Comedians are a funny bunch, and not because they're funny, but people they are interestingly glum in real life, and perhaps there's a reason why we don't have many movies about comedians (only Punchline comes to mind). Longtime friends Judd Apatow and Adam Sandler team up to shine a spotlight at the lives and struggles of comedians in Funny People.
Well-known comedian/actor George Simmons (Adam Sandler) seems to have everything he wants: fame, fortune, a career that is still going strong, and groupies who will have sex with him any time. But he is lonely. When he finds out that he's dying of a rare form of Leukemia, he realizes that, despite the number of friends, fans and colleagues, he has absolutely no real connection with others. He goes back to doing standup comedy just to be around people. He also tries to form a real friendship by taking a green comedian, Ira (Seth Rogen), under his wing. He pays Ira to write jokes for him and eventually to become his personal assistant. Ira is only more than happy to oblige because George Simmons is his idol, plus it beats working at a deli to make ends meet.
As George becomes sicker, his doctor suggests him to go under certain alternative, experimental treatments that have a 8% success rate. Ira also convinces George to tell his friends and family about his condition, to reconnect with people he loves, including the love of George's life, Laura (Leslie Mann), who is now married to an Australian named Clarke (Eric Bana). Despite their history, Laura still cares about George and when she knows about his illness, she softens and forgives him for his trespasses in the past. They become close again. George also grooms Ira and takes him on well-paying gigs to be his opening act. Ira becomes very attached to George, who seems to have changed to embrace his impending death.
But when George receives some good news about his treatments, he suddenly feels like he deserves a second chance, especially with Laura. He realizes that Laura and he still love each other, and her marriage to Clarke is a sham anyway. But Ira thinks otherwise. He believes George is playing with fire and breaking up a perfectly good family. George and Ira's friendship begins to crack.
Adam Sandler (Bedtime Stories) specializes in infantile, lowbrow comedies and have a great following of teenage and young adult boys. However, Sandler is also capable of doing serious adult dramas such as Reign Over Me and Punch-Drunk Love. With Funny People, he is able to combine the two, playing a serious character who just happens to specialize in crude, lowbrow comedies. Now, I don't know how much of George Simmons is modeled after Sandler himself, but he is one sad character. And a jerk. Sandler does him justice, making us loathe and pity George at the same time. When he is funny, Sandler/George can be really funny, but when he is down and out and feeling the weight of his existence, Sandler really shines in giving us a solid, heart-felt performance.
Seth Rogen (Observe and Report) is the go-to guy for the roles of everyday loser with a great personality. Again, Rogen does his job here. His character is a bit of a doormat, however, and it feels awkward when he's being ordered around by George. It is also painful to watch how inept Ira is when it comes to women. For a comedian, he really is dull in real life. As one of Ira's coworkers said, "You're not a funny person!" I think in a way, he's succeeded in portraying a contradicting character: someone who is so ordinary who likes to be outrageous.
Lesie Mann (17 Again) is sexy and sincere as George's love interest. She performs well as a conflicted woman stuck in a marriage who still carries a torch for another man. Eric Bana (Star Trek) is over the top, however, as her dashing husband. He is buffoonish and comes off as fake. Jonah Hill (Night at the Museum) again excels in playing the fat little man who has an attitude problem. But we wonder if this guy has any range. Jason Schwartzman (The Darjeeling Limited) is interesting as a D-List TV actor who believes he is better than his friends.Notable cameos include James Taylor, Andy Dick, Sarah Silverman, Paul Reiser, Eminem, Ray Romano and Justin Long.
Written and directed by Judd Apatow (Knocked Up), the screenplay walks a fine line between being a gross-out comedy and a drama. As a comedy, Apatow doesn't shy away from crude bathroom and sex humor. Now, some of that are probably improv from the actors; after all, we have a cast of seasoned comedians. When Apatow goes for the laughs, it's a risky move -- it's difficult to do a comedy about comedians. Some of the jokes do fall flat, and some of them are simply too infantile even for standup. When he goes for the heart, however, Apatow is usually spot on. There are some touching moments and really good performances by Sandler, Rogen, and the cast. Apatow does a great job showing the ugly underbelly of a comedian's life: it's more often than not brutal, superficial, and harsh.
