Apatow Gang + Sandler = Funny People

looks sufficiently unfunny

i like the idea of casting sandler as the 'aging famous guy who needs help from the young comic' on a meta level but beyond that...

looks sufficiently unfunny

FOR WHAT

uh u crazy i counted at least 7 lols in that trailer

im already stanning for this.

to the extent of saying 'how is adam sandler not already apatow gang?'

its a good idea to prepare defense in advance, good on you

but for real i lold several times, at sandler and at rogen, and at king bo bana

predicted the Bruce Willis gag.

deserve each other

i think im into it

im psyched for dr morbius to see this

sad thing is he never will - maybe we should pay him to review it for us

he just saw 'superbad'!

Trailer's not that funny, imo, and makes it seem like it'll be a pretty long movie (which, I know, I know, Knocked Up was too), but I'm obvs still excited, will see right when it comes out, will probably defend against haters, etc.

p.s. why isn't Jonah Hill starring in more movies yet?

ok maybe I'll look forward to this.

Gervais bad, but Guest, Fey, Hill, Bateman, Tambor, Louis C.K. good. And Rob Corddry's brother?

Anyway, I'm glad someone started this thread, I look forward to a long and funny journey, punctuated by many critical twists and turns. And I'm heartened by Dr Morbius's early appearance, which can only bode well.

yay, the Apatow daughters are back!

hopefully there's a red-band coming.

i'll probably see this but it looks like some emo bullshit

seeing as the trailer has him getting better from his illness, and that that would be too much of a spoiler if that's how it ended, he's going to get the girl then get sick again and die surely?

hey america. gervais is your problem now.

thanks a lot jim now you've ruined this for everyone!

i was just talking out loud sort of thing. My main consideration is that what if it comes out and I use it as a date movie and then I'm blubbing like a baby over Adam Sandler's death in front of some girl I'm trying to impress. Do not want.

this looks awfully good

well jim that means u have 5 months to find a steady girlfriend who wont judge u for crying

not going to happen!

leslie mann=oompapapa oompapapa oompapapa mow mow

ok so can apataow's wife pls not be in this? i wld pay to replace her with someone less annoying and then go see the movie.

^ this, i find her very annoying too, in Knocked Up I felt myself siding with Paul Rudd even though he's being kind of an immature douche. She's just obnoxious.

she's awesome and funny you guys are insane

altho it's weird his kids are in it again or so it looks like

it's good that they've cast a woman in this

in Knocked Up I felt myself siding with Paul Rudd
YESSSSSS

rogan lookin mad hot imo btw

<3

yay, the Apatow daughters are back!

hopefully there's a red-band coming.

― Simon H., Monday, February 23, 2009 9:10 AM (1 hour ago)

i assume this didnt come out the way you'd planned

btw i will stan for sandler for all times

^ this, i find her very annoying too, in Knocked Up I felt myself siding with Paul Rudd even though he's being kind of an immature douche.

isn't that kind of the point?

this movie is like spanglish + knocked up but maybe a teensy bit funnier but then not because apatow's wife makes me want to cut people with knives.

yeah i think she was supposed to be obnoxious in knocked up.

kind of o_O that j-schwartz has gone from 'omg special guest stars jason schwartzman' in F&G, and is now one of rogen's posse next to jonah hill.

xpost

knocked up is SUBTLE and it's not like OMG WHAT A DICK vs SHE IS FAULTLESS... OR vice versa.

yeah i know but now we're supposed to be all 'ooh towga' and i ain't feelin' it

katherine heigl complained abt how the women were humorless bores and the guys were fun in knocked up - she was all i can be fun too

xxp, yes, my "isn't that kind of the point" is like "yes, this is a screenplay about adults"

i would just like to say "lol heigl 1994-1996": http://images.google.co.uk/images?oe=UTF-8&sourceid=navclient&q=heigl+source:life&um=1&ie=UTF-8&ei=nr6iSYy0E6KHjAfw8tntCw&sa=X&oi=image_result_group&resnum=1&ct=title

katherine heigl complained abt how the women were humorless bores and the guys were fun in knocked up - she was all i can be fun too

― ice cr?m, Monday, February 23, 2009 4:19 PM (5 seconds ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

she did have a bit of a point but imo she herself was a++ funny in that film, and often the dudes were only funny in a 'what a bunch of dicks' way.

I'm looking forward to this! I mean, it's not supposed to be a comedy, is it?

this movie is like spanglish
― class act, thanks bro (tehresa), Monday, February 23, 2009 10:14 AM (5 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

spanglish is one of the most awfullest movies ever like on an this movie insults me level and i hope its nothing like that although i did totally think of it as soon as the preview started - could be just sandler in quasi serious mode i guess but something abt the overall tone seemed similar too

did ppl really not laugh at the trailer

rogan lookin mad hot imo btw

― class act, thanks bro (tehresa)

you trippin, i find it sad but dude lost his smashability with his chub if you ask me

it had a couple of good moments but i didnt think it was that strong? xp

i'd take him either way
xpost

but he seems to exude a confident energy now that is totally smash

i need for jonah hill to take like a seven year sabbatical from appearing in movies or public and then when he comes back i will be very happy and excited to see him in things again

previously i also thought rogen had dieted off his smashability but i was kind of distracted from the trailer by hottness!

btw what did morbs think of superbad

some good stuff, esp first half hour, but ruined by the cops and the fact that that girl wdn't go near Jonah Hill unless she was blind

blind drunk tho right? still tho...

no, she was the Sober Girl

no, she doesn't drink at all. she likes him but they don't even kiss; she kind of knocks him back.

xpost

he was which is why they didn't hook up, but she implied that she would've if he was sober

listing the places i loled in this trailer:

"the ones where you try to kill bruce willis"
"people are going to think i broke up with you"
"tried to email me back on a toaster"
"guys have that and serial killers have that"
"like a scene from deer hunter"
"lots of people go to massage parlors" (btw dont understand how you can hate this woman, amazing making fun of australians, a+ lets get her on 1p3)
"he's from australia they just kill things there"

"people are going to think i broke up with you"

my only laugh out of those moments

poll

i thought bana was playing a south african

ya thats what i said

lol i laughed at mostly other moments than max. this movie is gonna be a pip imo.

i dont know what pip means but i agree

watch it on picture-in-picture because it's not worht devoting the whole screen to?

"my face is circumcised" seemed like the funniest line to me, and i'm really bored of gentle jewish jokes generally

jokes made me lol but then there was dramatic music and sad sandler, i dunno

they should have used paper planes again

#1 lols def came from apatow wife australian rugby accent

i don't like emotions

i second that emotion

apatow's wife looks like the funniest person in this, maybe schwartzman

yeah im kind of in love with her

bana given plum role clearly

i like the callback to knocked up, with the casting of bana.

i think they're going to have to go to unrealistic lengths to make me believe apatow's wife leaving bana for sandler

that is very insightful

bana frequenting prostitutes might not be totally unrealistic lengths?

Bana rapes Rogan while Huey Lewis ft. MIA plays in background

based on the cast n crew im set to like this tho apatows knowing/cliche straddling could be particularly painful when applied to inside comedy and death - comedians talking abt comedy is really the worst ever - as is clever sentimental observationalists talking abt deep life and death shit - could be good tho

Sandler standup on one-night stands vs girlfriends is funnier than all of his 90s movies together.

this looks aite but leslie mann australian accent shit was funnier in forgetting sarah marshall with "booshit booshit booshit!"

quoted w my friends now as shorthand for any attempt at clowning a dude that backfires and makes the clowner look more ridiculous than the clownee

this looks aite but leslie mann australian accent shit was funnier in forgetting sarah marshall with "booshit booshit booshit!"

― Lord Infamous Epsilon (and what), Monday, February 23, 2009 7:01 PM (1 minute ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

damn id forgotten she was in that.

i dont remember that part...

tbh id forgotten she was even in it...

was she even in it?

i was talking about sarah marshall chick

she clowns her oasis-dude boyfriend with it

A+ flick btw

[after faking an orgasm to upstage Peter and Rachel in the next room]
Aldous Snow: You're still involved with him next door, ain't ya?
Sarah Marshall: Excuse me?
Aldous Snow: You should've seen yourself at dinner, Sarah. Then you came back here and put on that ghastly performance. I mean I've heard that women do fake orgasms, but I've never seen one. It really deeply upset me.
Sarah Marshall: You should've seen *yourself* at dinner.
[Imitating Aldous's accent]
Sarah Marshall: "Oh, I'm Aldous Snow! Bullshit, bullshit, bullshit, bullshit. Oh no drinks for me thanks. Bullshit, bullshit, bullshit!"
Sarah Marshall: [Pointing to his tattoos]
[In normal accent]
Sarah Marshall: And you know what? Let me tell you something about these tattoos, okay. That is Buddhist, that is Nordic, that is Hindu, that's just gibberish. They are completely conflicting ideologies, and that does not make you a citizen of the world, it makes you full of shit!
Aldous Snow: Was that genuine or did you fake that? Right, I'm probably gonna clear off now. I'll have a little sleep for a few hours, then I'm probably gonna go in the morning. Okay.
Sarah Marshall: I hate your music.
Aldous Snow: Yeah, well I fucked the housekeeper, the other day.

<3

'im nextdoors

"was that genuine or did you fake that" was my biggest laff at the movies in 09 /morbzbait

you trippin, i find it sad but dude lost his smashability with his chub if you ask me

― obi don quixote (elmo argonaut), Monday, February 23, 2009 3:23 PM (2 hours ago) Bookmark

seriously is no one going to take this come on yall i know i'm not the only 5th grader in this piece

you wanna take seth rogen's chub?

i know if you read it like that it looks like he's talking about his sexual attractiveness

omg

ty good lord people xxp

rogens mad mag shirt reppin for in my summer tees

Bana's character appears to be a less aspies version of his character in the Castle.

