Funny People Review

John Campea 70 Comments

Thanks for checking out our review for Funny People.

It’s hard to believe considering his name is on just about every comedy movie that comes out these days, but Judd Apatow has only directed two movies in his amazing career so far. One if them is the very good “Knocked Up”, and the other one is (in my opinion anyway) one of the greatest comedies of all time, The 40 Year Old Virgin.

So when it’s announced that Apatow is about to release his third film as a director, you’ve gotta sit up and pay attention. So here comes “Funny People”. Does it meet the high standards Apatow has set in the past? Ummm… no, not even close.

THE GENERAL IDEA

The synopsis for Funny People reads something like this: “George Simmons (Adam Sandler) is a very successful yet self-involved stand-up comedian who learns that he has an incurable blood disorder and is given less than a year to live. Ira Wright (Weiner is his actual last name) (Seth Rogen) is a struggling up-and-coming stand-up comedian who works at a deli and has yet to figure out his onstage persona. One thing these different men have in common is that neither of them have any close friends. One night, George takes notice of Ira when they perform at the same club and he hires him to be his semi-personal assistant and opening act at his performances. George and Ira form a close bond as George teaches Ira how to win the crowd and Ira helps the dying George find closure in his legacy. However, when George learns that his disease has gone into remission and an old flame (Leslie Mann) reenters his life, his recent near death experience inspires him to reevaluate what is important to him and what truly gives meaning to his life.”

THE GOOD

One of the best things about Judd Apatow comedies is that underneath the giggles and crass jokes, there is always something deeper, something touching or even a bit profound once you peel back the layers of them. Funny People deals with a man facing his own mortality which forces him to actually evaluate his life. It’s a bold attempt for someone who is seen as a “funny man” in Hollywood. It’s this direction that makes Funny People more than just a comedy… it’s a film.

Adam Sandler continues to show us that he’s probably better suited as a dramatic actor than a comedic one. He has so much raw potential as an actor that it makes me sad he doesn’t get the opportunity to showcase it more. In the parts of Funny People where Sandler is called upon to project REAL harsh emotions and feelings from this character facing his own demise, the movie shines. They are the highlight of this film for me.

THE BAD

Unfortunately the potentially powerful story underneath “Funny People” gets lost and buried under piles of misfired humor, pointless and distracting parades of needless celebrity cameos and frankly unlikeable and unrelatable characters that no one in the audience ever becomes attached to. The story is essentially lost in the telling. Sandler’s character is so unlikeable that I never care if he lives or dies… and that hurts the film a lot. The main emotional hook of the film fails and thus all the guts are taken out before it even really launches.

This film is TOO LONG. Some movies are perfect for 2.5 or 3+ hours… others are perfect at 83 minutes. Funny People was far too long and drawn out with constant repetitiveness and over dwelling on points we as the audiences already got an hour ago. Eric Bana (who is in so much of the trailers) doesn’t show up until almost 2 hours into the film, because it all moves so slowly. There is no pace to the movie whatsoever.

It’s not funny. Don’t get me wrong, there are certainly funny parts… but they’re isolated and random. The “funniness” seems to just come from random jokes thrown out there (and there are a few of those) instead of from the story or characters themselves. No laughs are built through the film… they’re all just quick random one shots… completely different from the other Apatow films.

The supporting cast surrounding Sandler did not work. I love Jonah Hill, but he did not work in this movie. I love Seth Rogen, but he did not work in this movie. I love Jason Schwartzman, but he did not work in this movie. Everything away from Sandler himself just felt flat and almost desperate.

OVERALL

Funny People is a potentially smart comedy that quickly loses it’s way and becomes mired in disjointed story telling, lack of focus, too many random celebrity cameos, an overly long run time, lack of pace and despite some decent chuckles here and there, lack of humor. Sandler shines in his more dramatic moments, but almost everything else falls well short. Judd Apatow is a genius, but I think we finally just saw his one bad day at the office. Oh well… we all have them from time to time. Overall I give “Funny People” a 4 out of 10.

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70 thoughts on “Funny People Review”

  1. I just watched this movie. I never blogged about any movie before, but I felt I just had to after watching this. This movie is a very intelligent comedy. I enjoyed every single minute of it.

  3. I think this movie was a waste of time & money!
    They tried to make a funny movie about funny people but it was the WORSTTTTT!!!
    Also they tired to get to deep with with the guy who had cancer and made this long story line about nothing… i feel alseep in the Movie!

