Never in a million years did I think Judd Apatow was capable of making something as sharp and penetrating as “Funny People.” Never. Since the director first started dabbling in film, I’ve been a harsh critic of everything he’s touched, labeling it as over-rated, overlong, self-indulgent and as forgettable as last week’s “National Enquirer.” Well, past is the past. “Funny People” is proof that this was a director working towards something, earning his chops and feeling his way to bigger things. And it was worth the wait. “Funny People” is kinda brilliant — an insightful, touching and intelligent dramedy… James L. Brooks at his best but with a whole lot of dick jokes.
Adam Sandler is George Simmons, a comedian/movie star as wealthy and popular as Sandler, but having turned his back on his family and cheated on his one true love, Laura (Leslie Mann), he’s now left with only “show-biz friends,” which means he has no friends at all. In-between making films like “Merman” (“Splash” with a guy mermaid) and private-jetting to corporate standup gigs that pay $300k, this desolate 40 year-old haunts a Malibu mansion and looks to fill his emptiness with willing groupies and everything money can buy.
After being diagnosed with a rare form of Leukemia, George is given an 8% chance of survival and put on experimental medicines that only seem to quicken his deterioration. He has no one, so he tells no one, but for some element of human contact he returns to his roots in the L.A. comedy clubs. This is where George meets Ira (Seth Rogen), a struggling comedian much better at writing jokes than delivering them. Needing a joke writer, an assistant, and even a friend, George hires Ira to be all three and a fascinating, complicated and unpredictable relationship is born.
The film’s first half takes us into the ultra-competitive world of show business and standup comedy, using Ira and his two roommates as a microcosm. The three of them are close but always simmering just below the surface is a fierce rivalry. Mark (Jason Schwartzman) is a sitcom star who leaves his $25,000 paychecks lying around, Leo (Jonah Hill) is just starting to make money as a performer, but Ira’s relegated to grabbing open mic nights and working full time behind the deli counter of a grocery store. Apatow obviously understands this world very well because the relationships feel 100% authentic, especially the tensions that never leave these three, even in the best of times.
The narrative takes an abrupt turn in the second half, way outside the world of Hollywood and into suburban family life, when George re-enters Laura’s life. Though it’s been twelve years and Laura’s now married with two daughters, imminent death stirs up old feelings between them and George decides he wants her back. Because her Australian husband (Eric Bana) is unfaithful, George proceeds under the assumption all’s fair. But things aren’t as black and white as he thought, and this includes his own feelings.
Apatow’s genius is how effortlessly he pulls two completely different worlds into one cohesive film without breaking the spell. You have to credit the director’s skills as a screenwriter, but the whole show is the single and separate emotional journeys of George and Ira, and both actors playing those roles deliver revelatory, career-high performances.
Sandler’s always shown promise as a dramatic actor; the problem has been the films themselves. Even more than the under-appreciated “Punch Drunk Love,” “Funny People” gives Sandler a showcase any serious actor would kill for and boy does he deliver. George is alternately pathetic, cruel, charming and despairing, and Sandler hits each note perfectly. Never once do you catch him acting. Never once does he stoop to pathos. Rogen, an actor I’ve never warmed to until now, is just as good. Finally he shakes off the cold hostility that’s undermined everything he’s done thus far and delivers an accessible, average guy (though driven) worth rooting for. Leslie Mann (Apatow’s wife) is, as always, fetching and compelling.
At 146 minutes, the pacing is certainly deliberate and measured, but the butt never numbed and I was sorry when it ended. The language is crude. Everyone’s obsessed with sex, especially the male member, but unlike Apatow’s other films these moments don’t feel look-at-this-iconic-moment forced. The world’s so perfectly realized that, coming from these characters, the “dick” stuff is more charming than off-putting and feels as natural as breathing.
Without giving anything away, what’s most impressive about this terrific film is how difficult and troubled George’s journey is. When he remembers he’s dying, he really is a changed man. When he forgets, the closed, self-involved “star” quickly returns. This is why the film, length and all, works so damn well. From moment to moment, you never know (especially in the second half) which George you’re dealing with. It’s a perfect thread of emotional tension that tightens until the very last scene, which, for my money, is one of subtlest, sweetest and best of the year.
I was wrong about Apatow, I was wrong about Rogen, and when it comes to movies I love being this kind of wrong.
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