Review of Trainwreck (2015) by Filmphonic — 13 Aug 2015

Director/producer Judd Apatow (The 40-Year-Old Virgin, Knocked Up) brings his brash and irreverent comic sensibilities to the traditional romantic comedy through the female perspective of writer and star Amy Schumer, America’s current black-sheep darling who proves that the girls can get just as lewd and outrageous as the boys.

‘Trainwreck’ is the brainchild of current superstar comedienne and US media darling Amy Schumer, who brings her brutally honest comic sensibilities and semi-autobiographical experiences to what is essentially a traditional romantic comedy, featuring a girl with commitment issues and traumatic life experiences who gets a chance at real love only to ruin it before ultimate redemption.

This film is to some extent a social satire that takes pop-shots at relationship dramas and our vacuous celebrity-obsessed society, only to then undermine itself by relying heavily on often cringeworthy celebrity cameos, but Schumer is the star of the show here with her comedic stylings just about shining through and with a surprisingly convincing dramatic performance in the few moments where pathos tempers the comedy.

Despite several legitimately hilarious moments and the rarity of having a feminine perspective on the lewd outrageous adult comedy, ‘Trainwreck’ is still your run-of-the-mill Rom-Com with a traditional and predictable 3-act structure, essentially; quirky girl set in her ways meets good guy who turns her world upside down, she can’t handle it and her love and life falls apart, only for her to see the light achieve redemption where everything turns out great.

The Bottom Line….

Director Judd Apatow manages to transfer some of Amy Schumer’s TV & stand-up comedic talents to the big screen in an often side-splitting irreverent comedy from a rare female perspective, but ultimately ‘Trainwreck’ it too familiar to stand out in the comedy movie crowd and loses too much steam to be memorable on its way to a predictable and unsatisfying conclusion.