1.5 stars (out of five). Rating: R, for nudity, sexual candor and relentless profanity
By Derrick Bang • Originally published in The Davis Enterprise, 7.31.09
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Wow ... what a tedious, self-indulgent mess.
Filmmakers who decide to become "meaningful" must be regarded with eyebrow-raised skepticism, because it's a sure sign that somebody is taking himself much too seriously. The situation inevitably occurs because the artist in question — often a director — has made buckets of money in the recent past, and therefore has the clout to be green-lighted for what amounts to an insufferable vanity project.
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| When Clarke (Eric Bana, far right) returns home early from a business trip, his wife, Laura (Leslie Mann), stumbles to find a reasonable explanation to justify the presence of long-ago lover George (Adam Sandler, left) and tag-along Ira (Seth Rogen) in their home. Because Clarke is such an idiot -- a failing that afflicts every character in this film -- it's not that hard a sell. |
Which, in a world where poetic irony rules, flops.
Think back to Steven Spielberg, who stumbled big time with 1941
, after having been such a media darling with Jaws
and Close Encounters of the Third Kind
. Recall James Cameron, parlaying his two Terminator
films into the mooningly melodramatic The Abyss
. Or Barry Levinson, following Rain Man
and Bugsy
with the jaw-droppingly dreadful Toys
.Judd Apatow's shtick always has skirted the ragged edge of cruelty, and Funny People is distastefully mean-spirited. This is a sordid little tale of morally compromised troglodytes who are intended, in Apatow's imagination, to be sympathetic protagonists in his interminable, clumsily written narrative.
They are not sympathetic. They do not deserve happiness or anything else that might be construed as a "reward." As a group, they begin this film with the ethics of snake-oil salesmen, and their bad behavior remains consistent until a thoroughly unpersuasive epilogue.
They do not learn; they do not respect even their so-called best friends; they lack sense — common, good or any other kind — and carry on like spoiled children.
All of them. All the time.
Normally, such misanthropic behavior would be held up for low comedy, as was the case with Apatow's The 40-Year-Old Virgin
or Knocked Up
, both of which blended hilariously coarse dialogue with a sweet romantic underbelly. We tolerated and laughed at the former because the latter was a satisfying payoff: Steve Carell genuinely fell in love, Katherine Heigl did right by her unborn child. Funny People, in great contrast, overflows with so much contrived melancholy and faux poignance that it becomes the sort of purple melodrama that Tom Servo and the 'bots from Mystery Science Theater 3000 would have roasted with glee.
Worse yet, this film gives us no satisfaction: nothing to be pleased with, as the lights finally rise after 146 interminable minutes.
is a rather amazing scientific genius, having developed the means to communicate with animals 
and 
supplemented by 21st century pokes at the Mars/Venus male/female divide. 
) play up writer Mark Boal's documentary-style approach, often employing the grainy film stock and hand-held camera work that simulate events as they unfold. (Fortunately, Bigelow is savvy enough to minimize this technique, using it only when appropriate, to spare us attacks of vertigo.)