MOVIE REVIEW: FUNNY PEOPLE

Funny People is the third film by Judd Apatow who before had done The 40-Year Old Virgin and Knocked Up. For his third film he brings Adam Sandler on board to star with his usual entourage made up of, Seth Rogen, Jonnah Hill and Leslie Mann. Erica Bana and Jason Schwartzman also star.

Funny People has a few different story lines in it. The main one is about George Simmons (Sandler), who is a stand up comedian turned comedic movie star who gets diagnosed with a rare form of leukemia and is not given a set time on how long he has to live. The second storyline is about a hopeful stand up comedian and writer Ira. Ira doesn't quite have the deliverance his other friends have at stand up, but is a fairly decent writer. He is the loser type who lives with his friend and sleeps on his pull out couch. One night at a show the two cross paths, when Ira finds out that George Simmons has shown up to to a bit. Once Simmons goes up however, he goes very dark with his jokes, talking about what it will be like when he is gone and asks who will make them laugh. Ira follows Simmons and when his jokes start bombing, he decides to make fun of Simmons and how he has gone off the deep end. He later runs into Simmons in the parking lot where he confronts him about making fun of him, he tells Ira that he is a funny guy and is going to be fine in the comedy business. The next day Simmons calls up Ira and tells him he is going back to stand up and wants him to write jokes for him. The third story line revolves around Simmons and his first and only love Laura (Mann). Laura is married with two kids and hates Simmons for cheating on him twelve years earlier. When she finds out he is dying she comes back into his life and an old flame is sparked and she has to decide whether to leave her husband who also cheats on her for Simmons, or to try and turn her family around.

I had to stop and really think about this moive once I had left it. I felt a couple of different ways about it. On one hand I love the story about how miserable and lonely Simmons is, that he has his assistant sit and talk with him until he falls asleep. He has nothing and no one despite all the money and fame. On the other hand, I saw that Apatow was doing a film with Sandler, Rogen and Hill, and I'm thinking that this movie will hilarious. It was a dark comedy that in parts was funny but didn't have me cracking up like previous films. It tries to fit to many storylines and they felt a little forced. It had the most cameos I have ever seen in a film including, Eminem,Ray Romano, Andy Dick, and a very hilarious scene with singer James Taylor. Maybe this was Apatow trying to make a more serious and mature film, which I felt it was, but just not a great job. On the whole, I liked this film, but probably wouln't watch it again. I give this three out of five stars.