07.31.09 FUNNY PEOPLE REV.: WELCOME BACK, SANDLER
I hate that Funny People is 25 minutes too long, because it does a couple of amazing things. From his album They’re All Gonna Laugh at You through a few years after Happy Gilmore, Adam Sandler was a comedy God. I laughed so hard the first time I heard “The Buffoon and the Dean of Admissions” that I farted placenta. But at some point around ‘97, he seems to have decided he didn’t give a sh*t anymore and started doing a string of increasingly sappy, unfunny paycheck abortions like Click and I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry. The only glimmers of talent came in dramatic roles like Spanglish and Punch Drunk Love, in which he proved he could act, but didn’t really seem like himself, like he was just trying to prove a point.
Funny People not only reminds us what Sandler looks like when he’s doing honest comedy — and by that I mean comedy that he himself finds funny rather than “You want me to do a silly voice again? Fine, I’ll do the a voice again. Lap it up, you pigs.” — but combines it with the Sandler who can act. Not only that, the story is the kind of pointed, meta-fictional take on his life that JCVD could’ve been for Van Damme if it hadn’t devolved into such a pretentious euro wankfest. I hate to be a reactionary, but while I was writing this I noticed other people calling Funny People Entourage with Cancer, and I felt compelled to point out all the differences between this and Entourage.
1. Decent writing
2. Decent acting
3. Conflict
4. Likable characters
5. The celebrity character in Funny People is famous for having an actual skill
6. The minor characters are trying perfect an actual skill, and aren’t driven by the sole desire to be famous, or to hang out with famous people, or to help the main character get more famous
7. No one talks about shoes or cars, not even once
That’s not to say there aren’t problems. There are too many celebrity cameos, and whether it be James Taylor saying “F*ck Facebook” or Eminem screaming at Ray Romano, even when they’re funny they feel tacked on, and the humor is cheap in a very Entourage sort of way. Apatow had final cut and cast an old friend, his wife, and his children in prominent roles, so it’s certainly overlong and self-indulgent. But you also have to respect that someone can still make such an honest, personal movie about sh*t that’s actually been on his mind. And anyway, the pathos is half the fun. It’ll be interesting to see whether Sandler goes back to making sh*t paycheck movies after giving such a convincing performance as a guy who’s a little ashamed of all his sh*t paycheck movies.
Despite its problems, Funny People plays like a mashup of all the things that could’ve been good about Entourage and JCVD, with a Grand Torino-esque hardass-mentor relationship between Sandler and Rogen thrown in for good measure. It’s not Entourage with cancer so much as Gran Torino with dick jokes. You can quibble with plenty of scenes that should’ve been trimmed or cut, but there’s clearly something at stake in Funny People, and it’s not fame or wish fulfillment. It’s Apatow’s honest struggle with whether being “funny people” is about helping others or feeding your own narcissim. And an honest movie is something of a rarity these days.
Grade: A-
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There are 35 comments about:
FUNNY PEOPLE REV.: WELCOME BACK, SANDLER
Gran Torino with dick jokes sounds fucking awesome.
And in the end he turns out to be a dwarf hooker, right?
Gran Torino with dick jokes would have been much shorter.
*bangs gong*
I really disliked Gran torino, I movie full of really unlikable people doing realling dickish things. The only 2 people that were remotely good were the two asian kids and they couldn’t act for shit so that ruined that. The script was so obvious and clunky.
Despite the comparision I still want to see this.
Is it still peppered with horribly racist language like Gran Torino?
A movie…A.
I love this site, but I don’t trust your reviews. I watched Adventureland because of you. Apologize.
“Entourage with Cancer” sounds like a Lance Armstrong biopic.
I thought this movie was about down syndrome.
*looks around for Peet’s dick*
Hey Vince, any tits?
I have been praying that Entourage would get cancer.
I guess that makes American Psycho Dexter with a walkman.
There is nothing funnier than cancer. Is it ass cancer ? Please let it be ass cancer.
So The Seventh Seal is Dead Like Me without the Starbucks.
Schindler’s List is Sex & the City with better nutritionists.
Well if there’s any review of mine you don’t trust, make it this one. I’m sort of the perfect audience for this one, so I doubt most people will like it as much as I did. There’s your disclaimer. Don’t hurt yourselves.
Philadelphia is Boston Legal with AIDS.
You make it sound more like Pauly Shore is Dead only without the Fred Durst cameo. So unless you tell me I’ll actually see them kill Pauly Shore, I won’t see this.
Don’t hurt yourselves.
Sure, wait until AFTER I learned to juggle knives to say that.
Are there funny people in this fucking film or not?
JEEZUZZ!
Nickelback is Family Guy without animation. Scratch that, Linkin Park is Family Guy. Nickelback is more like an episode of Friends.
I stopped listening to Vince’s reveiws after he told me Where The Girls Aren’t 6 would make me cum.
Grand Torino was filled with dick jokes. Sure, Hmong dick jokes but it’s a beautiful language.
Diary of a Mad Black Woman is The Cosby Show with gender confusion.
Kids is Boy Meets World with HIV.
is this an “ironic” movie? because it’s called Funny People but all the previews have the fat kid with glasses and his dad in them?
I don’t trust Vinnie’s reviews ever since he said that “Blade Brown was the least convincing character in modern movie history.”
Granny-Bangers 6 is Golden Girls with four Blanches.
actually from the previews this looks like something just as pandering to a demo as “Away We Go” or from the 90s “singles” or “Reality Bites” … “it’s a movie about us, maaaaaaan, you squares don’t get it” …
wank
I’m in the same boat. I’m looking forward to Sandler making a movie that doesn’t suck so much that I’ll probably like it no matter what.
No Country for Old Men = The Fugitive + Cowboy Hats.
Vince Mancini = Sexman – sex + Funny People.
Likeable characters? I have to strongly disagree there Vince.
Seth Rogen and Jonah Hill are about as likeable as ringworm.
They are to comedy what Nic Cage and Brendan Fraser are to action movies.
If all 4 of them made a movie together, the horsemen would ride.
This post and thread made me create a user account. I’m unsure if that’s good or bad. This movie made me laugh. A lot. And then made me wonder what the fuck Judd Apatow was smoking as he wrote the last third of the damn thing. Such a good thing ruined by a horrible yet fantasticaly acted ending. WTF? I fucking adored Sandler until said shitty ending. Same for Rogen. What happened? I LOVED 2/3 of this and really hated the other (last) third. Am I only allowed to like 2/3 of a movie now? Is that the deal? *deep breath* Dammit. Apatow: Next assignment? Make me love your whole movie. PLEASE.
Yeah, to some extent he did that with Knocked Up too. I really hated the scene where Rogen kicks Leslie Mann out of the delivery room and she has that weird “Oh, I think I like him now. I decided four seconds ago” soliloquy. But I forgive the bad parts because I liked the good parts so much. Like a tranny with really nice tits.
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