  4. The *HOT* John Robert Holbrook poster of his male model laying face down on a couch (naked) wearing only the Holbrook socks is a masterpiece! I received this poster during the 2009 Sundance Film Festival and I now need more for gifts. Does anyone know where the John Robert Holbrook posters are available? I was told Prints Plus and allposters.com but they are out. HELP!

  5. I agree that the movie was way too long, but I did enjoy, and for that matter, like it. Then again, I saw it after hearing it wasn’t so much a comedy as a drama. I still laughed at many of the supposed-to-be-funny parts.

  7. so sorry the movie got such a bad review we just saw it today …and thought it was GREAT!!! Very funny, great story and I hope lots of people talk about it so the viewing is increased.

    1. I agree totally! JR Holbrook is darling and makes us laugh! He needs a part in Judd Apatow’s next movie!
      I also read that JR Holbrook’s cologne ( John Robert Holbrook – Pharaoh ) is worn by Robert Redford, Bill Clinton and Princess Diana’s boys….WOW!

  9. Actually, I think “Robby the Robot” was worse but this comes in second. Juvenile and inane with adolescent bathroom humor that goes on endlessly for 2 1/2 tortuous hours, one would be better served by staring into empty space for the same period of time and save the price of admission. I am offended that Universal Studios assumes their audience are half wits who enjoy an endless stream of unfunny jokes about balls and cocks.

  10. This was literally the worst movie I have ever seen. That is saying something because I thought nothing could be worse than Battlefield Earth haha

    If you want to see it I suggest saving yourself a few dollars and wait for the DVD release.

  11. As usual…the non-talent Seth Rogen ruins another film. Sandler actually did a fair job for once. Over all 4 out of 10 is spot on is being kind.

  12. Saw this last night and was utterly disappointed; the plot was not at all reflective of the title. I left the theater feeling as if I had wasted 2.5 hours of my life! Sandler and Rogen had great chemistry but it wasn’t enough to save the movie for me. I want my $$ back!!!!!!!!Don’t waste your time with this one. I wouldn’t even watch it on DVD>

  13. Can’t believe you gave it such a poor review. I really liked the movie a lot and thought it was one of the better of the movie. It was more serious and emotional, could have been shorter though. The stand up acts were hilarious and a great way to brighten the mood.

  14. I must say, I was disappointed. Although I can understand many, if not all, comics have an underlying sadness, I couldn’t get past the raunchy, adolescent attempts at humor. Heck, as an adolescent I wouldn’t have laughed, and I can handle just about anything. Completely unfunny and unbearably long for me. I love these guys in the other films, but this one just made me sink into my seat in embarrassment, as many kind, mature couples, hoping for a laugh, left the theater. I mean, how many comments about penis size can you hear before you say “enough”. I can’t even give this one a second look to see if I missed something.

  15. I don’t agree with John often, but I actually agree here. The movie needed a huge re-edit to cut it down by at least 40 minutes.

    Sandler does awesome with his character, but the script is the problem, the story is just not that interesting, doesn’t have any real point, and it doesn’t know how it wants to end. When the ending comes at 2.5 hours, it seems like Apatow realized he still had another 20 minutes to tell, but grew bored, or realized the audience was already lost, so just ended it.

    There is scene toward the end of the film where Sandler and Rogen are in Sandler’s Escalade driving and fighting that all but screamed for a horrible accident to kill Sandler. That would have been an ending more in line with the tone of this movie, and spare you the pain of watching Sandler revert to his pre-illness form, and further pain of him having a minor change of heart at the end for no explained reason.

    Lastly, Eric Bana’s presence hurts this flawed movie, as he proves once again that he cannot act.

  16. After reading all the posts it looks like most of you enjoyed the movie even if John wasn’t impressed. It was supposed to be a more ‘grown up’ Apatow film and I think it succeeded. While not as funny or over the top as his other films, this tried to tackle a more emotionally complex plot (well two heavy sub-plots really) and still try to get good humor in there. A little long yes, but still enjoyable.

    I wrote a review if anyone’s interesed…http://greatct.wordpress.com/

  17. John, I completely agree with your review. This was a huge disappointment and a very self-indulgent film from Apatow. I heard early talk of Oscar for this movie, but I just can’t see any nominations whatsoever for this film.

  19. I just finished watching it, it was ok. It was too drawn out and I understand that the dramatic parts flesh out Sandler’s character. But some things were not needed and you really don’t care much for Sandler’s character. A lot of the comedy bits seem out of place or forced into the scene.

