Funny People is a cinematic identity crisis from a comedian director looking to explore his darker instincts, so at the very least it’s interesting. Unfortunately it’s also too long, too dull, too disorganized and, ironically, too lacking in the ha-ha department.
Writer/director Judd Apatow’s work has battled with a few of these issues before – clocking in at 146 minutes, Funny People’s running time is actually typical of Apatow’s loose, improvised auteur-ism. But never has his stuff been so directionless and lazy.
Funny People is essentially two films – in one, Adam Sandler’s George Simmons is an uber-successful, uber-lonely comedian dying of a rare blood disease. He hires Ira (Seth Rogen as a down-on-his-luck stand-up) to write jokes for him, help him through his final days and, secretly, help him get in touch with his happier life in a comedy world he once loved.
It’s a fine James Brooksian premise, intriguing for its darkly comic yet heartfelt potential and generational comedy face-off (the once slacker king Sandler vs. rising slacker star Rogen). But halfway through, the movie switches gears. Sandler is given a second lease on life, which he uses to drive up to San Francisco to steal his former fiancé away from her husband and kids. It’s a bizarre and off-putting structure, and eventually it pitters out, absent of resolution or reason.
Whether this is by choice or simply the result of writing himself into a “where do we go from here?” corner, the outcome only further highlights the film’s lack of function.
What Will the Future Hold for Apatow?
This didn’t have to be a bad thing, and it isn’t always. There’s a good movie buried in here, but the director hasn’t found a way to dig it out. Aside from a few great moments here or there, his players haven’t either.
Overall, Funny People is a departure for Apatow, and a personal one. The film taps into his own fears and anxieties, utilizes his friends and family…but what it needed was a producer more familiar with the word “no.”
Apatow once wrote of his television sitcom experience – “if it wasn’t funny, it was just boring.” The same holds true for his lengthy, ad-lib features. For Funny People he brought a comedy knife to a dramedy gun fight, and the results are messy.
