Editorial
Front Page - Friday, August 14, 2009
The Critic's Corner
David Laprad
I wanted to like “Funny People.” As the story about a popular comedian who learns he has a disease that will probably kill him, it’s writer and director Judd Apatow’s most poignant movie.
The characters are deeper, and more real, than those in “The 40 Year Old Virgin” and “Knocked Up.” And the emotions are genuine. It’s easy to feel sorry for George Simmons as he looks back on a life of excess and realizes all he has to show for his days on Earth are regrets for hurting the people who loved him, especially with Adam Sander in the role. Sandler would be likable as Hitler.
And I wanted to laugh more during “Funny People.” A lot of the dialog in the movie is improvised — you can almost hear the wheels turning as the actors play off each other’s lines — which means a lot of the jokes were made up on the spot.
Sometimes, this works. Early on, we meet Ira White, a would-be comedian employed by a mall deli. As he tells his co-worker about his dream of becoming the next Seinfeld, every one of the other guy’s lines is funnier than his. The scene is hilarious. Later, Simmons lobs a string of hysterical cracks at his doctor, who looks like one of the bad guys in “Die Hard.”
I have a feeling, however, that a lot of the jokes came out of Apatow telling the cast to “make it dirtier.” If you like his unique brand of scatological chit-chat, then you’ll probably get a kick out of “Funny People,” though you still might be shocked to hear singer James Taylor shout “—— Facebook!” at a Myspace party. However, lines like “She looks like a mouse you want to (the same thing Taylor said to do to Facebook),” which one of Ira’s roommates says after meeting a neighborhood girl, made me feel out of time and place.
I suppose that’s how some people talk these days, so I shouldn’t knock the movie for it. The real problem with “Funny People” is its second half. After Simmons finds out he’s cured, he tries to reconnect with an old girlfriend, who’s married to an adulterous husband. It’s like watching the air go out of a balloon.
That said, Apatow deserves mild applause for “Funny People,” as he’s clearly trying to evolve as a storyteller and a filmmaker. And the performances are good, especially Seth Rogen’s turn as Ira, a clueless, awkward, barely talented comedy nerd who doesn’t blink at the thought of stealing someone’s jokes or lying to his best friend. Somehow, Rogen makes him sympathetic. “Funny People” has it moments, but like Ira, Apatow still has room to grow.
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About three-quarters of the way through “A Perfect Getaway,” a good movie interrupted a lovely nap. There I was, content with “Getaway” being a big snore, happy with the fact that I was enjoying 90 minutes of down time, when writer and director David Twohy decides he’s finally lulled me into a stupor and shoots me in the back of my skull.
Actually, someone in the movie took the bullet, but he didn’t see it coming, either.
Not that Twohy didn’t provide hints along the way. In fact, he spends the first hour and change of “Getaway” dropping bread crumbs, whether it’s a snippet of dialogue that will mean something different during a second viewing, a knowing glance between two characters or the way you’re led to believe one thing about a scene, only to find out you were duped from the moment the lights in the theater went down. You will quite naturally believe one thing about “Getaway,” only to find out you were wrong.
I like it when that happens. And after the twist, Twohy lets loose with some brutally violent action that will make you recoil in your seat and wish you were seeing “Julie & Julia.” Some of the camera work is so wildly entertaining, you’ll wonder why Twohy made you wait so long.
I should tell you something about the story, in case you nod off during the setup. Cliff and Cydney are young newlyweds backpacking across a Hawaiian island. When they come across a group of hikers discussing the murder of another couple on a different island, they considering cutting their honeymoon short. Instead, they join up with another couple and continue their trek to a remote beach, where things go south.
Do the last 20 minutes of “Getaway” make up for the first 70? They did for me, but I don’t mind standing in long lines at amusement parks waiting for two-minute rides. And in case you feel like you didn’t get your money’s worth, you could count the hour or so you’ll spend after the movie thinking back on what you saw and going, “It was so obvious!”
One more thing: Steven Zahn is terrific as Cliff. Perhaps his days of playing goofy comedic sidekicks are over.
E-mail David at dlaprad@
hamiltoncountyherald.com
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