However, the story meanders. At 146 minutes, it feels long. The plot is rather thin when you considers all the elements, definitely not enough to support a two and a half hour movie. There are plot elements that do not go anywhere, or feel tagged on. There are scenes that are extraneous and could easily have been cut. Some of the performances (especially Bana's) are over the top and they lack credibility. When the story focuses on the romance, it feels forced and uncomfortable. But when it focuses on the friendship between George and Ira, it shines.Funny People is an uneven piece of work. It tries to balance between being a comedy and drama, and the result is mixed. There are certainly entertaining and touching moments, and fans of Adam Sandler would be pleased to see him stretching his range. But the rest feels like it's the "same old same old." It just makes us realize, even for a pro like Apatow, it is hard to be in the funny business.
Stars: Adam Sandler, Seth Rogen, Leslie Mann, Eric Bana, Jonah Hill, Jason Schwartzman, Aubrey Plaza
Director: Judd Apatow
Writer: Judd Apatow
Distributor: Universal
MPAA Rating: R for language and crude sexual humor, sexuality
Running Time: 146 Minutes
Ratings:
Script – 7
Performance – 7
Direction – 6
Cinematography – 7
Music/Sound– 8
Editing – 7
Production – 7
Total – 7.0 out of 10
Abby (Katherine Heigl) is a successful TV morning show producer in Sacramento, CA, whose personal life is rather lacking not because she's unattractive. In fact, she's a very attractive woman, but she's a control freak. She wants everything the way she wants it, including the "perfect guy" she will someday marry. She has a whole checklist of attributes and, of course, unlike her show, she has a hard time controlling whom she meets and falls for.
Enters the host of a new show segment called 
When Abby meets a handsome, perfect doctor Colin (Eric Winter), she is doing all the wrong things trying to catch his eyes. Then Mike comes to the rescue and as much as she hates to admit it, he's right. Everything Mike tells her to do results in Colin falling deeper for her. Things can't be any better, until Mike is wooed by the network in San Francisco. Abby must try to convince Mike to stay for the show, but Mike seems to have something else on his mind...
Katherine Heigl (
Gerard Butler (
The supporting cast provides interesting and funny performances. Bree Turner (
Written by a trio of women -- Nicole Eastman, Karen McCullah (
Abby is also supposed to be so good at her job, but a lot of times she just comes off as incompetent and passive. She's often jostled around by her boss and Mike. There are many situations at the TV station that border on ridiculous (good for comedy, but bad for credibility). It's supposed to be written by women from women's perspective, but the story comes off as pro-men (Mike gets all the chicks, including Abby at the end, by being totally himself), as if there really is something wrong with women going after what they want.
The story opens merely weeks after the last film, in which Sirius Black (Gary Oldman) was killed by Voldemort (Ralph Fiennes). Unbeknownst to the Ministry of Magic, Snape (Alan Rickman) has rejoined the Death Eaters, and he makes an unbreakable vow to protect Draco (Tim Felton), who has been chosen to carry out an important task. And should Draco fail, Snape would complete the task himself. Meanwhile the dark lord and the Death Eaters are now committing crimes in both the magical and Muggle worlds. The wizards and witches of the magical world continue to live in the shadow of Voldemort's terror.
Professor Dumbledore (Michael Gambon) recruits Horace Slughorn (Jim Broadbent) back to Hogwarts to teach potion, while Snape is made the new Dark Art teacher. Dumbledore also tutors Harry privately and shares with him collected memories of Voldemort, who was known as Tom Riddle during his years at Hogwarts. Dumbledore asks Harry to get closer to Slughorn because the latter possesses a crucial memory about Tom Riddle.
