Review: Funny People

Synopsis: A famous comedian/movie star learns that he is dying and figures out that his life is kind of crappy. A comedian trying to make it in the stand-up world gets sucked into the famous person’s life as the movie star’s assistant.

Stars: Uh, once again, there are a lot of famous people in the movie. A lot of cameos. I’ll just list the obvious. Adam Sandler, Seth Rogen, Leslie Mann, Eric Bana, Jonah Hill, Jason Schwartzman

Let me just warn you straight up. If you are expecting to go see this and see the 40-Year Old Virgin and Knocked Up, you will be disappointed. This movie doesn’t go for the extremes like either of those movies, or any other Seth Rogen associated movie. That out of the way, damn what a good movie. The movies isn’t without its problems of course. For instance, I feel like it was two different movies. One I really liked, and one I eventually started getting tired of. The life of a stand-up comedian mixed in with the tale of a wasted life. It was a nice little package anyways.

Things I Liked:
Adam Sandler- I don’t know about the rest of the world, but I love it when Adam Sandler does (mostly) serious roles. I think he’s a very good actor. In fact, I really like a lot of comedians that do serious roles. Jim Carrey, Mike Myers (54 if you don’t remember), um… I’m sure there are others that I’m not thinking of.

You know what? Give it up for the whole cast- Everyone in this movie was really good. Eric Bana made me laugh quite a few times. Jason Schwartzman also was just as funny, and good in his role. I felt like the friendship between Rogen, Schwartzman, and Hill was easier to relate to then the other movies I have seen these guys in together (well, Rogen and Hill I guess). Then again, I’m not a stoner. Leslie Mann, she was SO good in this movie. She needs more roles. Give her more stuff Hollywood.

Things I Didn’t Like:
Pacing- Now, remember when I said that it was two movies, one I liked and one I was getting tired of? Now that I have had time to reflect on this, I think it all came down to pacing. There were tons of cameos throughout the movie, and the constant stand-up routine just got tired for me. And now that I think about it, the “lost love possibly regained” scenes were lagging too. The movie was long, almost 2 and a half hours worth, and I have to admit that at the time I didn’t notice this but I do have a habit of getting sucked into almost any movie. Now that I’m clear headed I can see that it really felt like a lot of scenes to make one story.

Too many cameos- There were some people that briefly appeared in the movie I could have done without. I love Dave Attell and Norm MacDonald, but they weren’t acting in the movie, and their brief appearance made me cringe.

Things I Hated:
Nah. Nothing here.

Verdict:
I’d say this flick a 4 out of 5, leaning toward 3. If you miss seeing it in the theater, I don’t think you are going to regret it. It would make a pretty good rental. I did really like it at the time of exiting the theater. Now that I’ve been able to sit back and pick at it, I can see that it still was very good, but not perfect in any stretch. Well, maybe Eric Bana was perfect. He was really funny.