#1 lols def came from apatow wife australian rugby accent

― max, Tuesday, 24 February 2009 02:08 (9 hours ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

curious as to why, max.

is it becuz the accent is so wrong that it's taking the piss out of how badly Americans have been known to do Australian accents? or just becuz aus accent is actually terrible?

non-butthurt australian here btw

trailer needs some nnnnnew rrrrrandy randy

this looks funny to me. the good thing with most of this apatow stuff is how 'serious' subjects are leavened by a lot of funny & profane dialogue

Sandler standup on one-night stands vs girlfriends is funnier than all of his 90s movies together.

I dunno what the ilx consensus on this is, but 'Happy Gilmore' and 'Billy Madison' are total classics. (Everything else he's done, not so much.)

I think it looks cool. Though I have to admit it might be because I got all homesick hearing Eric Bana go full Aussie with the accent. AND Bana does comedy after...how long? Wee! Love Sandler, even in his worst movies he's watchable...and I love Rogen, Hill and Schwartzman. The RZA has a credit too. Yay!

that trailer did not explain why a dying man would spend his last moments on earth at the home of an ex-gf's family

maybe it's like a high fidelity type thing

adam sandler: dude, i'm in a new movie!
alan covert: sweet, what's my part?
adam sandler: ooh... this is a little awkward, but it's a different crew.
alan covert: who, kevin smith? bullshit.
adam sandler: no, umm... [coughs and says "apatow" under his breath]
alan covert: you fucker.
adam sandler: don't worry, i'll totally bankroll grandma's boy two for you.

i should have checked imdb to see if alan covert is actually in this movie before i posted that.

i caught a few min of waterboy the other day and was really, really appalled.

so would you like me less if i confessed to liking that movie? because i do.

maybe i caught the wrong few min, but... yeah, a lil.

you are still a winner in my book, though!

fairuza balk is the part of that movie that didn't make me want to remove my eyes

maybe u guys just dont hav the social skills ?

highly likely afaic

i will admit i lol at "that's some high quality h20" to this day

spawned the classic catch phrase U KEN DEW ET

wasnt that spawned by Bela Karolyi

so if i say u can dooo eeet am i like aa not knowing who shaq is or somethin?

cant find bela karolyi clip of him saying it

jho dead serious i have thrown some shit at a dude who said that in my presence

that shit was a pool floatie

but i'm sayin

boy u dont got the social skills

what if that dude was just saying you can kick a person out of yr hotel?

go ahead.

you can do it.

XD

ty for that honestly i will watch the movie again now because of that

that trailer did not explain why a dying man would spend his last moments on earth at the home of an ex-gf's family

― autogoblin (surfboard dudes get wiped out, totally), Monday, February 23, 2009 10:28 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

yeah it did

he wants to blap her one last time

like did u actually watch the trailer? it features the sound of adam sandler saying "the one who got away" while staring at a picture of her.

is it becuz the accent is so wrong that it's taking the piss out of how badly Americans have been known to do Australian accents? or just becuz aus accent is actually terrible?

― wilter, Monday, February 23, 2009 8:42 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

mostly the terribleness of her version of the accent, but also how ridiculous the accent is always, and also the things she was saying

funny accents are funny

but only if they're the same race as you

the bad accent is part of the zing - shes mocking and denigrating

Dave Attell, Sarah Silverman, Norm Macdonald, and Andy Dick have reportedly filmed cameo appearances as comedians, presumably as themselves, who are acquainted with George.

pretty hyped about norm being in a big movie

xpost to max and also icecram, makes sense.

eric bana wtf: http://www.apple.com/trailers/independent/lovethebeast/

lol munich intertextuality #2: this was shot by janusz kaminski!

saw this advertised as "the third film from judd apatow"

~trying 2 make fun of QT or...still looked pretty bad imo

yeah the qt vibe struck me as well

agreed, this is going to be such a quentin tarantino ripoff

I wonder when they figured out that this movie should have been called RAAAAAAAANDY!!!!

Considering that Apatow has never failed to write a soggy denouement to a movie (Even "Heavyweights" is an example of this!) I shudder to think how many hankies we will all need to bring for an Adam-Sandler-has-cancer movie. Jim's probably OTM about his this film is going to end.

I have told this theory of the ending to everyone I know who likes Apatow films, so if I'm right I am the greatest spoiler ever.

i worry that this is gonna end up like one of those lame serious funny movies about comedians that came out in the late '80s/early '90s

like beverly hills cop

Since this thread is going, I'll put this here rather than somewhere else.

Jeffrey Wells' review of The Ugly Truth goes on this kind of rant about modern comedy, which seems interesting to me as I read it now, but who knows. The bit that stood out for me was:

The problem is that there's a whole generation of filmmakers out there who believe that once a film is "just a comedy" that this amounts to a license to show people cavorting several miles outside the boundaries of realism and credibility and recognizable human genetics because...it's a comedy! And it's cancer. It's pure cancer afflicting and tumorizing a once-respectable form. Billy Wilder, Ernst Lubitsch, Leo McCarey and David O. Russell would be bent over and vomiting on the floor after watching this thing.

I mean, Wells is obviously a cranky guy, who brings his own sky-is-falling-in "Taliban Recruitment Video" agenda to a lot of unambitious mainstream Hollywood stuff, but this really rings true for me. So, is this criticism nonsense? Either in the sense of "who gives a shit, it's comedy, if I lol then fine, who cares about the recognizable emotions/", or in the sense that a lot of comedy has always been crude in this way and this is nothing new? I've put it here because, while I don't particularly want to imply Knocked Up was a profound film, or that it actually featured recognizable human behaviour, at least it tried. Who else is trying?

http://ia.media-imdb.com/images/M/MV5BMzg2MTU0MDA0NF5BMl5BanBnXkFtZTcwMzM3NDAzMQ@@._V1._SX97_SY140_.jpg

xp to self, That final question comes across as some asshole attempting rhetoric, when it's actually something I just stuck in at the end. Sorry about that.

I would say that Apatow is really pretty interested with real emotions and relatable characters. I really liked Knocked Up but it failed with me a little on this account - too many of the characters are profoundly unlikeable, at least at some stage in the film. 40 Year Old Virgin on the other-hand I thought was really pretty great in this respect. Obviously dude's virginity is played for cheap lols and there's gross-out bits like him getting waxed and stuff but the film seems to generally care about the character and what he's going through and personally I found myself really satisfied with the admittedly obvious, predictable ending.

Apatow hate is so weird

he wrote some funny Larry Sanders episodes, no one was complaining about him then...

rip apatow good riddance

David O. Russell?

also Billy Wilder made plenty of batshit slapstick

^^^yeah my eyebrows went up at The Russell mention too

dude is angry about movies

who are the funny people of ilx

"uptown fantasy chick-romance horseshit"

"girlish in the worst sense of that term"

"whorish plotting"

"The Ugly Truth is just repellent sitcom crap aimed at younger women unencumbered by taste buds or judgment of any kind, and who are therefore easy lays."

whoah mysognist much

he does approve of Gerard Butler's "crude mannishness"

too bad the movie is plotted like a WHORE

he wrote some funny Larry Sanders episodes, no one was complaining about him then...

That's because we weren't sick of him. His style is omnipresent at this point, which is and isn't his fault.

I'm sure I'll see this movie and enjoy it, and then feel bad about my critical abilities when everyone rips on it.

Comedies are nothing unless they've been imagined and written like Hamlet Comedies are nothing unless they've been imagined and written like Hamlet Comedies are nothing unless they've been imagined and written like Hamlet Comedies are nothing unless they've been imagined and written like Hamlet Comedies are nothing unless they've been imagined and written like Hamlet Comedies are nothing unless they've been imagined and written like Hamlet

David O. Russell?

Okay I'm glad I wasn't the only one.

His style is omnipresent at this point,

dude has directed TWO movies

still, RIP

jeffrey wells has a repulsive attitude to women and he throws lame trolls in to his criticism, yes.

I think "his style is omnipresent" is just wrong. His cast is omnipresent maybe.

yeah, the rocker is a good example of this. it's the usual apatow cast, but it's a different (much worse) kind of film.

(note: it is fine on a plane)

Directed two movies, and written and produced about a dozen popular comedies this decade.

# Year One (2009) (producer)
# Pineapple Express (2008) (producer)
# Step Brothers (2008) (producer)
# Drillbit Taylor (2008) (producer)
# Forgetting Sarah Marshall (2008) (producer)
# Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story (2007) (producer)
... aka Walk Hard (USA: short title)
... aka Walk Hard: American Cox, the Unbearably Long, Self-Indulgent Director's Cut (USA: director's cut)
# Superbad (2007) (producer)
# Knocked Up (2007) (producer)
# Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby (2006) (producer)
# The TV Set (2006) (executive producer)
# American Storage (2006) (executive producer)
# The 40 Year Old Virgin (2005) (producer)
... aka The 40 Year-Old Virgin (USA: poster title)
... aka The 40-Year-Old Virgin (USA: DVD box title)
# Kicking & Screaming (2005) (executive producer)
# Wake Up, Ron Burgundy: The Lost Movie (2004) (V) (producer)
... aka Anchorman: Wake-Up Ron Burgundy (USA)
... aka Wake Up Ron Burgundy (USA: closing credits title)
# Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy (2004) (producer)
... aka Anchorman (USA: short title)

Some great stuff on that resume but it's starting to wear a bit thin for me. And I actually like the JA cast still, it's just they're usually playing the same type of characters and I'm BORED.

