Justin at the Movies

Disappointment #2

// August 3rd, 2009 // Reviews

Funny People

Director: Judd Apatow

Starring: Adam Sandler, Seth Rogen, Jason Schwartzman, Eric Bana

Rated: R

Justin’s Rating: 2.5/5

By the trailer, they would have you believe that these funny people are funny, but they are not and aren’t necessarily supposed to be. If you are going into it expecting an all out comedy, prepare to be surprised, and maybe not in a good way. However, my expectations for this movie did not ruin it for me, there were plenty of other things that did that, and none of them had anything to do with me.

The first major problem I had with the movie is it’s running time. Who wants to sit through a two and a half hour “comedy?” Certainly not me, there are certain types of movies that should never be over two hours. We won’t get into that now though, that is a post for another time. The running time would also be a bit more tolerable if the movie wasn’t just a two plus hour dick joke. That’s all the movie is. Seriously, go watch it if you don’t believe me. Every joke in the whole movie has to do with balls. That is absolutely not an exaggeration. And you know who thinks penis jokes are funny? People with an IQ of about 8. That was problem number two with the movie.

Problem #3 begins and ends with Jonah Hill. This guy is the most unfunny person on the planet. He is probably the most undeserving famous person in the world. Sure Paris Hilton is rich, and that’s the only reason she is famous, but she is good at being stupid and spending money. So, she is good at what she is famous for. But Jonah Hill? He is famous for being funny and yet my soap dispenser at work is funnier than he is. He proved once again in this movie, that every single thing out of his mouth has to do with dick or balls. Everything. You could be talking about cheese and fabric softener and he would find a way to tie that back to his balls. The guy is an idiot. Plain and simple. And an unfunny one at that.

However, this movie is a lot better than Apatow’s previous efforts for the simple fact that it’s not just a shallow sex comedy. It deals with more serious issues and is quite heavy throughout the entire film. The more serious parts were far more enjoyable than the stupid “funny” parts. I also wish there would have been more stand up in the movie.  I wish it would have been a movie about stand up with his life interjected throughout. And I wish the stand up was funny. It’s not hard to get up there and talk about an erection for twenty minutes.

So, consider me officially off the Apatow train. I have always had faith in him because of ‘Freaks and Geeks,’ which is one of the greatest tv shows of all time. He also did another show called ‘Undeclared.’ Both shows only lasted one season, but that’s because people like crappy tv. I have trusted him for this long because of those shows, but it just dawned on me yesterday that these are the exceptions, not the rule. The highlight of the movie was Eric Bana’s australian accent. It completely surprised me how good it was. So the whole thing wasn’t a total loss. All in all, the movie had great potential, but was completely lost in the dick jokes and running time.