Meanwhile, Harry has been studying an old book left by an ex-student who called himself the Half-Blood Prince. The book is filled with remarkable knowledge and advances Harry's skills. When he suspects Draco of harming other students and plotting something against the school, Harry cast an unusual curse he learned from the book, "sectumsempra," against Draco. When he finally obtains Slughorn's memory, he must help Dumbledore to search for an item that could ultimately lead to the defeat of Voldemort.
Daniel Radcliffe (
Michael Gambon (
Writer Steve Kloves (
For those who have read the books, that may not seem so bad. In fact, some of the relationship building and character development may be welcome in place of the breakneck pace of plot advancement. However, for those who have not read the book, the screenplay feels slow-moving, and the plot feels flimsy and disjointed. It seems to take forever (over two and half hours) to get to the point. The mystery and eventual reveal seem contrived. There's just not enough plot to sustain the length of the film. Worse, Kloves adds scenes that are not in the book, and takes away key scenes that would have made the story more comprehensible to those non-readers. He also makes Harry Potter much more passive and agreeable than in the book, giving us one of the weakest episodes as far as the hero is concerned.
Director David Yates (
Sam (Sam Rockwell) is an astronaut stationed on the Moon. He has a three-year contract with Lunar Industry to harvest Helium-3, a pure and clean energy that would power much of the Earth. His job is to monitor the harvest and ship the He3 back to Earth periodically. His only companion is GERTY, an artificial-intelligence computer that assists his day-to-day needs and well-being. There is also no direct communication link between Earth and the Moon, so all Sam gets are periodic recordings from his wife, Tess (Dominique McElligott), and infant daughter.
At the end of his three-year stint, Sam is suffering from severe cabin fever. He's lonely, and he just wants to go home. He starts to see and imagine things. With two weeks left to go, Sam has an accident with one of the mechanical harvesters. Then he wakes up at the infirmary, weak and confused. GERTY tells him the rescue crew onboard of Eliza will arrive from Earth in a few days to clean up after the accident. GERTY is instructed by the company to forbid Sam from leaving the station.
After the recuperation, Sam defies the order and takes an unauthorized trip to the broken harvester. When he gets there, he makes an astounding discovery which places doubt on his sanity and identity. He begins to question the company, his purpose, his family and the reality surrounding him, which also makes him want to return to Earth with greater urgency.
Sam Rockwell (Frost/Nixon) is an interesting choice to play the astronaut. For the most part of the film, Rockwell is the only actor on screen. He has a tremendous challenge acting not only on his own against the futuristic sets and green screens, but also against himself in various situations in which he has to convey confusion, loneliness, trauma, doubts and a wide range of emotions. The entire film rests on him, and Rockwell is phenomenal.
Kevin Spacey (21) provides the voice for the only other major character: GERTY the computer. There's a HAL-like quality to Spacey's calm, collected voice, and one suspects GERTY would also turn sinister as HAL did in 2001: Space Odyssey. The supporting cast has very minor roles in the storytelling, merely to support Sam's character. Dominique McElligott (Dark Floors) has a few emotional scenes in "recorded" messages that may shed some light into Sam's relationship with her and his predicaments. Matt Berry (The Devil's Chair) and Benedict Wong (Sunshine) have small roles as the company men who may have darker purposes than Sam realizes.
The screenplay by writer-director Duncan Jones (Whistle) and Nathan Parker (Blitz) is suspenseful from the first frame. The story starts slowly, introducing us to Sam and the situations and letting us experience Sam's isolation and loneliness. At the same time, the story is revealing important information in bits and pieces, urging the audiences to pay attention and figure things out. The plot slowly escalates to the inciting incidents when Sam's belief system starts to unravel. Duncan plays his cards close to his chest, and by the time the important plot twist happens, we're rewarded by an appreciation of how well the plot is put together and how Duncan has taken his time to develop his character, build the suspense and conflicts, and reveal information as necessary. And the audiences are rewarded for their patience.
For its low budget, Moon has a great science fiction look and feel. The sets are minimalist and the special effects are old school (what with models, composites, green screens, etc.) The design of GERTY is a nice touch: it is both high-tech and accessible at the same time. The musical score by Clint Mansell (The Wrestler) is atmospheric and complementary. The film also boasts some of the best "twin" effects (I wouldn't spoil the movie by going into details). At times, the effects are so well done that they do somehow distract me from the story, because I become so fascinated by the "how did they do that?"