I just saw a dane cook movie that was actually pretty funny.

was it his crude mannishness that won you over

it was that one where kevin costner is calvin, and hobbes keeps telling him to kill dane cook.

I would argue that a lot of those ones he produced are very different from the stuff he has directed. Anchorman, Walk Hard, Talladega Nights, Year One? Hardly fit in with 40 Year Old Virgin, Knocked Up imo. Although Pineapple Express, Forgetting Sarah Marshall obviously more similar.

yeah is there no line to be drawn between Will Ferrell and Judd Apatow or are they actually the SAME PERSON!?! I demand to see a birth certificate.

I kind of mentally lump Apatow/Paul Feig/Joss Whedon into giant undifferentiated Michigan fat guy.

Maybe I've lived enough of my life being an underachieving, lazy white guy to need to see more movies about the subject. That's it.

That jokes isn't funny anymore its took close to home, too close to the bone etc etc

David Denby likes it

i've warmed up to this over time here, IN CASE ANYONE WAS WONDERING

still looks atrocious to me.

jordan as a hangover fan i am shocked you are not concerned about how emo this looks.

when does morbs get unbanned

worried abt the denby love

jordan as a hangover fan i am shocked you are not concerned about how emo this looks.

― call all destroyer, Tuesday, July 28, 2009 7:34 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark

you know, i'm kind of a sap tbh - i like things like "the hangover" & "observe & report" for not going those routes but i also <3<3 like the part in "superbad" where they end up sleeping next to each other.

but i am wary of "funny people"'s earnestness, i've just realized that i like all the stuff apatow is really closely involved with and rogen too ("zack & miri" excepted) so i'm kind of in the benefit of the doubt stage

i liked this ok but it soooooooooo did not need to be 2.5 hours long

adam sandler was good

I saw “Funny People” last night, and I’m still stunned at how good it is. Judd Apatow’s first film, “The 40-Year-Old Virgin,” was a pleasant diversion. I’ve seen only a few snatches of his second, “Knocked Up,” on HBO, but what I saw was awful, frankly. So I was quite unprepared for the experience of Apatow’s “Funny People.” It’s long—two and a half hours—but I wouldn’t wish it a minute shorter. It’s one hundred per cent absorbing, from the opening video of a young Adam Sandler making crank phone calls to the music accompanying the closing credits, and it’s full of truth and wisdom about love and life and the way human beings behave. It has heart. It’s in a class with “Groundhog Day”—about the highest praise I can think of.

i would wish it 30 minutes shorter

is goole quoting Hertzberg?

no they just have identical opinions about the movie

Did he love it more than Cats?

Cats was a comedy?!

I can get behind 146 minutes if it's justified (ie. as funny as five episodes of The Inbetweeners back-to-back), but has there ever been a comedy film that long which sustains the laughs? Tropic Thunder felt like it went on forever and that was only 110 mins...

never really been a fan of sandler & am totally over seth rogen, are there any good reasons to see this?

www.laughyourdickoff.com

site's sfw except for swearing

never really been a fan of sandler & am totally over seth rogen, are there any good reasons to see this?

― there is no there there (elmo argonaut), Wednesday, July 29, 2009 10:43 AM (14 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

not unless you get a kick out of movies where you're totally over the stars

i hate most things abt this film - shld i see it?

hmmmm.... good q

sorry guys maybe i'm just asking in an indirect way what ppl expect from this movie because i am having trouble seeing the appeal of sentimental sandler (the worst kind) and more of apatow's man-child-comes-of-age narrative arcs??

so basically, you hate most things abt this film - shld u see it

the run time of this is way scarier to me thsn emo sandler

i hate moving pictures, and jews, how will i feel about this movie

elmo how do you feel about cancer?

the run time of this is way scarier to me thsn emo sandler

^^^^

you... willllll be.

do ppl like adam sandler? if so, why?

yes - because of his films

he is sometimes funny

Also, he earned an amazing amount of goodwill from those of us who remember him from Remote Control. The same can be said for Colin Quinn.

He's a dead dog in the middle of a park whose lawns are unmowed.

He was cute and funny in the couple of "Cosby Show" episodes he appeared in.

Colin Quinn is THE WORST

Sandler is occasionally funny but I'm not a big fan or anything. I still think Little Nicky is hilarious tho.

because of little nicky? or because of spanglish?

Also, he earned an amazing amount of goodwill from those of us who remember him from Remote Control.
Holy crap, completely forgot about that.

I ALWAYS remember he was on Remote Control, but sometimes forget he was ever on SNL.

... how is that even possible

i imagine shakey thinks little nicky is hilarious because of little nicky, not because of spanglish

um yeah what s1ocki said... whatever connection there is between Little Nicky and spanglish is lost on me. Its just a completely ridiculous movie, and there is a gag in every scene. this is all I ask of comedies.

Actually I think "Little Nicky" is totally hilarious because of "Spanglish".

lolz - I was previously unaware there was even a Sandler movie called Spanglish... must've blocked that out somehow

James L. Brooks!

btw my little nicky / spanglish post was a hueg xpost to slocki

there are no xpost notifications on ilx iphone interface

lol damn u all

Anyway, I am interested in Sandler in this movie for the same reason I was interested in him in Punch-Drunk Love -- I think he has particular qualities about him that can be effectively drawn upon by a good filmmaker, even though 90% of the movies he makes hold little appeal to me.

btw my little nicky / spanglish post was a hueg xpost to slocki

there are no xpost notifications on ilx iphone interface

lol damn u all

― there is no there there (elmo argonaut), Wednesday, July 29, 2009 12:20 PM (5 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

if somebody makes movies i like, and also movies i don't, the ones i don't like don't cancel out the ones i do

but who could forget the triumphs of such films as 50 first dates and big daddy

If you can get past Sandler's voice/facial contortions (admittedly a big mountain to climb) and the moments of gay-baiting and race-baiting there's some pretty good surreal humor here.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6i0gKAmIIv4

but who could forget the triumphs of such films as 50 first dates and big daddy

― there is no there there (elmo argonaut), Wednesday, July 29, 2009 12:29 PM (2 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

if somebody makes movies i like, and also movies i don't, the ones i don't like don't cancel out the ones i do

i mean i don't get what you're asking... if you don't like adam sandler nobody is expecting you to want to see this movie!

not true - adam sandler is still totally expecting u to see this movie - it will change your impression of him 4ever

this doesn't look terribly funny, but it also doesn't look terribly unfunny, imo. maybe just me, though.

that said, i never see movies in the theatres, so i can't really comment.

if i h8 seeing movies in theatres - should i go see this in theatres?

ha there's even some shit on sandler's records that i will ride for. probably just cos the meatheads i lived with in college played the bejesus out of it, but w/e

i liked this ok but it soooooooooo did not need to be 2.5 hours long

jesus this is all i need to know really -- all these Apatow movies feel overlong and poorly structured, and those were mostly 2 hours or less

ya i agree, i like his stuff but his scripts need a few more drafts or something

don't get the lost joke here but anyway so

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JSsUcUe19og

did anyone see "reign over me" ? that looked epically bad

his movies don't really seem built for the theater but to have on tv while other people are around your place drinking

sorry for hating. maybe this won't be completely terrible and then i will be wrong.

lol hay jordan, bo burnham is in this

did anyone see "reign over me" ? that looked epically bad

It actually wasn't.

Length and Apatow's desire to be James L. Brooks aside, Slocki's PDL ref actually has me curious to see a dramatic vehicle for Sandler that doesn't keep running off to do a five-minute tracking shot of a harmonium.

the thing is that Sandler kinda does sadsack stuff in a lot of his comedies -- 2nd half of Click was fuckin' depressing

I assumed all of Click was depressing

2nd half of Click was fuckin' depressing

Yeah, it pulled the old switcheroo and became a serious "lesson" film.

i'm just not finished mourning the loss of seth rogen's pudge, RIP fat loser

to be fair, aside from PDL I haven't seen a Sandler movie since Little Nicky in part because they looked shitty and sappy. If Apatow wasn't directing it and filling the periphery with actors I enjoy as stand-ups I probably wouldn't see this either.

that would have shown them

same here more or less, but i got paid to see Click and Bedtime Stories (xpost)

I lolled at the part of the Denby review that described Seth Rogan's post weight loss role as a fat loser.

well tbh the guy's got schlub in his DNA, doesn't really matter what he weighs

schlub is in the heart

Judging from the trailer Rogen wasn't up to full Green Hornet buffness yet

is Click actually good? because it looked absolutely terrible but I remember reading surprisingly good reviews.

it's not. basically the guys who wrote Bruce Almighty came up with a new premise with which to make all the same jokes.

I thought that's what Evan Almighty was

no, Evan Almighty was a sequel with a dramatically different approach to the premise and different, more family-friendly jokes. Click is a complete copy with Madlib details filled in.

http://images.spice51.com/movies/click-2006/posters/high/click-2006-3.jpg

is that a remote or a shoehorn

i thought it was a milo manara ripoff with all the sex taken out

i only saw one scene of it on cable which involved him controlling his bitchy wife so

guys, it's a typo: it's called "Dick" and he's holding a dildo.

someone photoshop the button to read

PAUSE
(NO HOMO)

basically the guys who wrote Bruce Almighty came up with a new premise with which to make all the same jokes.

