Even though Funny People won the box office race last weekend, it was sort of a half-hearted win, like a racer limping over the finish line. There was no box office smasheroo for this movie, because it is not much of a comedy, as billed. Movie-goer reviews were lukewarm because the film was only sort of funny, and also perhaps, because some people went just to beat the heat and escape from all the lousy programs now on TV. At least that was partially my excuse.
To be fair, I am also a fair-weather Adam Sandler fan. I admire his more serious work, and any of the comedies that include his grandmother. I am too old to be much of a Judd Apatow fan, although I saw his movies (Knocked Up and The 40-year-old Virgin) and they were much funnier than this one. How ironic is that? A movie titled Funny People, full of people who are not funny, from a guy who made some of the funniest movie comedies in recent years.
I’m not sure Apatow and/or Sandler are die-hard ironists, but this film is all too tentative about driving home big laughs during sad times. It’s as if the filmmakers were feeling guilty about their tremendous successes. What funny jokes I heard were few - and far - between long interior scenes of well-decorated upscale homes and their to-die-for kitchens. Those scenes could have been cut. Also needing to be cut: not-funny cameos by not-funny comedians. Less interior design, less stale comics, more jokes like those at the My Space Convention. I laughed a few times during Sandler’s and Seth Rogen’s stand-up routines (supposedly $300,000 for the My Space gig, the Sandler character said). But when James Taylor got the biggest laugh in the My Space episode, I realized the writing and the acting just weren’t delivering. (Note: Taylor should not quit his day job).
I suppose Adam Sandler as the Grim Reaper, looking and sounding like he could use some Sal Hepatica, has something to do with the plot and the bad news near the beginning. But Sandler plays the entire movie as Adam Sad-sack, even when he has a few good reasons to break out in a happy dance and get back to being funny. This movie is about 2 1/2 hours long (a nice stretch of air-conditioned comfort), but I found the funniest scenes came in spurts: a minute here; a minute there. The sight of Adam Sandler in a "Merman" outfit, complete with fish tail, was very very funny - two very funnys more than the rest of the movie. Also funny, one of the Apatow kids, singing "Memories" from cats, with her doting mother (Mrs. Apatow) swooning over her talent. I suppose it’s de jour for comedy in 2009 to be dark and unfunny (just like the economy), but whatever happened to making people laugh so they can feel better about themselves?
I did have one Aha moment, when the main love interest (the aforementioned Mrs. Apatow, actress Leslie Mann) tells Sandler that a psychic told her they’d get together again when they were 70. And "also not to eat chicken." I may have been the only one laughing at the chicken line, because that’s exactly what I advise, although I always add, "unless it’s free-range."
All unfunny business aside, this movie contains make-nice sentiments about true friendship and true love and the real price of success, and also some biting truths about back-stabbing competition in Hollywood, beginning entertainment jobs, and celebrity perks (aka any girl any where any time plus a 4-car garage-full of expensive, free stuff).
In sum, if someone invites you to this movie (and buys the ticket) by all means, go. This is not the funniest movie I’ve seen recently, but it beats watching TV reruns of The Real Housewives of…(fill in the blank). Maybe when Sandler and Apatow stop feeling so guilty about their successes, they’ll get back to being funny.
I hope so. I could use a laugh.
