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These days in Hollywood, Judd Apatow is perceived as a Comedy God. The man has produced some of the funniest comedies people have ever seen… fuck, the man even found a way to make Steve Carell in The 40-Year-Old Virgin. Usually, when I see Judd Apatow’s name attached to a project, I see it because I have faith in him. Sadly, this is no longer the case because after viewing his latest movie, Funny People, I have started to lose faith in the man.

The film is about a supremely successful comedian named George Simmons (Adam Sandler). One day, George goes to the doctor, finds out that he has an extremely rare form of leukemia and has to try out a shitload of untested medications in order to keep the disease in check or he will die. Unlike a person… namely me… who would burn through all his money and go out in a blaze of glory; George mopes around his mansion and watches his old videos. After watching a video of one of his old stand up routines, he decides to go back to where his career started and perform at comedy clubs. While at there, George runs into Ira (Seth Rogen), an aspiring stand up comedian. Wanting to be a better person, George hires Ira to write jokes for him. After some time passes, time that is spent calling Ira a murderer and George trying to see Ira’s cock, Ira convinces George that he should tell his loved ones about his situation. George agrees and goes about telling them… especially his ex, Laura (Leslie Mann, a.k.a. Mrs. Apatow). George sees Laura as the one that got away and wants to use his disease as a way to get back into her life… and her pants. Since I don’t want to spend any more time on the plot, I’ll just end it there.

This movie could have been another great Apatow picture, but, sadly, Funny People gets tainted by numerous flaws. First and foremost, the movie is depressing as shit… yes, the film is supposed to be depressing and yes, the film is a dramedy (which I don’t mind), but come the fuck on; there is absolutely no reason to sit through a movie that is so depressing it makes you want to kill yourself. The humor is also a problem. There are some moments in the movie that you’ll laugh at (one of which includes Rogen knocking over Apatow’s youngest daughter while she’s on a Tonka Bike… which I’m assuming was an accident), but a majority of it is pretty dull… and in some cases, downright annoying.

One problem, which I found completely surprising, Apatow seemed to underutilize his supporting characters. In a lot of Apatow movies, the supporting characters are as solid as the lead characters, but in this film, the supporting characters appear to be half-assing their way through the movie; one example being Jonah Hill. In some of the trailers I’ve seen, Hill’s character looks like he would be a predominate character, but in actuality, Hill’s character just comes and goes in the movie and doesn’t make an impact at all. Speaking of half-assed performances, Seth Rogen practically dials in his performance. At times, Rogen, who has lost weight… for the Green Hornet movie he’s making… , looks like he doesn’t even want to be in the movie. The chemistry between the main characters also hurts the movie. I’m not too sure why, but the actors didn’t seem to mesh well at all in the movie.

All of this leads to the biggest problem in the movie… Adam Sandler. Sandler is the source of a majority of the other problems… namely the half-assed performances, the underutilized talent and the chemistry problems. Since Sandler is a megastar that has built a career starring in a bunch of PG-13 comedies (two of which are actually good… you should know which they are already), every one working on this movie, including Apatow himself, seem to be catering to his star power out of fear that they will never work in Hollywood again if they overshadow him.

When it comes down to it, Funny People ends up being an unfunny dramedy that proves that Adam Sandler just can’t cut it in dramatic roles… the only exception being Punch Drunk Love. Hopefully Judd Apatow will recover from this debacle and start giving us some funny movies again.

Final Synopsis: If you’re a Judd Apatow fan, you’ll be really disappointed with this film. It’s depressing and unfunny.

Points Lost: -1 for being too depressing, -1 for lacking in the humor department, -1 for underutilized talent, -1 for half-assed performances… especially from Jonah Hill and Seth Rogen, -1 for bad chemistry, -1 for Adam Sandler.

Lesson Learned: Adam Sandler loves penis.

Burning Question: Was that Tonka Bike scene an accident?

Funny People
4/10

Tags: 2009, adam sandler, comedy, depressing movie, drama, dramedy, eric bana, jason schwartzman, jonah hill, Judd Apatow, latest movie reviews, leslie mann, recent3, Seth Rogen, shitty movie