I didn't realize it was from the same writers, but now it all makes sense. (That said, I liked Bruce and Click both.)

lol hay jordan, bo burnham is in this

― some dude, Wednesday, July 29, 2009 11:43 AM (37 minutes ago) Bookmark

haha i'm mildly intrigued by this surely

have you guys seen DON'T MESS WITH THE ZOHAN? not a good movie. SPOILER ALERT zohan saves a burning building by hosing it down with HUMMUS because he is from israel

I would like to rep for Mr. Deeds as a dark horse candidate for worst Sandler movie.

mr deeds has the rad scene where they sing space oddity

Apatow Dumpling Gang

LOL

i liked "big daddy" when i was a child. i remember after it came out everyone would try and drop their spit down onto the ground. also i think it has rob schneider's most notable role in a sandler film.

that was not rad max

xpost

i liked "big daddy" when i was a child. i remember after it came out everyone would try and drop their spit down onto the ground. also i think it has rob schneider's most notable role in a sandler film.

― a narwhal done gored my shortstop yunel (J0rdan S.), Wednesday, July 29, 2009 1:35 PM (34 seconds ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

dunno about you but i quoted schneider-in-waterboy way more than i did schneider-in-big-daddy

Big Daddy is in the more defensible half of his oeuvre (if just barely) imo

btw it's so much fun to refer to things like "the Adam Sandler oeuvre" while Morbz is gone

yeah maybe. i remember the "hip-hopopatomus" thing from big daddy pretty vividly

lol i was just thinking of that the other day

btw it's so much fun to refer to things like "the Adam Sandler oeuvre" while Morbz is gone

― Apatow Dumpling Gang (some dude), Wednesday, July 29, 2009 1:37 PM (5 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

it's more fun when he's here haha

i received a fb msg from morbs btw (edited to protect the innocent):

My 30 days...

should be up early next week.

Then I'll wait to be begged to come back. And then I certainly will not see or have anything to say about "Funny People."

hello my name-a zohan

anyone who reps for munich should see zohan, they are basically the same movie

Funniest review of Click ever: http://www.villagevoice.com/2006-06-20/film/learning-channel/

cankles wrote this on thread I feel torn about "You Don't Mess with the Zohan", b/c Judd Apatow & Robert Smigel helped write it... on board I Love Everything on Jun 10, 2008

my name-a zohan

http://www.syl.com/15398725p

have you guys seen DON'T MESS WITH THE ZOHAN? not a good movie. SPOILER ALERT zohan saves a burning building by hosing it down with HUMMUS because he is from israel

― a narwhal done gored my shortstop yunel (J0rdan S.), Wednesday, July 29, 2009 1:27 PM (1 hour ago) Bookmark

LOL Jordan.

Zohan was one of the worst movies I've ever seen. My Dad made my watch it with him and I still haven't forgiven him for it. It just kept getting worse.

this movie might be a good move for Sandler, and it's doing well on rottentomatoes. as far as sophomoric comedies go, Sandler blew his load with billy madison and happy gilmore.

waterboy was eh...big daddy was really bad...when he decided to get a little more serious, i really enjoyed punch drunk love though, and i did like reign over me.

but click was such a humongous piece of shit that like....i'd written him off.

"Zohan was one of the worst movies I've ever seen. My Dad made my watch it with him"

this is private personal stuff, but please explain backhistory that led to this.

Uhhhh - I was visiting and he wanted to watch it and I'm a pretty nice gal so after protesting a bit and not being able to change his mind I caved because I figured how bad could it be, right? REALLY FUCKING BAD.

I was picturing more like he had a very personal and complicated take on the middle-east situation, and couldn't figure out how to impart that to his offspring, and it always sort of gnawed at him, but then this movie came along...

Oh well yeah, that too of course.

(Other movies I have watched with him under similar circumstances include Chuck and Larry get Married or whatever it was called and Boat Trip.)

i dunno, my thing with sandler in funny people is that it seems like his character is meant to be just a thinly-veiled version of his own celebrity? i know he & apatow are old time buddies but that along w/ apatow's own wife & kids being cast in the movie it just seems really self-indulgent? i dunno. show-biz kids making movies of themselves and all that.

you guys sit around and have a gay panic comedy film festival or something?

xpost

I don't know that any amount of parental humoring could get me to watch "Boat Trip".

i dunno, my thing with sandler in funny people is that it seems like his character is meant to be just a thinly-veiled version of his own celebrity? i know he & apatow are old time buddies but that along w/ apatow's own wife & kids being cast in the movie it just seems really self-indulgent? i dunno. show-biz kids making movies of themselves and all that.

― there is no there there (elmo argonaut), Wednesday, July 29, 2009 3:25 PM (1 minute ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

man, i can't wait for you to see this movie, your enthusiasm for it is just infectious

x-post - Yeah, it was while ago but I'm pretty sure I didn't actually make it through all of Boat Trip.

I'd be tempted to be all "oh, you want to pick 'Boat Trip'? well I pick 'SALO', HAVE FUN" but that would be a lose-lose all around.

hahahaha. tbh watching him laugh until he turns blue at really stupid comedies is pretty funny and cute in and of itself which is probably part of the reason I don't protest nearly as much as I would if anyone else suggested the same movies.

http://www.nypress.com/article-20144-stand-up-falls-flat.html
Classic Armond review in which he compare Apatow unfavourably to Roy Andersson and calls Spanglish A "near-masterpiece."

wtf @ the generous use of the n-word in the comments there

Scorsese went gaga over Spanglish in his DirecTV magazine column a while back, haven't seen it myself

Edelstein no likee.

Spanglish
2004

A surprising picture — very funny, sometimes harrowing, and complex: emotions are layered into one another, and every scene is rich with hurt feelings, misunderstandings (cross-cultural, family, class). It's amazing how fearful all the characters are — fearful of success, of intimacy, of not being understood. Adam Sandler is wonderful in the lead, Téa Leoni is very brave and intense as his wife, and Paz Vega is wonderful as their Mexican maid, trying to make these warm-hearted people she's working for understand why it's wrong to buy her daughter gifts and get her scholarships to fancy schools.

xpost to self

what a bizarre two films to compare

in all fairness he is right about roy andersson

i kinda want to write a weekly film column where i just do double reviews of whatever the 2 big movies are opening that weekend and completely fabricate parallels and comparison points between them, but i don't think it would register as satire

Start a tumblr, get a book deal.

Maybe if you inserted "nigga" in every other sentence?

nah, i'm not gonna infringe on the cankles film forum's territory

Armond White is the screaming schizophrenic homeless man of criticism.

he has a home.

haha

There's a version of The Soloist where Robert Downey Jr. finds White living on the street, writing movie reviews in pencil from VHS tapes of 80's Schwarzenegger movies, but he has so much PASSION for reviewing movies.

he has a home.

― weingar management (some dude), Thursday, July 30, 2009 10:29 AM (3 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

spanglish is not very good, but not because anyone is bad in it, it's just poorly edited and not terribly well written to begin with. the acting is fine.

As I'm sure has been said before, the real star of Spanglish is the sandwich.

spandwich

Is it true Sandler is supposed to be Thomas Keller in that movie? This is both intriguing and repulsive. Is it worth watching on that angle?

No, he's supposed to be Kevin Keller.

iirc he's supposed to be playing helen keller

I'd watch a remake of the miracle worker starring adam sandler to be honest. who should be anne bancroft?

Katie Holmes

or Morgan Freeman

Morgan Freeman sounds spot-on! but who would be the lady equivalent?

I dunno we've already cast Helen Keller as a man, does it really matter?

There needs to be lesbian subtext, but with Morgan Freeman it would just play out as paternal bro-bonding.

hmm okay how about that Fried Green Tomatoes woman

Kathy Bates

Hm. maybe they could ADR morgan freeman's voice over kathy bates' performance. but waterboy reunion sounds tempting..

haha I totally forgot they already were in a movie together

spanglish had some pretty great insights into the tortured existence of the los angeles creative class

...not!!

right?

Your search - "tortured existence" "los angeles" "creative class" - did not match any documents.

Are you telling me spanglish was about darby crash?

I'm Adam Sandler
I have a good handler
I can take on all your agents...

this was pretty decent. sandler was fantastic. i was glad they didn't soften up his character too much. the worst thing about the movie was how they would periodically just tell you what was happening and what people were feeling, like sandler's whole song about how he's lonely and how he hates the audience and they'll miss him but he won't miss them, or his thanksgiving speech - this shit could have been a lot more subtle and was kind of embarrassing from a filmmaking perspective. it also seemed really long - only 2 hours i think but it felt more like 2 and a half. could have been tightened up.

i don't know why i said "from a filmmaking perspective," like i'm some cineaste giving apatow a tip. i just meant "SHOW US, DON'T TELL US" except they do show us sandler's misanthropy and miserableness and they they go ahead and tell us too - totally unnecessary

It's 146 min apparently

yeah i just realized that i was confused about the time the movie started when i calculated the running time as 2 hours - it was more like 2 hours 20 minutes which explains why it seemed longer duuuuuuuuuuuuuh

this is Apatow's Transformers 2

(nowhere near as bad obviously, but too long and too much apatow-ness)

Sandler was actually really good though.

the worst thing about the movie was how they would periodically just tell you what was happening and what people were feeling, like sandler's whole song about how he's lonely and how he hates the audience and they'll miss him but he won't miss them, or his thanksgiving speech - this shit could have been a lot more subtle and was kind of embarrassing from a filmmaking perspective. it also seemed really long -

otm. felt a bit indulgent and sloppy at times.

which is fine for some filmmakers but 2 1/2 hours for a comedy is pushing it

unfunny people

Knocked Down

which is fine for some filmmakers but 2 1/2 hours for a comedy is pushing it

Coulda been worse...:

PS... Judd did shorten it. I saw a three hour, forty five minute version of "Funny People" and Judd's goal was to get it to "Knocked Up" length. And that's where he got it, too.

i understand what dude was going for here, vibe-wise, and as a general apatow stan, i was rooting for him. but the material didn't suit his quasi-anarchic but generally good-natured, everything-wrapped-up-sitcom-style at all. quasi-nihilistic protagonists just stick out like a sore thumb in the apatowian universe, and...

