Running time: 146 minutes
Certificate: 15
Language: English
Screenplay: Judd Apatow
Director: Judd Apatow
Starring: Adam Sandler, Seth Rogen, Leslie Mann, Eric Bana, Jonah Hill, Jason Schwartzman, Aubrey Plaza
Sandler could always crack Rogen up with a well-timed dick joke. |
Apatow regular Seth Rogen is Ira Wright, a stand up comedian struggling to make a name for himself. Adam Sandler, in one of those rare roles that doesn’t make me want to puke (it might actually be his career-high), is George Simmons, an ex-stand up turned successful film star (he's a mutant mix of Sandler's real-life career-path with added Rob Schneider) diagnosed with cancer. In an attempt to recapture how it felt to be young, happy, in love, and brimming with potential, he decides to return to his stand up roots and meets Ira. On a whim, Simmons offers him a job writing material for him, and an unlikely friendship slowly develops.
Nobody could understand why the dick jokes had no effect on Bana. |
It’s too long, and could have done with losing a few scenes to stop me checking my watch in the last third, although Ira's ill-judged dash for the airport is a great scene which helps to pick the film up just as it’s beginning to drag. The thing about clichés is, you just need to know how to handle them, and Apatow's handling of the airport dash as well as the garden-set man-tussle make potentially groan-worthy scenes work a treat.
Not amazing, but certainly not a bad way to pass a couple-and-a-bit hours.
Score: 7/10
Funny People is generally considered an Apatow high-water mark - see these reviews by the much-missed Roger Ebert and Mark at Empire.
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