After watching two TV series by Apatow, it made sense to watch his latest movie. Funny People is clearly an Apatow movie: funny but poignant. It’s not a series of jokes for the sake of making you laugh. It’s a story about a down to earth character that makes jokes for a living. So there are plenty of opportunities to makes us laugh, but there’s also a serious side to it.
There’s also a look at the life of comedians, both ones that are successful and ones that are just starting out. It was interesting to see how comedians write their jokes, it’s not just something that pops in their head and it’s ready to be used. An idea comes up, but then they have to work on it and polish it with more ideas and thought.
I’ve never been a fan of Sandler, he was just too over the top for me. But here he’s more relatable as a human being, which is ironic because his character is kind of a jerk. Seth Rogen is likable and the one we identify with. He’s surprised and in awe of Sandler’s life, just like we poor people are. But he also knows how much of a jerk he is.
That’s all in the first part of the movie and I enjoyed it a lot. Unfortunately the second part of this very long movie (too long) just drops in quality. There’s almost a change in tone that transforms the movie into a more traditional comedy. Things get crazy, characters make decisions that don’t make much sense, and it all just feel a little bit forced. It doesn’t go completely over the top, but it’s enough that it doesn’t feel right.
It’s a pity because the first part was very good, worthy of a 4 stars rating. In the end, it’s just worth watching, but it couldn’t have been Apatow’s best movie.
Rating: 3 Stars