[spoliers? but not really if you're at all familiar with the only storytelling template judd apatow knows.]

...sandler's "transformation" wasn't convincing at all. it would have worked better, if not for the studio execs sweating a departure for the king of uplifiting bromance, if he'd stayed an asshole through the end credits, rather than tacking on the aw-shucks glimmer of hope at the very end. i even think sandler can be a pretty decent actor when he wants to be, but he missed an opportunity for a mickey rourke style how-much-of-this-is-coded-autobio style surprise tour de force. (of course he may just not have that in him, which is fine, too.) and apatow seemed kind of off leaving his comfort zone to make a downbeat (if hardly "black") comedy. a lot of the jokes felt flat. not even the material itself, just the delivery, the performances, like he told the actors they couldn't sell the gags with the usual skirting-slapstick enthusiasm because it might dampen the drama. (which wasn't too convincing anyway.) like there were a couple times -- the eric bana stuff (apatow could have easily spun a much more successful movie, from a "yuks we know and love" standpoint, by basing the flick around the flintstones style marriage gags that started cropping up about an hour in, and i'm not 100 percent sure i'm glad he didn't), any interaction between rogen, schwartzman, and hill -- where you could tell they (and maybe apatow) were kinda dying to take it to the net, but apatow was playing it too cautiously. so instead of a bunch of slam dunks we got a defense-heavy win by like two points with a lot of missed shots. (also i only had time to skim the thread, so apologies if some of these points have been made already.)

i didn't think it was a *bad* movie at all, just that it was material that would have better suited a director who's a little bit of a cynic, rather than a guy who's generally been pretty up with people about the whole man-woman thing.

it was also the first time [again spoilers?] where, given where sandler winds up at the end of the movie, it felt like apatow was shoving his "THE 2.5 CHILDREN NUCLEAR FAMILY IS THE SOLUTION TO ANY AND ALL EXISTENTIAL DREAD AND WOE UNTO YOU SIR IF YOU BLOW YOUR CHANCES" thing in our faces rather than suggesting it as a more viable life alternative to his manchild audience.

and without making it sound like i didn't know exactly what i'd be getting when i bought my ticket -- which of course i bought because i'm a fan of the man's work -- what kept running through my head the whole time was this -- "every delay, every canceled flight, every piece of lost luggage, living in hotel rooms, every broken relationship, playing the comedy pouch in possum ridge fuckin' arkansas every fuckin' year. it's been great. don't get me wrong." -- and thinking how much funnier an apatowian look at a generally ground-down, semi-famous stand-up would have been, rather than another christmas carol redux about a wealthy, successful dude rethinking a life that's left him isolated by fame.

as a vancouver jew, it's really hard to hate a movie that shouts out my summer camp. machaneh miriam represent!

this movie was a total snooze

(btw i saw this at my boyfriend's request fyi)

it's loooooooooooooooooooooooonnnnnnnnnnnnnnng

weird that u didnt like it elmo, since u were so excited about it upthread

i know i was so disappointed

i enjoyed a lot about the film, but i will agree, this was way too long. i was ready for it to be over about 2/3 of the way through. just didn't really have the narrative drive to sustain it for 2 and half hours.

i dug this! it could have been shorter, definitely, and there were a lot of missteps, but i found myself enjoying it the whole way through. i guess going in w/ fairly low expectations was the best way to see this.

isn't that the way you all go into every contemporary studio film ever?

which is fine for some filmmakers but 2 1/2 hours for a comedy is pushing it

Yeah, but it's not like it's a traditional gag-filled comedy where the frantic pace of the jokes would get wearying. Which is to say, I didn't really mind the length. Part of that, too, is that one of the main narratives (George attempting to win back Laura) doesn't really get going until well over an hour into the film -- so it's not like it's 2 1/2 hours of the same thing.

Only thing that really bothered me is that some of the big significant moments in the narrative seemed a little clumsily handled -- like when (SPOILERS) Laura confesses that she's always loved George more than her husband, or when Clarke finds out that George is no longer sick. I'd have liked to have seen a bit more subtlety and emotional truth there, which is probably asking too much, but I think the film's weight and tone could have supported it.

It just occurred to me that the main duos in this film are George and Ira, and George and Laura. I wonder whether the similarities to Gershwin/Bush were intentional.

Part of that, too, is that one of the main narratives (George attempting to win back Laura) doesn't really get going until well over an hour into the film -- so it's not like it's 2 1/2 hours of the same thing.

haha for the first half of this movie i was like oh, leslie mann's not really gonna be in this much huh

Saw this last night, was way disappointed. There is a really good movie buried somewhere in this, but damned if I know how to salvage it outta there. Shaving a good 30-35 minutes off the running time would be a great start. I hated Eric Bana, but now have a major crush on Aubrey Plaza.

why was jason schwartzman even in this movie, anyway? and ira's romantic subplot felt grafted on. the pacing was really uneven and the whole thing felt completely unfocused to me.

Only thing that really bothered me is that some of the big significant moments in the narrative seemed a little clumsily handled -- like when (SPOILERS) Laura confesses that she's always loved George more than her husband, or when Clarke finds out that George is no longer sick. I'd have liked to have seen a bit more subtlety and emotional truth there, which is probably asking too much, but I think the film's weight and tone could have supported it.

i think this is basically what i was trying to say upthread ... they seemed unwilling to trust the audience to draw its own conclusions about what was happening and the characters' motivations. i generally enjoyed the movie but it was pretty clunky and didn't meet its full potential

why was jason schwartzman even in this movie, anyway?

Haha, I thought all the "Yo, Teach!" scenes were hilarious.

of course Jason Schwartzman had to be in the movie, who was going to bang the girl from Parks and Rec before Ira, Jonah Hill?

she was a delight btw, Wilco stuff notwithstanding

Haha, I thought all the "Yo, Teach!" scenes were hilarious.

Agreed. But his scenes outside of the fictional show setting were pretty awful.

I fuckin' loved this movie.

I think Jason Schwartzman was in the movie so Apatow could make fun of Jackson Browne.

The RZA's part was way worse than Schwartzmann.

it was so weird just to cast him as a stock harried co-worker.

Did this movie follow the Apatow tradition and have a really bad denouement?

maybe!

I guess I'll just have to watch it myself?

I think you can see the genesis for the Judd Apatow style as early as "Heavyweights" with Ben Stiller. Male bonding, nerd/outcasts v.s. the world theme, 1970s AM pop and Northern soul on the soundtrack, really big subplots that either go nowhere or end up taking over the film, mushy ending.

b.o. down 65% the second weekend. Will be outgrossed by The Ugly Truth.

And Ross Douthat tells you why that's a bad thing:

It’s been a melancholy summer for social conservatives. Their movement is fighting a rearguard battle in Barack Obama’s Washington. A cluster of family-values politicians — some of whom bunked down in the same Christian-sponsored D.C. townhouse — have spent the last few months confessing to extramarital affairs. And Sarah Palin ... well, you know how that’s turned out so far.

Worst of all, nobody likes Judd Apatow’s new movie.

Don’t laugh. No contemporary figure has done more than Apatow, the 41-year-old auteur of gross-out comedies, to rebrand social conservatism for a younger generation that associates it primarily with priggishness and puritanism.

And so forth.

A Bloggingheads.tv "conversation" b/w Morbs and Ross Douthat, plz.

No recent movie has made the case for abortion look as self-evidently awful as “Knocked Up,” Apatow’s 2007 keep-the-baby farce.

Really? Most people I know thought that the movie's flippant dismissal of shmashmortion was dumb and unrealistic and that the fact that Rogen's character becomes somewhat more emotionally mature throughout the pregnancy was not itself good cause for having the kid.

x-post: Well here's Douthat on baseball so there's that as a starting point too.

But it flippantly dismissed a lot of things!

(xpost)

I don't know. Parsing the abortion politics in an Apatow comedy is fruitless (also, I know just as many people who would decide to keep the kid, even if the dad looked and acted like Seth Rogen).

xp Sure, of course it did. But no one is arguing that its flippant dismissal of Steely Dan has definitely proved the awfulness of '70s jazz-rock.

Yeah, I'm sure I know people who would keep the kid, too -- I just object to Douthat's claim that the film is widely persuasive in its advocacy of this.

the fact that Rogen's character becomes somewhat more emotionally mature throughout the pregnancy was not itself good cause for having the kid.

i didn't get the sense that heigl kept the kid because it would make rogen more mature

neither knocked up nor juno can really be judged w/r/t abortion politics because:

a. abortion isn't funny. these are comedies.
b. abortion would sorta ruin the basic plot of both movies.

otm. also:

c. not every movie about unexpected or inconvenient pregnancy, comedy or otherwise, has a responsibility to address the subject of abortion

Citizen Ruth proved abortion can be the basis of a comedy

i don't know who this ross douthat guy is but thanks for pointing him out as someone to avoid forever.

except he's OTM about J.A. being a social reactionary.

but he's so offtm abt baseball it ought to bring a tear to yr eye.

think my fav scene in this was fake sandler movie w/ him in hot dog eating contest

i don't know who this ross douthat guy is but thanks for pointing him out as someone to avoid forever.