Duncan's pacing is purposefully slow which, in my opinion, enhances the experience. Like the slow reveals of The Sixth Sense, the mystery and suspense build consistently to a crescendo in the final act and the tension is palpable. Duncan has done a great job putting it all together.
John Dillinger (Johnny Depp) is a notorious bank robber during the Depression. Together with outlaws such as sociopathic Baby Face Nelson (Stephen Graham), Dillinger and his men are almost unstoppable. They break out of jails, rob banks with lightning speed, and live openly in corrupt Chicago where the Feds can't touch them. Soon, the FBI headed by J. Edgar Hoover (Billy Crudup) declares Dillinger as their number one public enemy, and Hoover appointed his top agent, Melvin Purvis (Christian Bale) to hunt down Dillinger.
The cat and mouse chases pit Purvis against Dillinger and his men, but in every turn, Dillinger is always one step ahead of Purvis, either outwitting or outgunning the FBI. Frustrated, Purvis asks Hoover to outfit his unit with the hardest, most ruthless agents. Still, even when captured, Dillinger finds a way to escape and outsmart the authorities.
Eventually Purvis finds Dillinger's Achilles' heel: the bank robber has fallen in love with Billie Frechette (Marion Cotillard), a coat-check girl in Chicago. Pushed into a corner and desperate to find a way out, Dillinger decides to do one last heist so he and Billie can finally leave everything behind.
Johnny Depp (Sweeney Todd) is often amazing in his work. As John Dillinger, Depp plays the infamous robber with charisma and suavity. He is both cool and intense, giving us a three-dimensional character who is a hard criminal with a good heart. Depp often is capable of instilling humor in even the darkest characters he plays, and Dillinger is no exception.
Christian Bale (Terminator Salvation) can do intense and stoic in his sleep. He does a good job with the character of Melvin Purvis, sort of the Clark Gable of FBI. However, it would be nice to see Mr. Bale to at least crack a smile once in a while. As good as he is, Bale seems to have pigeonholed himself in these sorts of joyless characters; perhaps it's time for him to branch out a bit. Billy Crudup (Watchmen), meanwhile, has some fun and captures the spirit of the famed J. Edgar Hoover.
Marion Cotillard (La Vie En Rose) doesn't have a lot to do playing Dillinger's girlfriend. Sure, she's dashing and spunky and tender and all that, and we can see why Dillinger would be smitten with her, but her character doesn't have too much depth below the surface, and she serves more as a pawn than a key character in the story. The supporting cast does their job well, including David Wenham (Australia) as Harry "Pete" Pierpont, Rory Cochrane (A Scanner Darkly) as Agent Baum, Channing Tatum (G.I. Joe) as Pretty Boy Floyd, and particularly Stephen Graham (Doghouse) as hateful Baby Face Nelson.
The screenplay is a collaborative effort by Ronan Bennett (Lucky Break), Michael Mann (Miami Vice) and Ann Biderman (Primal Fear). For the most part, the story is taut and streamlined to keep us on our toes. The dialogue has an hard edge to it, and the plot takes us into the world of crime in the early 1930s. Still, the screenplay is inconsistent, and it often drags between action scenes. The relationships between these characters also feel underdeveloped. Personally I don't get it why Billie Flechette would so willingly follow Dillinger and do his bidding. I'm not convinced that a nice girl like her would risk everything for a hardcore criminal.
While the writing is inconsistent (a clear sign that it may have been written by committee), the direction by Michael Mann (Miami Vice) feels even more so. There's a period look to the film that is quite captivating, but Mann decides to shoot the whole film digitally, and at times resorts to a video look to heighten the "realtime" feel of the action. The result is more distracting than engaging. That also gives the film an uneven look. The digital video style appears cheap and unpolished, and it doesn't fit the time period and overall feel of the period piece.