Funny People reviews give mixed results
Could it be that Judd Apatow is all grown up?Well, the “Funny People” reviews are in, and they are pretty mixed. I had very high hopes for this film because it looks hilarious and strange and a little dark on the Funny People trailer, which is posted after the last “Funny People” review on this page.
The director of “Funny People” as you very well may know is Judd Apatow, famous for “Knocked Up” and “The 40-Year-Old Virgin.” “Funny People” also stars Seth Rogen, along with Adam Sandler and Leslie Mann. Despite the mixed “Funny People” reviews, I am sure the film will make back the $70 million cash advance in Oregon that was spent on making it.
Here are some “Funny People” reviews from RottenTomatoes.com.
Kyle Smith, New York Post:
“Funny People” turns out to be one of the most absorbing films of the year. … Apatow, the writer-director of “The 40-Year-Old Virgin” and “Knocked Up,” starts with a camcorder snippet he took nearly 20 years ago of his then-roommate, Adam Sandler, making prank calls in a prison-bare apartment. A third roommate, another comic, isn’t famous. That’s part of what “Funny People” is about. Apatow and Sandler’s experience gives the movie its foundation.
The Minneapolis Star Tribune:
The maturing of Judd Apatow is sort of a shame. … His third film as a writer/director, “Funny People,” concerns loneliness, illness and infidelity. Clocking in at 2 1/2 hours, it’s a throwback to the smiling-through-tears midlife dramedies James L. Brooks made in bygone years. It’s “Terms of Endearment” with dirtier jokes. The laughs get bogged down in drama and self-analysis.
Tom Long, Detroit News:
There’s desperation to comedy that often goes ignored. This person is trying to make you laugh; they have to make you laugh. If they don’t make you laugh, they’ve failed.
If they do make you laugh, for that one moment they’ve connected.
The value of that connection is at the center of “Funny People,” writer-director Judd Apatow’s outsized exploration of mortality and comedy. That this movie manages to be hilarious while honing in on the particulars that go into hilarity is a rare achievement. But then few films would dare look death right in the face and laugh aloud.
Betsy Sharkey, L.A. Times:
The funny thing about “Funny People” is that it is neither funny nor sad, this despite headlining funny guys Adam Sandler and Seth Rogen, featuring cameos and supporting work from roughly 20 other card carrying comedians, and a plot line that centers on a near-death experience.
When that many certifiably funny people working together can’t make a funny movie, that’s a tragedy. So I guess “Funny People” is sad after all, just not for the right reasons.
Chris Hewitt, St. Paul Pioneer Press:
Take “Funny People” at its word: It’s full of funny people, even if it’s not a satisfying movie.
In fact, that title might refer to the actors in “Funny People,” rather than to anything in the movie itself. True, the characters played by Adam Sandler, Seth Rogen and Jonah Hill are stand-up comedians, but they’re not the only funny people here. In fact, even the ones who are mostly straight men are played by stand-up comedians (including Eric Bana, who got his start in Australian comedy clubs). As a result, even when this shaggy movie seems unsure where to turn next, there’s usually someone around to perk it up with an oddly timed line or a sharp observation.
Stephen Whitty, Newark Star-Ledger
The movie is called “Funny People.” Funny doesn’t always mean smart, but this is the work of a couple of very smart comedians.
One of them is Judd Apatow, the one-time TV writer who is pretty much his own studio these days, with a hand in comedies from “The 40-Year-Old Virgin” to “Superbad,” and an eye for new talent that has produced a stable of discoveries.
The other one is — I have to admit it — Adam Sandler.
I almost hate to admit it, too, because Sandler is one comic I’ve never gotten. When he was on “Saturday Night Live,” he used to laugh at his own jokes; when he went into movies, he specialized in playing angry, adenoidal babies. I couldn’t stand him.
But Sandler did, to his credit — and unlike plenty of other comics — occasionally seek out real directors and real challenges. “Punch Drunk Love” was a stretch. “Spanglish” was another. They showed a willingness to try new things, even if neither completely worked.
“Funny People” works.