He replaced Bill Kristol as the NYT's token conservative.

I didn't mind him so much when he worked at The Atlantic, but sitting in Kristol's kubicle has done wonders to his douchebag muscles.

i didn't get the sense that heigl kept the kid because it would make rogen more mature

Me neither. But if Douthat seems to think that the movie makes a strong case against abortion, then how does he think it's accomplishing that? I assumed by the fact that her decision to keep the kid has a curative effect (intended or not) on Rogen's arrested development.

Citizen Ruth isn't particularly funny though.

Me neither. But if Douthat seems to think that the movie makes a strong case against abortion, then how does he think it's accomplishing that? I assumed by the fact that her decision to keep the kid has a curative effect (intended or not) on Rogen's arrested development.

yeah but if your friends are complaining that this effect wasn't "good cause" for having the kid they're missing that Heigl makes the decision before he mans up. There's an outtake where she gets teary after seeing the ultrasound that I'm guessing they didn't include because they didn't want to seem pro-life. It's a shame - the moment fleshes out her motivation a little and you can be pro-choice without expecting everyone to be coldly rational about their pregnancy.

a strong case for parenthood inspiring people to get outside themselves != a strong case against the availiblity abortion

of abortion, rather. and as for funny people, there was really nothing wrong with it that wouldn't have been fixed by a couple rewrites, most importantly the one where Apatow realizes it should be about the emotional journey of the aspiring comic, not the mid-life crisis of the superstar.

then again, that would have meant leaving his admittedly charming wife and kids out of the movie

and someone actually forcing judd apatow to do a rewrite

a strong case for parenthood inspiring people to get outside themselves != a strong case against the availability of abortion

This is well-put.

of abortion, rather. and as for funny people, there was really nothing wrong with it that wouldn't have been fixed by a couple rewrites, most importantly the one where Apatow realizes it should be about the emotional journey of the aspiring comic, not the mid-life crisis of the superstar.

― da croupier, Monday, August 10, 2009 11:47 AM (Yesterday) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

isnt it more abt the relationship between the young comic & the older one than the older comic & his old flame? esp when they realize how bad an idea the two of them getting together would be.

i thought this was pretty good. Its too long & n/a is right about how its occasionally overliteral though ...

like just cut out the scene with sandler singing entirely

did u know?? jon brion was in the 'band' sandler plays with at one point (i forgot he sings more than one song in this film)

oh yea he hires ppl 2 jam with him & sez "i wish we were really friends" <-- more of the overliteral-ness

I kind of didn't mind the literalness of Sandler's maudlin song at the piano, because I figured that's what a guy who was driven to perform would do -- he'd be able to lay it all out there, but people would still laugh because they'd be unsure of whether he was being serious or not. Win-win.

isnt it more abt the relationship between the young comic & the older one than the older comic & his old flame? esp when they realize how bad an idea the two of them getting together would be.

yeah but if the relationship between the comics is (and it should be) the plot, we can jettison the mann/sandler shit altogether, making more room for more stand-up and rogen/plaza stuff.

i mean why did apatow et al spend six months or whatever doing stand up to get into character if over half the movie was going to be about the soullessness of being an asshole superstar?

It feels like Hollywood is going through its Use Your Illusion phase.

judging from laughyourdickoff.com the bonus disc will actually be funnier than the movie

I kind of didn't mind the literalness of Sandler's maudlin song at the piano, because I figured that's what a guy who was driven to perform would do -- he'd be able to lay it all out there, but people would still laugh because they'd be unsure of whether he was being serious or not. Win-win.

― jaymc, Tuesday, August 11, 2009 8:19 AM (50 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

i agree with this

looking back i think the girl was probably the funniest part of the whole movie

this movie went shwoooooop thwwwwwp right outta my brain pretty soon after seeing it

i still laff thinkin abt some of the fake sandler movies~

"u know this isnt going 2 bring mom back"

"I HAVE NOTHING LEFT!!"

damn memory, pretty sure he sez i have nothing 'else' actually

I hated this film.

I often dislike Apatow and loved this film

I get the impression this bombed

shakey mo collier's vague, impressionistic movie performance report

cost: $75 million
sales: $52 million

that qualifies as a bomb, right?

american comedies generally don't do that well overseas, so i guess you could say that

how did this movie cost 75mil

lol hollywood

it's a 2.5 hour movie with a bunch of movie stars.

most expensive dick joke ever

no, that was this http://huzefa58.files.wordpress.com/2009/03/toronto27s_cn_tower1.jpg

this movie went shwoooooop thwwwwwp right outta my brain pretty soon after seeing it

this

not officially a flop until morbs stops by to gloat

eric bana was actually the funniest person in this film.

I often dislike Apatow and loved this film

― bear, bear, bear, Wednesday, September 9, 2009 6:41 AM (2 months ago) Bookmark

This.

Eminem's bit was hilarious.

I finally got around to seeing this. Kind of sucks because it jumped The Hangover (which I haven't seen) in my Netflix queue thanks to, 'Very Long Wait'. Expecting The Hangover and getting this instead was kind of a bummer...

I ended up liking it. Though I definitely found it to be too long, though it's hard to figure out what should have been removed. Most of the excess fat was the funny stuff - remove that and all that's left is a half-assed drama with no context. The length will definitely prevent me from buying it, but I didn't mind spending 2 1/2 hours with these characters.

Eric Bana was so hot in this.

Yeah, this wasn't too bad after all. It was kind of marketed as a downer movie, which was weird, because it's really not. It's got as much of a happy, feel-good ending as any other Apatow movie, IMO. I don't think it needed to be that long either - I would have trimmed the ex-gf story a lot.

Yeah I thought it was a pretty feel-good movie overall.

Yeah, I liked this more than I thought I would.

yeah i didn't really find it feel good at all. The majority of the film concerns a guy who has a near death experience and learns absolutely nothing from it,tries to ruin the life of a woman he purportedly loves for completely selfish reasons, and is an asshole to a guy who cares for him and admires him. This isn't really tempered that much for me by the last scene redeeming him very slightly by taking on the guy as his protege.

I don't know about that - haven't there lots of popular feel-good movies with Sandler as a lovable asshole?

...haven't there been lots of...

i didn't think he was particularly loveable, or meant to be.

He's Adam Sandler fer Chrissake! He could be chopping up puppies with a chainsaw and he would be loveable.

concerns a guy who has a near death experience and learns absolutely nothing from it,tries to ruin the life of a woman he purportedly loves for completely selfish reasons, and is an asshole to a guy who cares for him and admires him.

i felt like the movie was more about what Ira learned from George, personally. George was Scrooge in the future, to return to the Christmas Carol comparison someone made above.

"He could be chopping up puppies with a chainsaw and he would be loveable."
His being Republican killed the love here.

There've been some loveable Republicans haven't there? Or at least they seemed that way for a time.

Hank Hill, maybe.

I wrote at the time: "It isn’t that Apatow, as lots of critics have suggested, regards women as civilizing influences on chunky comic blowhards; it’s that Apatow has an unexpected, tacit, and utterly weird contempt for the lifestyle these critics say he “glorifies.” Based on The 40 Year Old Virgin, Knocked Up, and now Funny People, Apatow is saying, “Life sucks if you don’t have a good woman beside you, and, by the way, she better laugh at your bad, awkward one-liners, and let you eat her out too.” If he really thought comedy a vocation in which a genuine talent could thrive for a lifetime, then he would have allowed Aubrey Plaza more space to roam; every time she throws one of her death-adder glares at Jason Schwartzman or Seth Rogen I wished that Apatow would have had the sense to pair her with Sandler.

Funny People is far from a disaster, but a lot of is attenuated; the bit players like Jonah Hill and Schwartzman (who, apart from his bit in The Fantastic Mr. Fox, continues to flex his talent for inoffensiveness) don’t have anything to do; the timing of the jokes is just slightly off; Seth Rogen, as he showed in Pineapple Express, is lumpen, embarrassed, and embarrassing when he accepts purely reactive supporting parts.

i have no idea what's embarrassing about his role in this movie

He plays a toady without charm.

The movie is pretty self-aware about charm being tied to obesity.

Rogen always plays the same person, IMO. He's a likeable person, but always the same. The actors who impressed me the most in this were probably Schwartzman and Bana - both of whom were not afraid to be actually unlikeable.

The movie is pretty self-aware about charm being tied to obesity.

When did Morbs change his screename?

Schwartzman's "Who writes this stuff?" t-shirt was my favorite part of the movie.

This movie was a dower only because it was so long and boring. Also, the most distractingly self-obsessed Apatow movie to date. I think he made it just as an excuse to show home movies he made with Sandler from back in the day and footage of his kid singing the song from "Cats." God knows how many moments he must have snuck in that resonate exclusively with him and his wife. No doubt they'll be watching it together in the old age home, making googly eyes at one another.

uhhh he's dead

Yep, the only message i got from this is that if you don't find Apatow's daughter doing a number from "Cats" adorable then you are a bad person.

holy shit rip

if you don't find Apatow's daughter doing a number from "Cats" adorable then you are a bad person.

That part made me feel like a bad person.

on the opposite tip, that part made me feel like this was a bad movie

sorry i don't care about your kids, judd apatow!

also have to agree with alfred - i think "toady without charm" sums it up quite well

I didn't know it was his kid, but I found the scene to be pretty cute and also a great way of conveying to the audience why he wasn't going to work in that situation.

might rescreen this but stan that i am, emo seth rogen is not what i signed up for. i liked the schwartzman/plaza/hill ish.

