Funny People

In the end Judd Apatow's "Funny People" starring Adam Sandler, Seth Rogen, Leslie Mann, Jonah Hill, and Eric Bana, doesn't really live up to it's title. The movie is drawn out and gets boring towards the end. The same jokes are reused throughout, making for a lot of redundancy.

Adam Sandler plays George Simmons, a famous stand-up comedian who has been diagnosed with leukemia. Ira Wright (Seth Rogan) wants to become a famous stand-up comedian and does stand-up at various clubs. He ends up getting a job writing jokes for George Simmons and becomes the first person to learn about Simmons' leukemia. There's a subplot involving George Simmons and the girl he almost married, Laura (Leslie Mann), who now has a husband (Eric Bana) and 2 kids. See the movie, or read the in-depth wikipedia synopsis if you want a better plot recap, or watch the trailer. All would be legitimate.

One of the best parts of the movie was the cinematography, thanks to Janusz Kaminski who also did the cinematography for "Schindler's List" and "Saving Private Ryan." The composition of the scenes and the camera angles and such were very successful. The music that was chosen for the movie also added some enjoyment. Several cameos from stand-up comedians, playing themselves, including Ray Romano and Paul Reiser were also welcome additions to "Funny People." Of all the people in the movie, Adam Sandler and Seth Rogen had the best chemistry, which works out nicely since they are, in fact, the stars of the movie. Scenes with Leslie Mann mocking Eric Bana's Australian accent and scenes between George and his doctor with the thick accent are some of the films most successfully executed funny scenes. And the first half hour is the funniest part of the movie, which is kind of sad since the movie is well over 2 hours long.

Now for the not so great parts of the movie. George Simmons is essentially only concerned with himself and taking advantage of his fame which makes him not a very simpathetic character. The chemistry between the characters is not believable. The jokes get unbelievably redundant and most of the time feel like cheap laughs instead of well, thought-out, clever comedy. There are so many jokes about genitalia and vulgar language that it gets obnoxious. It's hard to believe how many Judd Apatow crammed into 146 minutes, but that is typical of him so it really is no surprise. And no, that is not a typo. The movie is actually just shy of 2 and a half hours long. No one should even consider making a comedy that is longer than 2 hours. The genre just does not call for it and "Funny People" is no exception. The last half of the movie when George tries to break up Laura's family and get back together with her is so drawn out that it gets boring. I'm pretty sure we could have done without the scenes with the family dog and their two daughters. It's unnecessary, borderline embarrassing at times, and takes up way to much valuable screen-time. The movie tries to be laugh-out-loud funny as well as incredibly serious and I think they only half succeed.

The movie could have been so much better had it been edited down about a half hour and had the script been edited a little to improve the pacing and the joke quality as well as chemistry between the different characters. 2 stars...I am really harsh when it comes to watching comedies. There definitely were some hilarious parts, but honestly for me, anyway, seeing this this once was enough. All of the stars have done better work elsewhere.

-Joseph Sbrilli