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.