Review of Funny People (1976) by Teddy V — 23 Jan 2012

Adam Sandler manages not to fuck up this very decent dark comedy, and while Rogen tries he manages not to fuck it up either. I could have done without Jonah Hill, but Jason Schwartzman was really good, really funny, in his two or three scenes.

Unfortunately Sandler is clearly taking lessons from the Jim Carrey school of career management and couldn't be bothered to continue making strong pieces of cinema. So Funny People becomes a briefly decent bright spot in the middle of a slide from the pinnacle genius of his performance in Paul Thomas Anderson's Punch Drunk Love and the powerful emotion of Reign Over Me, down to the dregs of crap, pay-check flicks like Just Go With It and Jack & Jill, the last of which I didn't even bother to watch.

If Sandler's not going to try, why should we? This film was panned for being too long, but the story is there, so download the full version if you can. It's worth the watch, even if most of Sandler's other recent films aren't.