The Comedian’s Life

Every once in a while, Adam Sandler decides to act, really act, you know, like in Punch-Drunk Love or Spanglish, and the Sandler you see on the big screen then is much different than the one from, say, Happy Gilmore or The Wedding Singer.

It’s a less affected Sandler, and that so helps Funny People, the third movie directed by Judd (The 40-Year-Old Virgin, Knocked Up) Apatow because it adds dimension to a movie that’s trying to be funny and poignant and often ends up just feeling…puzzling, not to mention long.

Apatow was just on CBS News Sunday Morning talking about how his insecurity – let’s call a spade a spade – makes him shoot so much film, too much film.

“I shot about 2 million feet of film for [for this movie],” he said. “And most movies are about, like, 600,000 feet of film. Because in my head, I think, ‘I better get more stuff, ’cause what if it’s not funny?’”

It’s an understandable concern, especially when expectations are high for a successful follow-up, but I’m sure it doesn’t make the editing process any easier – and it shows.

The movie meanders, emotionally and tonally. A lot was said about its trailers, and how one emphasized its typical Apatowian guffaws while another played up the drama of the story, which ended up confusing the audience. If you must see Funny People at the theater, you should know that it’s much more of a dramedy than you’re used to from Apatow. It’s not all take a toke, make a funny.

It’s a departure.

Sandler plays George Simmons, a comedic actor who’s made it big in Hollywood with an oeuvre that includes such gems as Mer-Man and Re-Do, a flick in which he is granted his wish to start all over again and ends up a grown-man’s head in a baby’s body.

George has a following, though, especially in the stand-up comedy circuit. That’s where he came from, and that’s where he goes back to after he learns that he has a rare blood disease and not a lot of time left to live. That reality check makes him take stock of his not-so-greatly lived life. During a gig at a club, George meets Ira (Seth Rogen), a struggling comedian he hires to be his personal assistant and opening act at his performances.

He hires him to be his friend, really, and eventually the two forge an actual bond.

I helps G find some closure, some meaning in his unexamined life (that’s when a sullen G thinks – Spoiler Alert! – he’s dying), and G helps I with his career.

George also reconnects with Laura (the incredible Leslie Mann, whom I heart), a.k.a. the love of his life, the one who got away, which isn’t that good a thing.

Funny People is an alright movie.

It’s got good moments, but it’s also got too many underused supporting players (thanks for showing up, Jonah Hill and Jason Schwartzman). More importantly, as an real-type of story, the movie works, like I said before, thanks to Sandler, who puts it all out there for us too, every feeling, every hope, every let-down. But it meanders from mood to mood too much, often switching gears abruptly. And that’s not funny, people.

My Rating **

Photo: Universal Pictures.