Review of Trainwreck (2015) by Augustine H — 21 Dec 2016

Earning critical acclaim and propelling Amy Schumer into the cinematic spotlight, Trainwreck sounded like a fun comedic experience.

In no time, it becomes apparent that Trainwreck is nothing more than a chick flick parading around as an innovative comedy. Judd Apatow seems to think that Trainwreck is able to skim by on the basis of the gender-swapping at the heart of its story. The protagonist is a player in the romantic field who shamelessly engages in sex with multiple people without giving it a second thought, and this time it's a woman doing it. But in no time, the protagonist reveals herself as a whiny and insecure character caught up in a tale of cheap sentimentality and uninspired humour. This is when it becomes clear that what Trainwreck considers an innovation is actually just a facade for a generic chick flick which gets progressively worse as the film goes on and gets more melodramatic with every step.

The idea that Trainwreck is supposed to be a comedy actually becomes an afterthought in the process of its story development because the film gets progressively more and more serious until any possible idea of humour just becomes completely depleted from the feature. If audiences aren't immediately captivated by the comical ambitions of the film, the jokes will seem off-tone and awkward. The humour relies on a lot of random characters jumping in and out of the story and saying ridiculously off-key things with the gimmick of their star power being the driving force behind it. But when the story itself carries such a serious tone, it becomes hard to find any time to laugh. This kind of humour is that which would normally appear in a spoof comedy; one which actually has enough silliness to make it seem appropriate.

The film is a drama with a generic romantic plot line and a collection of random one-liners jammed into its script in an attempt to pass itself off as a comedy. But at no point was I able to stop and laugh because the tone of the film was so poor. The story was ridiculous in how serious it ended up being and yet the humour was so crude, so the comedy and drama sit on opposing ends of the spectrum without ever smoothly integrating. The drama in the film actually managed to develop itself to the film's detriment as its attempts to get deeper made the humour seem all the more shallow and inappropriate. The resulting film is one which is too melodramatic to actually offer anything worth laughing at while simultaneously too juvenile and cheaply-scripted to be compelling on any level. It's rare that a film is as misguided in tone as Trainwreck is, but Judd Apatow finds a way to make it so. Regardless of all its critical acclaim, I would say that the film is one of the most pretentious chick flicks I have ever seen. I am not a fan of chick flicks or romance, and there is no way that Trainwreck can pretend it is anything other than both of those things awkardly concocted into feature length. And when I say feature length, I mean two entire freakin' hours. Rarely can a film be funny for this long as it is a running time far more suited for a drama, but since the plot at the core of the film is so generic and melodramatic there is no fun to be had along the way.

Frankly, it's hard for me to see anyone liking this film unless they are big fans of the conventional chick flick. For them, maybe this film will take enough of a differently oddball path to actually seem refreshing. But to me, it still relies on the cliche formula that plagues every other film in the genre and cannot actually find any time to be funny. Given that the driving force behind the film seems to be comedian Amy Schumer, it seems that she is the one to point the finger at.

Amy Schumer has proven herself as a rising comedian in recent years due to her shameless yet not excessive nature and her sheer ambition. Having never been familiar with her sense of humour beforehand, Trainwreck was the first major exposure I got to her. In honesty, I can't see what all the hype is about. As the writer and star of the film, Amy Schumer contributes humour to neither of these. The script is poorly crafted and her character isn't funny. Given that she is the insecure half of a tedious dramatic relationship, she spends pretty much the entire film just whining about things. It gets annoying fast, and audiences bent on sticking around have to tolerate it for two hours. There was not a single point in the film where Amy Schumer brought me anywhere close to laughing with her supposed charisma. In fact, the one thing that Amy Schumer does accomplish in Trainwreck is proving her talents as a dramatic actress. Despite the film's many moments of melodrama, Amy Schumer always manages to find the ideal level of emotional engagement with the material and creates a more sympathetic side to the otherwise annoying protagonist she has to play the rest of the time. She has no problem revealing the vulnerable side of herself, easily conveying her character's insecurities to audiences and being able to cry on command. Amy Schumer proves that she is extremely skilful as a dramatic talent, and the film leaves me eager to see her in a film which doesn't pretend to be a comedy. Amy Schumer proves that she knows how to act with firm character tenacity, but actually eliciting laughter is clearly not her forte.

And both Bill Hader and Brie Larson bring their inherent charms to the film, proving to both create a strong sense of chemistry with Amy Schumer.

Trainwreck proves that Amy Schumer knows how to act with dramatic charisma, but the film quickly descends into melodramatic territory which drags on for two hours with formulaic chick flick conventions, an uneven tone and brainless attempts at functioning comedy.