Cure is Simple

Apatow's films have always captured natural humor a lot better than large-scale gags or irony. I've said on several occasions that I want to see an Apatow film removed of all its physical comedy and such, and just focus on people sitting around, talking jive and making jokes. He has accumulated a very gifted group of comic actors who specialize in this sort of humor, and it's about time he let them loose.

Funny People achieves this above all else. At their best, Apatow's films give you the sense that you're just hanging out with a group of really cool friends. By not having large chunks of plot to move through, this feeling is the predominant mood of the film. And with an ensemble that includes Seth Rogen, Jonah Hill, Jason Schwartzman, Leslie Mann RZA and Aziz Ansari this should be the ultimate Apatow film.

I admit I was wrong. This film is undisciplined and dry; even with almost an hour of footage cut it still feels very, very long. I enjoyed every minute of it, but I FELT every minute of it.

It's not an easy film; like a certain other comedy this year, we're given a very unlikable protagonist in Adam Sandler's George Simmons. An enormously successful, if questionably talented comedian and film star who is quite clearly modeled after Sandler himself; he is a loathsome cocksucker of enormous cocksucking capacity. He is a selfish, egotistical and completely pathetic piece of shit who learns nothing from his experiences throughout the film. I always thought pathetic assholes like that make great protagonists and the irony of them learning nothing from all their experiences is a great arc. And since the part is well-written, I feel like I have to blame this on Sandler.

I'm hurt that I have to say that, because Adam Sandler gave a balls-out brilliant performance in Punch-Drunk Love, one of my favorite films. For now, though, I'll simply point out that every lead actor in a PT Anderson film has given a career-best performance.

The best thing I can say about Sandler is that he has nice chemistry with Seth Rogen, who I hold in high esteem (this generation's Bill Murray?) as a comedian and actor. And thank god he looks so damn weird skinny, because I thought he might lose some of his everyman appeal with his weight loss. I thank all the haystacks in the middle east for weirdness that transcends weight boundaries.

On the other hand, all the supporting cast is fantastic; while Rogen sort of plays himself as an everyman and Sandler plays himself as an egotistical bastard, Jason Schwartzman plays an up-and-coming idiot who has been given a recent ego boost by being hired to play the lead role on an idiotic sitcom. Eric Bana plays a friendly Australian businessman who seems to accidentally intimidate the shit out of everyone he talks to with his enormous stature, Australian accent, fancy clothes and grotesque confidence.

And so on and so forth.

It's a very relaxing film to watch, but it's never really engaging. You sit back and let the situations wash over you and laugh at the jokes. But it's messy and undisciplined and sloppy and needs to be anchored by a stronger lead performance or a director who's willing to get into the trenches with the actors and tighten up the editing.

I'm really a big fan of Apatow and his stable of actors. I don't wish to see them go away any time soon and I think that he still has many good films left in him. In fact, I think a film like this could work if he uses Funny People as a guide and recognizes its strengths and weaknesses.

I enjoyed the film. It was a serious comedy; something that I hope is getting more common. It was an ambitious comedy, again something I hope is going to be more common. But it just wasn't that successful.

6/10