  20. I give this film a seven out of ten. I agree with most of what you have to say though. The characters are picked up and dropped off randomly through out the film and it should have only been and hour and a half. The part were I stray from the review is when you said is wasn’t funny. I thought this was a very funny movie. Yes there weren’t a huge amount of stand up scence, but there is a lot of situational humor. This film, like Observe and Report is as you put it, a film not a comedy and some of the funniest things in life are the things that happens off stage.

  21. To me, The 40 Year Virgin was just a bunch of random jokes. It was still funny, but that’s what Apatow does. He doesn’t write ‘comedies’, he writes films with plots that are sprinkled with frequent jokes. I think the serious nature of this film might be causing people to think it is different than his previous 2 films, but I feel it very similar, and just as good.
    The thing is, comedy is so subjective it i hard to go on reviews. What I find hilarious, John might not. So, although I disagree with your opinion on this film, you are not wrong in your assessment. It is pretty much what you described. It just so happens that I find that humorous, while you do not.

    1. You didn’t care if Sandler lived or died? I find that hard to believe. Love or hate the movie, or Sandler’s character, I thought he was a character to be sympathized with, heavily.

    2. I did. I was merely commenting on the humor, and how I thought it was very funny. You are definitely correct about sandler’s character, and sandler himself is incredibly under appreciated as a dramatic actor. I still think his finest performance was in Punch Drunk Love, where he not only hung in there with, but was probably better than Phillip Seymour Hoffman.

  23. i don’t like all the people saying it wasnt funny enough. it wasnt supposed to be 40 year old virgin or knocked up. you’re getting an insight into the inner working, into the minds of comedians. with most comics the jokes come from very dark places. comics find comedy in tragedy and this film depicted that perfectly. pryor’s greatest bits were about his drug use and suicidal thoughts. eddie murphy’s greatest bits were about his poor upbringing. comedians on the whole have gone through a lot and have not had the best lives. but comedians are the few who can find laughter and happiness in the saddest darkest places. the only comedian i know who had a great childhood and awesome upbringing is dane cook and he has to steal all of his jokes.

  24. yeah, I have to totally disagree with this review. This was a great film. And yes it was long, but I loved to movie and would have watched it for 3 more hours…I was laughing the whole time. And the celebrity cameos were not gimmicky or too numerous in my opinion. The characters in the movie were famous, so their friends were famous…it was what the story called for. And the scene with Eminem and Ray Romano was the funniest in the film. If the oscars happened today, Sandler would get an oscar nod too, it was a great performance. Read Ebert’s review, its more how I think some of us feel about the movie.

  25. I personally loved it. It was long, but it defintally did not hurt the movie at all. I thought it was great, and I really did get attached to the characters.

  27. I disagree with your review as well. I loved a lot of these characters and I enjoyed spending the time for the first hour or so with Sandler and Rogen because it then made the second segment dealing with Leslie Mann’s character, that much more significant. Apatow continues to impress and this film was enjoyable from beginning to end. Running time didn’t bother me in the least either. I didn’t notice till after the movie was over.

    1. I felt the exact same way. I thought it was spectacular. I’m no comedian, but I loved getting a glimpse of how comedians live and act around each other. In that respect, I would have to say that the “out of nowhere, one-liners” was appropriate. It’s funny people avoiding real drama and cutting the awkwardness with comedy – most of the time out of place. I liked 40 yr old virgin, loved Knocked Up, but I think this is Apatow’s greatest movie yet. I guess I like a little drama and realism with my comedy – like how it appears in real life.

  31. The one thing I can never agree on with you John is comedy but is fine considering everyone has a different sense of humor. Like I hated Tropic Thunder and you loved it I loved My best Friends Girl and you hated it.

    But The Hangover was just the best comedy for me in so long and you gave that a good review.

    Judging by Johns reviews lately I am expecting a 0 out 1-10 for GI JOE

  32. I just got back from seeing it and I thought it was laugh-out-loud hilarious. I loved every character mainly Sandler and Rogan. The movie seemed to me to have a good pace and I felt it could have even been longer. At the end of Funny People I found myself wanting more Apatow. This was a great film 5/5.

  34. Btw John about the random humor, that’s my kind of humor, so I guess we all find comedy funny in different ways. Slapstick…ehhh. But random, yes that’s funny.

    1. I agree.

      I understand its a movie but sometimes i like to watch real people with real problems. Like how often does someone wake up and find a tiger in their hotel?

  35. I thought it was hilarious. Now, that being said it was a very depressing movie. I still enjoyed it but some times I was taken out of the humor by the sadness

  36. And while I’m at it… that is the forst f@cking poster for a movie ever. It looks like something off the Hallmark channel. I felt like I aged 60 years and grew a vagina just looking at it

    1. Oh, please. “Oh no, they’re hugging!” If it fits the feel of the film, it’s a good poster. Whether or not it makes you feel like you have a vagina is completely and utterly irrelevant. I can’t even see how it would, anyway.