Yep, the only message i got from this is that if you don't find Apatow's daughter doing a number from "Cats" adorable then you are a bad person.

― Number None, Saturday, 9 January 2010 00:05 (19 hours ago)

lol yeah that part was...ugh

in some ways this movie felt as indulgent and bloated as transformers 2.

was totally enjoying this until Wilco/Sandler/Beatles cover musical montage and then it just went off the rails

the music in this movie was blood curdling.

the Warren Zevon was the most cringe-inducing musical moment for me (self-aware as it was about being cringe-inducing)

? I didn't even notice that. must've been the song in Rogen's playlist that I didn't recognize...

pretty much loved all the Hill/Rogen/Schwartzman/um young actress who I'm unfamiliar with scenes - movie should've been basically about them and kept the big Adam Sandler character in the background.

WAY too many cameos, even when some of them were funny (cf James Taylor)

this movie was crazy, how it turned into another movie about 2/3rds of the way through

didn't appreciate Aubrey Plaza until Parks and Rec, so now I almost want to see this again but not enough to actually see it again.

this movie was crazy, how it turned into another movie about 2/3rds of the way through

yeah that was my feeling too, was ready for it to wrap up and then hey super drawn-out/badly-paced ex-gf tangent.

overriding message of the movie I got was that Adam Sandler's character was an asshole, despite the very last scene.

yeah i think the point is that he learns nothing, but that's the cost of being a great comedian. in the UK sandler is really not popular; i think he's done some good things, but even then, he's not *that* good, even when he's above his average. and his character in this movie, when being funny, isn't *that* funny. so the "message" falls a bit flat for me, and anyway apatow himself is apparently happily married (and overrates his wife and kids' charm) so it's kind of a funny thing to be saying. he seems in awe of sandler without good reason.

kinda hope apatow sticks to producing from now on. now that so many others have his formula down pat, all he can do from the director seat is keep chasing some james l. brooks slow-year oscar.

no reason for him to wind up like cameron crowe

word

or cameron carr

yeah... it's honestly hard to tell whether Sandler is satirizing himself or doing a Tracy Jordan-type character that makes fun of other comedy stars in equal measure, because "George Simmons"'s movies are just barely any dumber or more ridiculous than a lot of Adam Sandler movies, if at all. I think the movie makes Rogen's character seem in awe of him without good reason on purpose, though, you're not meant to think "here's a comedy genius he's working with, how lucky is he." (xpost)

actually, i wouldn't mind if he kept directing, this is his only real dud and it's not like it's totally irredeemable

I can't think of anything he does w/ his scripts than any other capable director couldn't do as well or better, though. and at the very least they might make the movies shorter.

i dunno if i agree with that

i mean, a lot of what he does as a director is performer-oriented... who can say whether [random other guy director] would get the same stuff out of them

The only times Judd Apatow productions seem to fuck up that performer-oriented style is when they get high-concept like Walk Hard or Year Zero.

I think the movie makes Rogen's character seem in awe of him without good reason on purpose, though, you're not meant to think "here's a comedy genius he's working with, how lucky is he."

No, but you are meant to think "here's a bona fide celebrity/movie star he's working with, how lucky he is to meet someone who can open some serious doors for him."

well yeah...but that doesn't justify his awe.

was year zero actually apatow-affiliated?

because that movie was a humongous turd.

he produced it, yeah (and it's Year One, my bad).

Reznor produced Year Zero, Apatow only played drums on a few tracks

I just wish there was some sign Apatow's directorial ambition isn't to make the R-rated Terms Of Endearment.

need to rescreen this tbh, because i did enjoy lots of it while i was watching it. this is still a much better film than 'up in the air', for example -- better directed and all the other stuff. id like it if he went full cassavetes on his own movies.

hopefully he just got the "personal one" out of his system

does Funny People have a lot of good bonus stuff on the DVD? i figure there has to be since the standup stuff that made up like 50% of the promotional campaign was barely in it, but by the time i finished the long-ass movie i had no desire to watch anything else involved w/ it.

i keep forgetting to see if netflix will just let you check out the bonus shit.

RAAAAAAANDYYYYY

does Funny People have a lot of good bonus stuff on the DVD?

apparently it's three dvds. i have far too many deluxe extended cuts of apatow movies, and have baulked at this, but they usually have some primo shit. the one on 'knocked up' of michael cera et al auditioning for rogen's role is classic material.

i didn't really get that character...like the Sandler/Simmons movies, it's so incrementally different and more obnoxious than Aziz Ansari's own actual standup that it barely registers as a joke. (xpost)

they're doing a raaaaaaaandy movie.

the bonus disc to knocked up is funnier than most movies

xpost did you check out his website, al?

aziz does a long bit as randy at the end of the cc special, its pretty terrible

Raaaaandy has a DJ. and props, too, I think.

at the end of his cd, i mean. i don't know if they edited it out of the special when it was broadcast

aziz ansari is one of those dudes who i find funny enough but would be fine with him being a bit player in ensemble shit forever, not looking forward to him having starring vehicles

yeah, not sure i want to see a whole movie based around him, but the site cracks me up - would have loved to see more of him in a film focused on the aspiring comics, rather than the woes of a not particularly funny superstar

^^ agreed, all the best scenes were rogen/hill/schwartzman/ansari and especially the chick just fuckin around w/ each other

^^^ this.

yup

and given Apatow's clear love for standup its kinda weird how LITTLE standup shit actually got in the movie, cuz there's definitely filmworthy material there. It would've at least been better than Punchlines.

would be a good pitch for a tv series tbh

that TV show was called Seinfeld

I understand why the standup got left on the cutting room floor, since it doesn't really advance the plot, but like half the plot that was being advanced could've been dropped to the movie's benefit. (xpost)

dont remember georges standup career

b4 he joined the yankees and after he was a real estate agent iirc

really loved Schwarzmann in this - can't think of a single film I haven't enjoyed him in, even when everything else about the film (*cough* WALK HARD *cough*) was terrible

i did not enjoy him in Hotel Chevalier, but I'm still pretty sure that was just a prank to get Natalie Portman naked.

thought that whole bit was hilarious meself.

Natalie Portman is gross, naked or otherwise.

also wtf w/Sal from Mad Men showing up in this, that was random.

Oh man this had some way great moments but it just. went. on. so. long. I think the "man this was long feeling" will fade, though, leaving only residual good memories.

This was defs my favorite Schwartzman role I've ever seen. "Teach can have more than one friend."

i dunno -- even after cherry picking Knocked Up on cable reruns and only rewatching the parts i really like, the overlongness (overlength?) of it still kinda hangs over it for me, and it's not even nearly as bad an offender as Funny People in that dept. (xpost)

as someone who's hated Schwartzman in virtually everything post-Rushmore i will give him credit for being good in this

I did not even like Rushmore!

I just caught five minutes of "Slackers" channel-flipping tonight. Makes every other Schwartzman movie look like a masterpiece.

this was only okay. god it was too long.

I know – I think one of the things I laughed hardest at was when the movie ended & the DVD menu offered to show me the director's cut. "He wanted it to be even longer? hahahaha"

yeah this didn't work for me at all... as much as I love Apatow (and even Rogen and Schwartzman to a lesser degree) he just took it WAY TOO FAR with this, too long, too much to empathize with bitter asshole comedian people - just about every character was loathesome, then he put in his own kids and i'm supposed to care? the Cats thing was just ...

Seriously - "only a self-absorbed asshole wouldn't be interested in watching home videos of my daughter's school play"

yeah that was lame.

think this started to go all wrong when (SPOILERS??) sandler's health started improving. got that it was kinda about the self absorption of showbiz types, thought rogen calling roomies in a panic + the last shot were really nice ways of emphasizing that, but figure it woulda been a better movie as a weepy

a HOOS is watching afternoon cinemax

Eric Bana is pretty funny in this.

lol xp

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qKSAvNOIaNo

looooooool amazing

between that and the South Park (I had no idea it was real at the time), this film has already become a bad joke.

at this point the only thing I like about Sandler are his sidemen

clip is gold

is al pacino REALLY in this movie?

Al Pacino is a hologram

i was hard on Funny People when it came out, but i gotta say - i quote it way more than any other apatow movie. any time i see a pic of newly skinny jonah hill, i remember his bit from this movie where he says 'there's nothing funny about a physically fit man - nobody wants to watch Lance Armstrong do comedy'

http://www.funnyordie.com/videos/25c6e204eb/leo-s-thoughts-on-weight

http://i.imgur.com/7w7AR.jpg

he looks like my landlord now

really hard to believe this is watchable

jonah hill wasn't really very funny when he was fat, so he may as well get healthy

I think he's p hysterical.

heh i honestly have always found hill the funniest dude in the apatow crew - all the best moments in this movie are his - i can crack up just thinking about his line deliveries. i hope losing weight didnt sap away his mojo~~

But he looks weird skinny. I don't like it.

he has a few really funny moments in Superbad but in most other stuff i feel like he's the weakest link and/or the sidekick in a terrible duo dynamic with Russell Brand

i think aubrey plaza made me crack up the hardest in this

Al no offence or anything but you have the strangest (read worst) taste sometimes.

Jonah Hill is just really funny and likeable to me idk.

would you say he was a...funny people

he looks like Nice Guy Eddie.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NtR_holkY18

"harold potter" kills me

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=npj5VV6fl6w

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4y56jMSOSt4

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-dLaxoql_iU

Al no offence or anything but you have the strangest (read worst) taste sometimes.

