Funny People - Apatow's Free Pass

"Fielder's choice" is a common baseball term in which the defense says, "instead of throwing out the batter who hit this weak ground ball, we're going to throw out the guy running home instead. We don't care if the batter reaches first base; we just don't want that other guy to make it home."

For statistics purposes, the batter gets credited with neither a hit nor an out. Because his plate appearance counts as an at-bat, his batting average drops although he successfully reached first base.

Now before you start wondering why on earth Mike is talking about baseball during a review of a comedy that has nothing to do with baseball, I want to beat the following analogy into the ground:

Judd Apatow -- director of the nothing-is-wrong-with-it-except-the-feeling-I-had-when-I-woke-up-and-left-the-theatre (NIWWIETFIHWIWUALTT) film, Funny People -- will serve as the batter who successfully reaches first base.

Mike Sullivan -- the un-noticed and way-too-obsessed-with-hyphens movie critic -- will serve as the defensive player who fields the ground ball and throws out the runner at home.

Adam Sandler -- star of the NIWWIETFIHWIWUALTT film by Judd Apatow -- will serve as the base-runner who had to settle with a triple after hitting a bomb off the top of the center field wall. He almost hit a home run, but will unfortunately be thrown out due to the selfishness of the batter who tried to swing for the fences instead of trying to advance the runner on third.

Everyone confused? Perfect. Let's start the movie review.

So far, Judd Apatow is batting 2-for-2 with 2 home runs.

His first appearance, The 40-Year-Old Virgin, was a comic gem that surprised everyone who thought it was going to be a shallow, gross-out comedy with no point other than a few cheap laughs for a $10 ticket. Instead it warmed our hearts, allowed the performances to steal the show, and introduced the world to a different type of humor.

His second time in the director's chair, Knocked Up, made a star of Seth Rogan; proved Katherine Heigl could carry something other than a supporting role in a TV show or movie starring Johnny Knoxville (that's right ... The Ringer); and let us all know Judd Apatow is just beginning.

Now it's his third time to the plate and his confidence is soaring. He's returned Rogan, Leslie Mann, and Jonah Hill, and picked up a who's-who of classic comedians for cameo appearances.
On top of that, he has signed box-office giant Adam Sandler to star in an epic tale of a dying comedian trying to salvage a life of loneliness due to greed, selfishness, and ego. Instead of saying, "I think it would be fun to run a newspaper," imagine Charles Foster Kane saying, "I think it would be fun to do stand up;" then you would have the foundation of Sandler's character, George Simmons. (And if you don't know who Charles Foster Kane is ... well ... I don't know you.)

With total control of the film - from writing, directing, and having final cut: meaning he's got the last say in what's released to theatres - Apatow aims to make "Funny People" an epic piece on the life of stand-up comedy.

Unfortunately ... this film doesn't have the feel of an epic. It's still a comedy; and comedies aren't supposed to be 2 hours, 30 minutes long. To quote good buddy of mine and fellow movie geek Sam Gooley (his review can be found at http://gooleysmovies.blogspot.com/2009/08/funny-people-review.html), "Funny People" flatlines in the last hour because Apatow attempts to cram too many personal ideas into a 2-hour film. Because "Funny People" is his baby; and he's trying to put on the screen a topic so personal to him, Apatow couldn't part with many of the scenes that should have been kept for the "extended director's cut" feature of the DVD.

Is this movie bad? Absolutely not! In fact, I don't think there's a weak performance or scene in the movie. I just think there are too many scenes to do the movie any good.

The first hour is amazing; Sandler and Rogan team up for a mentor/up-and-comer bro-mance that touches on dark humor, gross-out comedy, uncomfortable Ben-Stiller-in-Meet-The-Parents humor, stand-up storytelling ... I pretty much laughed in every way possible during the first hour.

Then comes the plot-twist that everyone saw in the preview, so I won't spoil it when I say that George Simmons (Sandler's character) is getting better. As Sam Gooley would say, "We've already started the sequel an hour through the first movie! Why don't we just finish the first movie first?"

Right when George gets back from the doctor's office: this is the point where you can get popcorn, visit the bathroom, make a phone call, take a nap, or just space out for 20 minutes. Just make sure to wake up when you see Eric Bana talking about Cameron Diaz or Aussie-rules futbol. Then go back to sleep for another 10-15 minutes. Tell the people you came with, "come get me/wake me up/ snap your fingers whenever they get back to the Sandler/Rogan bro-mance."

Now that I think about it, there's an entire 45 minute subplot that could have been summarized in one scene between George and his ex-girlfriend on his outside balcony. But I digress...

Let's conclude with the random baseball analogy that began this already-too-long review.

Why is Sandler the runner that gets thrown out at home?

Answer: his performance is just short of perfection. This is a semi-autobiographical take on his life, and he digs deep to deliver his whole bag of tricks. He shows us every aspect of his humor that has made us fall in love with him over the last 20 years (that's right, he starred in "Going Overboard" in 1989 and started SNL in 1990), and a charisma that'll last for many films to come. All the humor that made Sandler famous is now dated; and Sandler doesn't hesitate to make fun of his own work. He's also aware that the torch will be passed to a new era of comedy, which is embodied by Rogan, and under the leadership of Apatow himself. Sandler's performance is a lock for a Best Actor (Comedy) Golden Globe Nomination, and will go down as his most personal work to date ... not because of his humor, rather because of his new-found maturity. Unfortunately, he won't get an Oscar nomination, but will get thrown out at home...

Why is Apatow the batter who makes it to first?

... Apatow swings for the fences, and fails to connect. Remember in "The Aviator" when Howard Hughes took forever to complete "Hells Angels," and the film turned out to be a disappointment because of his over-obsession with making everything perfect? Remember when Hughes' editors said they had 270 hours of footage that needed to be cut down to 127 minutes? This is how I approach Apatow's direction of "Funny People." Although the first hour is complete, the film's main weakness comes from over-applied ambition that fails to deliver. In essence, Apatow swings for the fences, breaks his bat, and casts a dribbler down the third base line to the fielder...

Why am I the fielder?

... who lets him go to first. Apatow's film is a success, but it isn't. It's a failure, but it isn't. It's not a hit; but it's not an out. It'll hurt Apatow's average, but it won't hurt his previous home runs. I'm just the fielder ... and the ball was hit to me ... and how I view this film is my choice.