Review of Funny People (2009) by Jason C — 01 Feb 2012

Funny People is the third film from writer and director Judd Apatow which centres around the world of comedy, quite shocking for a film with the word 'funny' in the title. Of course the film isn't all about the comedy, which there is plenty of. Oh no this is an Apatow film so it goes a lot deeper than that.

George (Sandler) is a famous comedian who has been making increasingly worse films as his career progresses (sound familiar Adam Sandler?). So when he is diagnosed with a rare form of leukaemia he returns to the comedy circuit in order to reconnect with the life he forgot, which is where he meets Ira (Rogen). Ira is a budding comedian, determined to make it big as he hones his trade performing at open mic nights. Impressed by his work, George offers Ira the chance to write some jokes for him for an upcoming MySpace gig, which of course he accepts.

George is living a shallow life at this point. He is rich and has everything he could possibly want except friends and a family. Some of the jokes hit hard when you consider this lifestyle. Laughing at the amount of "friends" people have online being directly comparable to the friends people have in reality soon becomes bittersweet when you realise George has nobody. The film deals with this genuine vulnerability which most comedians have to cope with well. It shows the loneliness and depression through George, perfectly juxtaposing this with the early days of comedy and the friendships that are built in comedy clubs through Ira.

The moment the film shows its true heart is a short scene where George and Laura (Mann), the ex who he never stopped loving, discuss his illness together. The real life relationship between these actors is so powerful that Mann had trouble imagining long term friend Sandler suffering from a critical illness and this genuine emotion shows throughout the scene. Apatow, Mann's real life husband, captures this perfectly.

Apatow as a director utilises his relationships with the cast perfectly. Mann, of whom I am not a big fan, gives a great performance as Laura, especially in the closing scenes with Eric Bana (another great performance). Even their two daughters were OK, an improvement on their roles in Knocked Up. It is no secret I am not a fan of child actors, but the real life relationship is what makes their performance believable. I always get the feeling I'm watching a family home movie when I watch an Apatow film and this is no exception. He even goes as far as using archive footage of himself and Sandler making prank calls from when they lived together which cements this feeling.

All in all it is a typical Apatow film filled with genuine emotion and some great moments of comedy. The stand up scenes are great, especially when you realise the extras in the audience had no idea what to expect and were told to react as they would normally, as such there is no forced laughter here. The film does head toward the clichà (C)d ending, but you don't get it. What matters is the relationship between the two men. Two strangers who became colleagues and then friends, some might even argue the family they both needed, so even though it isn't the ending some may expect, it is the ending the film deserves.

Critics had a mixed opinion of this film, but for me I think it is Apatow's best film to date. When you look a little bit deeper you can see exactly what he has captured, and that is the emotion of a genuine family and I for one hope to see more films like this in the future.