― ladies love draculas like children love stray dogs (ENBB), Wednesday, July 27, 2011 8:46 PM (10 minutes ago) Bookmark

it's cool, i don't take offense from weirdos who say 'offence'

what about weirdos who write "behaviour"

u in flavour/colour/etc. doesn't bother me aesthetically nearly as much as offence for some reason

Wait, do Americans only spell it with a "s"? I get confused. It's OK though, I am a weirdo.

anyway of all the opinions i take shit for around i hear i didn't think 'paul rudd is funnier than jonah hill' would be the big controversial one

i don't think paul rudd's funnier, just more charismatic. i know that's not a popular opinion though

seeing hill in 'accepted' before any good movie may have tainted my opinion of him -- he seems very at home in hackier stuff like that

would you say he was a...funny people

― puff puff post (uh oh I'm having a fantasy), Thursday, July 28, 2011 12:48 AM (23 minutes ago) Bookmark

ty for this

i think he's hilarious about half the time, usually when he's not trying to play a normal "likeable" guy

like the creepy autistic fanboy waiter in sarah marshall > the dude in get him to the greek who was living with nurse peggy

The quotes should be around "guy," strongo.

i have no evidence that jonah hill doesn't have a penis but thankfully i also have no evidence that he does

i think he's hilarious about half the time, usually when he's not trying to play a normal "likeable" guy

― apichathong song (strongo hulkington's ghost dad), Wednesday, July 27, 2011 9:12 PM (3 minutes ago) Bookmark

like the creepy autistic fanboy waiter in sarah marshall > the dude in get him to the greek who was living with nurse peggy

― apichathong song (strongo hulkington's ghost dad), Wednesday, July 27, 2011 9:13 PM (2 minutes ago) Bookmark

yeah, absolutely. he's best as the strange jerkoff sidekick who ambles in to cap off a scene (though i dont necessarily blame him for Get him to the greek)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iyuGdUbWgIg
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BzNfvvAp63s

"well why don't i just go fuck myself then?"
"excuse me?"
"mahalo!"

for some reason the way he says mahalo in that scene just makes me giggle

ugh thought his scenes in sarah marshall were kind of a drag -- generally when i've liked him it's been in superbad and to a lesser extent knocked up and funny people

i guess i just have a weakness for fat weirdos

best ever slobbin on giant tittays in grandmas boy, i want that scene in his oscar reel someday~

don't remember him being in grandma's boy but grandma's boy was p great

i assume we mean the "in memory of those we've lost..." reel here

so weirded out to see all the bad vibez re greek in this thread, i loved it & thought it was well received

also i like a lot his delivery of the line @ the beginning of sarah marshall of no i cannot sell you weed at my job or w/e

I always kind of want to watch funny people but I know my gf will def clown me for it if I watch it around her and I will silently clown myself for it if I watch it in general

haha i liked get him to the greek too, hoos. i like everything. i have no taste.

nah, get him to the greek was great, no shame

also i like a lot his delivery of the line @ the beginning of sarah marshall of no i cannot sell you weed at my job or w/e

― johnny crunch, Wednesday, July 27, 2011 6:28 PM (37 seconds ago) Bookmark

when I was a child I would buy weed from this dude who worked at a black angus because more often than not his shit would be white, and he would sometimes be on his cell phone telling someone that exact line as he was handing me a bag out in the back

i thought get him to the greek was solid but weirdly long and definitely a step down from FMS, diddy killed in it though

yeah i find myself mentally quoting the diddy lines more than anything

is it bad I can name restaurants where I have only bought weed

"this is what pussy felt like in the '70s" and etc.

*FSM

i thought get him to the greek was solid but weirdly long and definitely a step down from FMS, diddy killed in it though

― https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_i_qxQztHRI (Princess TamTam), Wednesday, July 27, 2011 9:31 PM (1 minute ago) Bookmark

109 minutes is actually short for an Apatow production! but yeah Diddy singlehandedly justified the movie's existence for me

yeah i just think it outstayed its welcome faster than the others. also most apatow movies do a good job of getting you to care about the characters, but i had no goodwill for aldous huxley or w/e by the end of this shit and wasnt dying to see the end of his character arc

Fuck you guys - Get Him to the Greek is now in my queue.

http://data.whicdn.com/images/5862821/tumblr_le3n9fRtyt1qfr8mlo1_500_thumb.png?1293593319

YES

That was an expression of my approval of that image. Not in answer to the question btw.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CMbqoI2rs-4

i can't believe there are no animated gifs out there of diddy's heads floating around jonah hill

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wVPjdsyov_o

haha i think it was on the audio commentary that jonah talks abt seeing the trailer 2 that art house movie "babies" or w/e & thinking he was seeing the african child video

That was an expression of my approval of that image. Not in answer to the question btw.

― ladies love draculas like children love stray dogs (ENBB), Thursday, July 28, 2011 1:45 AM (6 minutes ago) Bookmark

lol

now that's a mindfuck

only thing really wrong with GHTTG is brand (especially the songs) but he's ok in bits

i was just thinking earlier about how lolsome the 'looks like she could take a dick' exchange is in 'superbad'

rescreened this... jonah hill is definitely one of the better things about it. sandler is great.

i really couldn't stand rogen in it, though. it's partly the character he's playing, but not entirely. he's never funny, or even likeable. has his face weirdly screwed up.

it's kind of meta that aubrey plaza has gone on to be in a really hacky nbc sitcom huh.

yo teach >>>>

yeah, this is the first movie which made me realize how limited Rogen's appeal is.

like, he's not a strong comic actor to get you past dead scenes by force of charisma.

*strong ENOUGH

the scene where rogen has made a mixtape for sandler, and it has fucking 'i've had the time of my life' on it... terrible. feels more 'written' than other apatow films.

Apatow should be banned from casting his wife/children in any film again. Of course, he's doing just that for his next one

i thought they were ok. mixed feelings. he shd think about giving leslie mann some kind of negative character trait, maybe. or go a bit deeper. presumably leslie mann is not unlike her character in the film -- i.e. her acting career never took off. she basically only appears in apatow films. they didn't really 'go there' by having bana be mean about her failure to pop; that made her the injured party.

something about the mann/apatow pairings is "interesting" in the same way the coen/mcdormand dynamic in "burn after reading" is interesting, though nowhere near as cruel.

amazingly Leslie Mann is the female lead in a non-Apatow movie now, that terrible-looking Ryan Reynolds/Jason Bateman body swapping thing

comparing her to McDormand seems more cruel to McDormand than anything the Coens have done

lol

i wonder if it's like when David Duchovny basiclaly admitted that Tea Leoni forced him to give her a role in House of D

well i mean comparing apatow to the coens made me dizzy but i fought back the nausea and still clicked submit.

i've never really bought into rogen as a lead, like him best doing supporting bits like 40 y/o or superbad

i thought it was interesting that someone in this thread observed that it seemed like apatow purposefully reigned in the comedic potential of the actors - i recently listened to the apatow episode of WTF, and he confirms that's exactly what he did, using less-funny takes because he was so into the idea of making a movie called Funny People that wasn't particularly funny. he also confirms that it was really just two movie ideas smushed into one flick, which was the other major problem i had with the movie. he also reinforced all of da croupier's digs about Terms of Endearment by confirming that his highest ambition is to make a James L. Brooks movie.

i like when sandler refers to schwartzman as pete rose

also thought this was the first time since Chopper that eric bana's shown some of the energy and charisma that made him seem like a star - that guy really needs to do more offbeat stuff, he's one of those actors whose charisma just evaporates whenever they play a captain squarejaw type

yeah this was one of the few movies i actually paid to see in the theater in '09 and the whole time all i could think was that success had finally allowed him to ditch the lowbrow punchlines and finally get down to the serious business of sentimentality. i avoided watching it again when it was all over the pay channels a while back, then i kinda wished id watched it just to see if i could appreciate it now that i was resigned to the idea of a non-comedic apatow "comedy," but everyone on this thread makes me figure i was right not to bother.

yeah Funny People reveled a bit too much in not being funny or not being likable or whatever, it seemed almost designed to get underwhelmed reviews/box office. i liked that it was willing to let Sandler be a coarse asshole, though, not bending over backwards to make him this sympathetically maladjusted protagonist like in Donkey Punch Love or whatever.

haha i had the same problems w/ pdl that i did with this, really. beaten-down nebbish borderline sociopath redeemed by whimsy and an eight-year-old's vision of true love.

i guess sandler wasnt really a nebbish in this but he was basically the pdl character if he'd had just enough backbone to become successful rather than the owner of a whoopie cushion factory or whateverthefuck that was.

i dunno Sandler was smashing mad groupies in FP, felt like a very different character to the core

maybe funny people = sandler in the real world and pdl = sandler in his cold black heart

i like the guy when he's playing brain-damaged baby hueys though so i dont wanna give the wrong impression

it's kind of meta that aubrey plaza has gone on to be in a really hacky nbc sitcom huh.

No one challenging this particular line?

lol donkey punch love

haha i had the same problems w/ pdl that i did with this, really. beaten-down nebbish borderline sociopath redeemed by whimsy and an eight-year-old's vision of true love.

― king of torts (strongo hulkington's ghost dad), Sunday, July 31, 2011 12:44 PM (12 minutes ago) Bookmark

heh this is exactly why i hate pdl, but i dont think there's much redemption here - simmons is still an asshole at the end, and is most assuredly going to continue being an asshole. it just ends with him giving 'being friends with ira' another shot

i actually do love the entire sequence where simmons is at leslie mann's house, its pitch-perfect at capturing what it feels like to be an asshole insinuating yourself back into an old flame's life, and doesn't shy away from observing that 'true love' is nowhere near a powerful enough ~redemptive force~ to combat a lifetime of being a jerkoff