Funny People review

Judd Apatow- the name on so many comedies today even though he's only ever directed three films himself (having guys like Greg Mottola and David Gordon Green to do the directing certainly helps). Funny People is his newest film and definitely his most personal.

It's a perculiar fil as it touches on a lot of really dramatic material through much of the second half after bombarding us with gut-busting stand-up comedy material the first half. uneven, yes. But bad, no.

Sandler plays George Stevens, who is obviously based at least partially off Sandler himself. He's an aging, and unfortunately dying, stand-up comedian/actor who recruits Ira (Seth Rogen) to write jokes for him. Ira is clearly based on Apatow's own experiences.

The problem with this film is that the drama stays in the backdrop even though it occasionally comes out for the majority of the first hour and 15 minutes, and then the last 45 minutes go super-drama on us. The last half is virtually laughless unless you find traitorous backstabbing and marital infidelity fucking hilarious. Another problem is that the films goes a little past "only human" character flaws and into "total douchebag/bitch" character flaws a tad too often.

The performances range fro good to great, though, and that certainly helps the unevenness when you have strong performances to carry you. Sandler has perhaps one of his best performances, easily his best since Punch-Drunk Love. Miss Apatow herself Leslie Mann does a good job, as does Rogen, but the real stars are the supporting cast of Jason Schwartzman, Jonah Hill, and Eric Bana. Any scene with them is priceless.

In the end i think this comes down to how well you can find yourself in Apatow's shoes. If you can wiggle into his celluloid life, then it's a good ride. It's flawed, and a few scenes with the children (you'll know when you see the movie) could have been cut, but overall i recommend it.

Orphan review

What's wrong with Esther? It's a somewhat perplexing mystery through much of the new horror-thriller Orphan, starring Peter Sarsgaard and Vera Farmiga as parents who want to adopt a 9-year-old child into the family. They end up with the little demon you see on the left.

"Evil Children" is apparently a subgenere, but aside from "It's Alive," "Rosemary's Baby," and "The Omen," I don't have much exposure to it. There's also "The Good Son," but the least we say about THAT, the better. So, is this film worthy? Well, yes and no.

First, I have to say that the film does a nice job slowly building tension and then using it to explode into a flurry of blood spurts. It's a bit imbalanced, if you ask me, to have so much tension peppered with gore scenes. it does NOT hold back in areas I would think it should. Is this a bloodbath or a tense mystery/thriller? It shouldn't be uneven.

But i must give this film props for having some guts and not wussing out. It definitely succeeds in getting under your skin. i must admit, however, that much of the film is just plain wierd. In fact, the film's opening scene is certainly enough to disturb the most hardened horror fan, not for content but simply how the subject matter is handled.

I applaud Orphan for making us completely despise Esther by the end of the film. Isabelle Fuhrman does an amazing job in the film with what she's asked to do. The two leads manage to do OK, but the other two children are surprisingly great as well.

The biggest problem with this film, unfortunately, is even though it kept me on my toes and I didn't guess the twist until about 5 minutes before the big reveal, it quickly descends into cliche once the twist comes full circle. That and the twist is just plain wierd. it has a good lead-up and the hints are all there. It was actually fun trying to figure out the clues. But i can't say everything is done perfectly when it comes to the plot, just...adequately.

And much of the film is just that- adequate. The performances are good, but the execution is ultimately adequate and sometimes cliched, the gore is edgy but not exactly needed, the twist far-fetched but believable. It's a real pro-con film, for with every good thing there's something to take it down a peg.

But I say go for it if you're a horror junkie. If not, maybe a rental on a lazy day when it reaches the shelves.