  37. I really have to disagree with your review. I usually think your reviews are great, but this time I think your wrong. I think this is Apatow’s greatest movie yet. It’s hilarious throughout and I was pretty much laughing the whole way through. What ade this movie great was that it wasn’t all about the laughs and it had a story to tell. I thought it was a great movie. I’m sorry you see differently.

  38. Apatow is falling into the trap of undulgence. Comedies don’t need to be three hours with 5 different plot threads, 10 supporting characters and a celebrity cameo every 42 seconds.

    Like Tarantino, the guy needs an editor who’s willing to say “no”.

  39. Just saw the movie and my reaction is generally positive. This was a good film, but the thing that really ruined this for me was the run time. They could have easily cut 20-30 minutes of this film (the same thing that plagued Knocked Up). After reading the reviews I didn’t think I would like this. I can’t relate to the comic stand-up life at all, but I enjoyed it more than I should have. Adam Sandler did a really top-notch job and I liked Seth Rogen as well. The stand up scenes were very funny and Eminem’s cameo was hilarious. Although, It felt more like a drama than a comedy. This film was an extremely radical change from Apatow’s other movies. It took forever to reach the climax, but It was worth it to me. At the end of the film I felt I could relate to Adam Sandler’s character. It’s a classic example that you can have all the riches in the world, but if you have no one to share it with than it’s meaningless. The running time really does mess up the flow, but that can be forgiven. I’d give it a 7 out of 10.

    3. The trailers aren’t funny, and the commercials have consisted of an awful Harry Potter joke and a Die Hard joke that gets old after you’ve heard it thirty times during every commercial break.

    4. I agree with Kristina, the trailer was not funny at all, and nothing about the trailer made me want to go see the film- even Seth Rogen who i’m usually wanting to see in whatever he does. To be honest the trailer made the movie sound like “The apatow crew goes after school special!”

    5. I agree that the advertising for the movie has been pretty bad. But I consider it sort of a good thing that they don’t pick every funny scene from the movie and ruin it.

      Also, I think it’s kinda hard to find sorta good jokes from the movie that are actually appropriate for tv.

  41. as a comedian i thoroughly enjoyed this film. this wans’t apatow’s funniest movie but it was his best. as a comic i can personally attest that this film is very realistic almost to a fault. this is why much of the audience probably feels alienated and not drawn to george simmons. the fact of the matter is there are a lot of comics like george. many people that are so funny and talented are strange and lonely. eddie murphy, richar pryor, bill murray and many comics i know personally are a lot like george. the characters of jonah hill, jason shwartzman and seth rogen actually do work very well. the awkwardness, the competitiveness between these characters is played perfectly. that is how you feel when you as an open miker see another person do well. you are happy for them but at the same time you want the glory for yourself. i do agree that it felt like two movies in one, but i still really enjoyed it. apatow portrayed comedians realistically and i think there is a lot underneath the surface of this movie. the final shot which slowly pulls away from ira and george show george writing and helping ira with jokes. but as the camera pulls back further it looks like the two are just having a conversation with one another. and at the core stand up is a conversation between comic and audience. one speaks while the other receives. funny people was a beautiful film.

    1. i agree with a lot of what you said, comic. it feels as though this was a comedic film made for comedians. it reminds me of music that musicians love, but that the general public doesn’t. people may have gone into this expecting to see a “funny movie” and it really was not that at all. Though it did have its hilarious parts, this move left me depressed, and that might have been what it was aiming for. it was very very interesting, but i don’t know that i would watch it again. maybe for the commentary

  42. I had high hopes for this movie (people seriously were talling about Oscar potential) but there seems to be a consensus that it isn’t as good as Apatow’s other projects.

    Very unfortunate.

    2. Yeah, well, the majority of the characters were caricatures, the romantic subplot was pitiful, and I still don’t know what the controlling idea was. Yes, I thought it was mediocre. Maybe not as bad as I thought it would be, but it was still so lacking. And I watched it twice, hoping that maybe I had missed something. But alas. Gone are the days of Happy Gilmore.

  44. Great review. Ive begun trusting your reviews after watching a lot of your videos on YouTube and *most* of the time agreeing with you. I might or might NOT check out this film.. if I can see it for free maybe..

    1. Go see it, I usually agree with a lot of what John says too but not in this case. It did drag and it should have been cut down more but to me the jokes made up for it. Rogan and friends where hilarious as usual.

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