Film Review : Funny People

I've generally thoroughly enjoyed the films which have been associated with the multi-talented Judd Apatow, although Year One and Step Brothers were notable exceptions to this. The films where has previously taken on the roles of writer, producer and director (The 40 Year Old Virgin and Knocked Up) have managed to be both intelligent and amusing which is a combination often missing in the same film.

On that basis, expectations are high for Funny People where Apatow takes on the full weight of responsibility for the movie. Starring Adam Sandler, the inevitable Seth Rogan alongside Jonah Hill, Jason Schwartzman, Eric Bana and Leslie Mann this is actually a serious film set in the world of stand-up comedy. As such, there are jokes but they are mostly there to expand on characterisation and form more of a backdrop to the tale to be told rather than being the point of the exercise.

Sandler plays comedian George Simmons who has a succesful career as a stand-up comic and actor who discovers that he is suffering from a rare form of leukemia. Whilst undertaking experimental therapy he begins to appreciate the emptiness in his lifestyle and the opportunities missed in life.

Alongside this Messrs Rogan, Hill and Schwatrzman are all on the bottom rung of the ladder desperate to find means to reach the second and subsequent rungs. Simmons takes on Ira Wright (Seth Rogan) firstly as a joke writer and then as his assistant.

The root of the film is the interplay between the experienced and cynical Simmons, and the naive but well-meaning Wright, particularly as the woman spurned enters the fray on the end of a struggling marriage to a man she's convinced is cheating on her (played by Eric Bana as a zen-loving but typically macho Australian)

During all this, Simmons discovers that the unorthodox treatment appears to have been succesful and he has the opportunity to address the inadequacies and the wrong decisions he's made in his life.

Sandler has already demonstrated his ability to play a serious role with some style and he is generally excellent here, and does demonstrate clearly the dichotomy between the melancholy of his circumstance whilst needing to be "on" whenever he meets his public.

So does it compare favourably with the other films mentioned? I'm afraid not. It's a bit overlong and you do struggle to empathise with any of the characters. As noted, the humour is mostly in character and although there are laughs to be had, it mostly demonstrates those involved hiding their personal inadequacies behind a joke.

The ending is a little downbeat as well, and there is only limited resolution for the main characters. As such, it tends to work more as a commentary on the selfishness of the lifestyle of those involved rather than a tale of an individual being given a second chance at life.

Much more of a serious film than his other movies, it's probably best to approach it with this knowledge - for a Friday night, post-office view I was maybe looking for something lighter in tone.