"Funny People" Review by Spaldy

Written & Directed by: Judd Apatow

Starring: Adam Sandler, Seth Rogen, Leslie Mann, Jonah Hill

In general, most comedians draw their material from a place of great unhappiness. Whether they are happy at the moment you see them is irrelevant. Whatever has bothered them in the past or present is what drives every joke and every set up. Maybe the issue is that humor gives someone a license to laugh at you. If you are not funny and they are still laughing, you’re either famous or a total loser. Sometimes both.

George Simmons (Adam Sandler) is a wildly successful stand-up comedian turned comedic actor. Since George is miserable, perhaps that is why he just keeps making people laugh. But now, George has just been diagnosed with a rare blood disease similar to leukemia. Now more than ever, George needs to make someone laugh.

A bit lost with how to react, George dutifully takes his experimental medications and tries to assess his life leading up to that moment. When George sees how alone he is, he heads back to his stand-up roots. George’s reemergence is a dark surprise to those who witness his first set in five years. For Ira Wright (Seth Rogen) who must perform after his set, it is an event that one must comment on. There is no one a comedian loves to joke about more than another comedian. When George bombs, Ira, like any comedian, is genetically predisposed to comment on the train wreck.

Comedians are a competitive group by nature and love to talk shit about one another. When Ira meets George just after ridiculing his performance, George compliments his set and drives off. While Ira returns to his life of watching his friends find success in comedy while he watches from the pull out couch, George returns to his lonely life. Hoping to take charge of his life, George calls Ira and hires him to write jokes and act as his personal assistant. While Ira helps George clean out all the material possessions of his life, he also helps him get back on his feet both physically and emotionally.

In reviewing his life, George learns just how miserable his is and dwells on the past. Hoping to regain some of what he lost, George reconnects with his old loves: comedy and ex-girlfriend Laura (Leslie Mann).

“Funny People” is a perfect portrait of the world of comedians. In a profession that requires so much laughter to succeed, you seem to see a lot of anger and self loathing. Comedians are generally all at once the least confident and most ballsy of people. They thrive on being broken down and breaking down one another. It is a strange and fascinating world, but it is probably not as amusing to most people as it is for me.

Sandler is brilliant as George Simmons and underplays the character just enough so that although you like George, you still know he is deeply flawed underneath. Rogen holds his own as Ira, and he gives a reliable performance for Sandler to play off of. Although Ira is supposed to be the nice guy, you can not help but wonder if he too has the capacity to become George someday. Maybe life with George can change that future, but if he truly is like George, it will be a hell of a battle to avoid it. The rest of the cast is a great collection of cameos and supporting performances, but ultimately it is the humor that is the main character.

I personally love a good drama with a heavy sprinkling of comedy. Life is more like that than any other movie genre. What I love about this movie is the feeling that although this is fiction, there is still genuineness there. Clearly Judd Apatow was connected to this project on a personal level and that only elevates the direction and the performances.

There is plenty of humor in this movie, but not all of it is from the stand-up. In fact, some of the biggest and funniest moments are the ones in the lives of the characters. Though everything will eventually make its way to the jokes on the stage, it is always the actual moments that are the most special. What this movie manages to do is show those moments in an honest way. It isn’t always a pretty thing, but it is very real. Though a comedian’s joke might be a second generation telling of a story, this movie manages to make it feel like it is the first.

For all the criticism of the lack of realism in Apatow’s films (i.e. Heigl dating Rogen), I have always found that the emotions of Apatow’s films are truer than most writers working today. Maybe it is because I love people who use humor as readily as they breathe, or maybe it is just because Apatow knows how to bring out an emotional response with his work. Whatever the reason, I found this movie to be one of the better written and directed movies I have seen this year.