1. Welcome to SportsJournalists.com, a friendly forum for discussing all things sports and journalism.

    Your voice is missing! You will need to register for a free account to get access to the following site features:
    • Reply to discussions and create your own threads.
    • Access to private conversations with other members.
    • Fewer ads.

    We hope to see you as a part of our community soon!

Funny People

Discussion in 'Anything goes' started by Chef, Jul 9, 2009.

  1. Small Town Guy

    Small Town Guy Well-Known Member

    I actually can't stand Sandler in his dramas, they're more difficult to watch than his zany ones. This one sounds like a rental.
     
  2. Cousin Jeffrey

    Cousin Jeffrey Active Member

    I guess the idea's been bouncing around between Apatow and Sandler for years, based on Apatow's struggles as a standup. Tons of cameos and guest stars. Esquire had a good story on it earlier this summer.

    Here's another fake web site connected to it with jason schwartzman starring in a NBC sitcom.

    http://www.nbc.com/yo-teach/
     
  3. Saw it tonight. It's basically a full movie I really liked followed directly by a full movie I didn't like at all.

    A lot of the funny bits are played for cringes more than laughs -- think the "Dinner Party" episode of The Office. It's too long by 45 minutes. By the end we were sitting up straight in our chairs, and as soon as the credits rolled, the packed theater was empty in about 30 seconds. We were all just ready to escape.

    It's Apatow, so there's plenty of complex emotional stuff, and that's all good and well handled. It's just a sort of a mess that feels every bit of its 3.5 hours (actually 136 minutes, but still).

    If you've enjoyed Apatow's catalog, I'd still say go see it. It's worth it for the roommate scenes and the obvious self-reference from Sandler (whom I never mind turning serious). But this isn't a date movie or anything. It isn't laff-a-minute and it isn't tear-jerking, either.

    But whatever it is, there's certainly a hell of a lot of it.
     
  4. Some Guy

    Some Guy Active Member

    It was a good movie. That's the basic synopsis. I'd recommend it. I do sort of know what "Username" talking about, though.

    About halfway through, I started to think this could be the best movie I've seen in a long, long time. Then it started to drag a little .... then came the ending, which wrapped up a little too neatly and abruptly for my tastes. It's like 135 minutes of all this drama happening ... and in one minute, "and everyone lived happily ever after, the end."

    I disagree with "Username" a bit in the sense that I didn't feel like the movie was exceedingly long. I could have envisioned the same 136-minute movie, with some of the middle part truncated and the ending drawn out a little bit more.

    One way the movie would have been better ...


    SPOILER ALERT














    Sandler's character needed to die.
     
  5. Some Guy

    Some Guy Active Member

    That's weird. I was actually thinking today how much better Sandler is at doing drama than, say, Jim Carrey. I couldn't believe, watching Funny People, that this was the same dude from Billy Madison.

    That said, Sandler plays a comedian in this movie. He's still funny.
     
  6. jimnorden

    jimnorden Member

    saw it tonight. loved the hell out of it. thought sandler was great.
     
  7. Simon_Cowbell

    Simon_Cowbell Active Member

    Tremendous under-the-breath line: "I don't think you are allowed to have two girls in China"

    I loved the love for Zevon
     
  8. Simon_Cowbell

    Simon_Cowbell Active Member

    I give it a solid B.

    Sandler delivers drama within comedy in a way I have only seen Steve Martin do on the big screen
     
  9. Some Guy

    Some Guy Active Member

    I think I agree with this. I might even go B-plus or A-minus.
     
  10. Songbird

    Songbird Well-Known Member

    That's what I was talking about earlier with the subtle lines. Lots of 'em.

    I'd put it between B-plus and A-minus.
     
  11. Dyno

    Dyno Well-Known Member

    I give it an A- There were two scenes that made me laugh and cry simultaneously. It was a very strange feeling. I thought it was too long, but I really, really liked it. I went to a screening of it the week before it came out and had no idea what to expect.
     
  12. Some Guy

    Some Guy Active Member

    Which two scenes?
     
Draft saved Draft deleted

Share This Page