Judd Apatow’s Funny People is a film of three thirds; it starts off well, drawing you in with a string of funny jokes, will send you to sleep in the middle (quite literally in the case of the friend that I saw the film with), and finishes fairly averagely, once again providing a few laughs albeit not as well as in the opening. Apatow’s previous two films, The 40 Year Old Virgin and Knocked Up, are both very funny films, with Funny People he attempts to take a more serious approach however, and I’m not entirely sure it works.
Given the subject matter of this film, Funny People was always going to be more serious than Apatow’s previous two films, despite being prepared for a greater maturity with Funny People I certainly wasn’t expecting the film to be so bland however, and Funny People as a whole is a film that left me sorely disappointed.
Adam Sandler and Seth Rogen both play their parts well, and it’s not their fault that Funny People isn’t very good, some of the supporting cast aren’t so impressive in their roles however, and there are definitely one or two here that are more than a little irritating to watch.
With Funny People there are some decent comedy elements, and there are times when the film is laugh out loud funny, in trying to combine comedy with drama I feel that Apatow’s inexperience in the drama department is highly evident here however, and as such the film as a whole therefore provides for a somewhat disappointing viewing experience. Funny People is by no means awful, and I can think of plenty of films worse than Apatow’s attempt at comedy drama here, it’s certainly not the great film I was hoping for however, and is not one that I’m ever likely to be watching again in the future.
Does Funny People point at the direction that Judd Apatow will be heading towards in the future? I seriously hope not. I’d love to see Judd Apatow get back to his pure comedy ways in the not too distant future, and if he can indeed get back to his old ways then I’m sure that we’ll once again see impressive comedy films from Judd Apatow in years to come.
Rating:
UK based film graduate with a huge passion for music, sports and video games.
From the director of The 40 Year Old Virgin and Knocked Up comes Funny People, a comedy film written, directed and co-produced by Judd Apatow. The film stars Adam Sandler and Seth Rogen, and if you’ve enjoyed Judd Apatow’s films in the past then there’s a good chance that you’ll appreciate this one also.