandler being diagnosed) and much of the humor is hilarious (although fewer references to Seth Rogen's penis would definitely be appreciated). But sadly the filmmaking itself kinda suffers here too. Much of the cinematography looks flat and amateurish (surprising considering the DP is Janusz Kaminski who has shot almost all of Spielberg's films since "Schindler's List), and some framing seemed claustrophobic and not what you'd expect from a $70 million production. Many scenes seem like Apatow just told the DP to turn the camera on and let the actors talk for a while and see if anything good came out.

Overall, my opinion: the film, while at times super hilarious, wanders around aimlessly looking for that middle ground between comedy and drama and cannot decide which it wants to be. I think with a good 25-30 minutes trimmed here and there, this would definitely be an A-comedy. Hopefully Mr. Apatow will take a few years off and come back with another comedy classic.

On the first viewing, I give this a 3 out of 5 stars.