Cover of Funny People
As the much hyped Blizzard of 2010 bore down on the Northeast this Xmas weekend, we continued our Xmas viewing. For our next movie we chose ‘Funny People’, an Adam Sandler movie that had received critical acclaim. The storm did not live up to the hype, at least in our neck of the woods. The movie did not either. I guess with my track record ‘critical acclaim’ should be a warning sign.
For those who have not learnt already, Funny People is not your typical Adam Sandler movie where he plays the amiable doofus. It is ‘about’ funny people aka comedians and their lives. Adam plays an older comedian, George Simmons, who learns of a life changing event. Faced with his mortality George decides to recruit an aspiring comedian, Seth Rogen (playing Ira) as his writer/sidekick while he struggles to face reality. The two play off each other rather well in the movie as their relationship grows. There are several poignant moments as the movie moves towards what I expected was its finale when George finds out that he is in remission.
Along the way Ira convinces George to face the truth and discuss his condition with his friends including his ‘ex’ Laura (played by Leslie Mann). Laura attends George’s performance in San Francisco, invites him over to her house while her husband is away on business. The embers of former romance reignite. Husband returns confronts George, wife breaks up. Tada! Great ending, everyone happy – or so I thought.
Unfortunately this was followed by at least two more endings. Wife chases husband to airport to confront him. Husband pleads and makes up. Husband returns and confronts George. George confronts Ira. Ira is back to square one, a schlub working at a deli. George finally comes to his senses and reconciles with Ira. Tada – now it ends.
This was a great movie, at least the first three quarters of it, which is where it should have ended. The ending seemed to drag on for ever, almost like Judd Apatow/Adam Sandler just could not make up their mind on how to finally put this one to bed. The performances by Seth and Adam were spot on and Jonah Hill and Jason Schwartzman provided great background fill-in with their frat house interaction. The cameo appearances by Aziz Ansari (as Randy), James Taylor, Ray Romano and Eminem are hilarious.
I wonder if my Netflix movies are longer than what the give the critics. Maybe I am getting the unedited versions and that’s why I am finding them sooo long. Must check next time. Until then happy viewing.
365 Days of Netflix 