Depressed People: A Movie Review

Just got back from the movies. I took myself out. Again. Went to Noodles and Co. Again. Read some more of American Gods by Neil Geiman. Pretty good summer read if you ask me. Maybe I'll review it later. Saw Funny People, starring Adam Sandler and Seth Rogan, written and directed by Judd Apatow. I never thought that a movie called Funny People would leave me depressed and with a numb ass wondering, where the fuck is Frodo. How can you have a three hour movie without hobbits walking around, crying, and dropping rings into fiery chasms? Correct me if I'm wrong but isn't there a rule that comedies should be under 2 hours? Now, Apatow has been known for some funny films, Superbad, which I have yet to see, 40-Year-Virgin, which was a hit that I've really only seen on TV(which is on about 40 times a month) but I would definitely buy it on DVD and watch it a few hundred times, and Knocked Up, with Rogan and Katherine Heigl, ugly dude bones hot chick who has a baby which is funny and cute because it's an unlikely pairing. I don't mind when movies go over two hours but when its a comedy and it hasn't wrapped up after 2 hours there is a problem. Maybe it's just an editing issue. Maybe its just that directors hate having to "kill their children" but some of the best movies have been chopped down and re-written several times just to get the perfect flow, timing and to make all the points that have to be made.



To be fair, I liked all the characters and the actors who portrayed them. There were many funny moments, as the title suggests, and each character felt fully fleshed out and well-casted. Adam Sandler plays an aging comic genius who is diagnosed with a rare form of leukemia, and Seth Rogan is a wanna-be comedian working at a deli counter and doing free stand up gigs. An opportunity to open for Sandler's character creates an acquantance which becomes a business partnership, friendship, and bro-mance, which is a common theme in Apatow movies. In fact there are several of these taking place throughout the film between Rogan's roommates, Jonah Hill, referred to in the film as the XXL version of Rogan, and Jason Schwartzman, who played my favorite character in (The Darjeeling Limited)and looks like the love-child of George Harrison and Luke Wilson. These hetero man-on-man relationships tend to outweigh those involving the female leads.



There are some very good points to be made about following one's dream, what it means to reach that dream and have everything but raises the question - does that success, financial blessing/burden and having 5 flat screen TVs to watch several movies featuring you all at once and cooks, drivers, Hispanic gardeners - do these things actually equal happiness? Sandler's character George is forced to examine these things in light of his illness and Rogan becomes his personal assitant/joke writer.



There are several twists in the movie which make it worth watching. My biggest problem is not so much the length but the fact that it takes so long to make points and pay off things set up earlier such as Seth's/Ira's budding relationship with a female comedian. Some editing, mostly in the script-writing phase would have helped. I suppose it is hard for a filmmaker who writes and directs his material to decide where to make cuts and why should he when he has established himself as someone that can bring in audiences from different age groups and get them laughing and crying- often in the very next scene which this movie does a lot of. As I said before, after 2 hours that roller coaster can get old.



If I were to rate this I would give it three and a half stars. I recommend it if you like films that take you on a wide emotional range but be warned that you may find yourself checking your cellphone clock a couple times(something I rarely do but was compelled by this film to do.)