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Comedian George Simmons (Adam Sandler), left, and comic Ira Wright (Seth Rogen) watch Clarke (Eric Bana) go sports nutty in Judd Apatow’s third comedy feature “Funny People.” |
“Funny People” is a frequently hilarious and more frequently poignant story of three people foolish enough to need a second chance in life, and smart enough to seize it when it comes around.
This marks the third movie directed by the talented Judd Apatow, and it bears the signature elements of his earlier works “The 40 Year Old Virgin” and “Knocked Up” – gross humor, funny and foul language, empathy for its flawed characters, and a refusal to employ a traditional Hollywood villain.
But there’s something else in “Funny People.” It’s a more sophisticated, mature, assured and reflective work that suggests Apatow is evolving as a storyteller.
This is a long movie, 146 minutes, and it’s not as crisp and peppy as it could be.
Nonetheless, it provides plenty of raucous, off-color jokes and character-driven humor, and it gives Adam Sandler a dare-to-be-great role that boldly satirizes his own career as a stand-up-comic-turned-movie-star. (Read more…)