“Funny People,” starring Adam Sandler and Seth Rogen and written and directed by Judd Apatow, suffers from an uninspired, unfocused, unfunny script, boring characters and contrived plot. And at 2 hours and 35 minutes, it’s torture to sit through. There’s not a single character worth caring about. Sandler plays George, an egocentric comic whose empty life haunts him when he finds out he has leukemia and is soon to die. However, this life-altering experience doesn’t really change him when he goes into remission. He remains selfish and mean. Ira (Rogen) works behind a deli counter and has aspirations of becoming a famous standup comedian. When he meets George at an improve comedy club, George hires him to be his assistant and write jokes for him. When an experimental drug sends George’s disease into remission, George seeks to rekindle his romance with Laura (Leslie Mann), who left him 12 years earlier when he cheated on her. Ira gets to tag along. It doesn’t matter to George that Laura is now married and has two children.
The first hour-and-a-half leans toward comedy – or at least, you’re supposed to laugh at the many standup routines. But the humor is mostly mean-spirited and tedious and there are waaaaaay too many penis jokes. At this point, the movie turns into a contrived, overly long drama with a little humor tossed in. In fact, the funniest part of the movie is when Laura and her two daughters talk George into playing the peanut butter game with their dogs. But that’s what, a 30-second scene? George and Ira’s transformations at the end of the movie don’t feel real and Sandler and Rogan have absolutely no charisma onscreen so you don’t really care what happens to them. You just want the movie to end. “Funny People” ultimately fails as a drama, comedy and romance. 8/1/09
1 comment:
"Funny People" is, perhaps, the worst film I have ever witnessed in my 60 years of going to movies. It is billed as a comedy but it is not funny, with no humor, no funny jokes, nowhere. It is a waste of time for the film-makers, the actors and most of all, to the audience. I really felt like going to the box office after the show and asking for a refund. This movie is "foul", "filthy",
"disgusting" and "vile" throughout and every copy the tape should be burned. I give it a -<2> bagger of popcorn because I tried to eat a bag but could not hold it down after seeing this degenerate excuse for entertainment.
Post a Comment