Funny People

I am not sure how to feel about this movie. Instinctively I am disappointed, how can you not be? You have Sandler, Rogen, Leslie Mann, Jonah Hill and Jason Schwartzman rolled up and starring in a movie written and directed by Apatow so why did I not pee my pants within the first 15 minutes of the movie? OK I was warned, I should not have been surprised...this was Apatow's attempt at "serious." You know I am not surprised he wanted to try this...I mean a writer can only shell out so many stoner comedies before he wants to try something new. I am such a fan of everyone involved with this project I would have gone to see this movie had it been a documentary about saving the polar bears.
Anyways there were a lot of things I loved about this movie....one of them was that you either got the jokes of your didn't. A lot of the humor was not obvious and I noticed only 2 instances where the characters actually explained the punchline.
I was also really excited about Seth Rogen's performance...I really liked him in this movie...it brought him away from the Knocked Up and Pineapple Express characters and you got to see a different yet the same side of his acting...something I think he was trying to do but missed the mark with in Observe and Report.
I noticed during the opening credits that the music was by Jason Schwartzman so I was really eager as to what kind of score and soundtrack the movie was going to have...The score was not memorable...I do remember one scene caught my attention, when Mann's character was driving to the airport and Rogen was trying to beat her there, the music got me anxious, maybe too anxious I thought someone was going to get in a car accident or something dramatic was going to happen. I am always looking to see what happens next in a movie before it happens and usually the music is a big clue, the music in that scene was a dud. The soundtrack however was amazing...I heard some Alice in Chains, James Taylor, Neil Diamond, and Warren Zevon are some I remember off the top of my head. There was a scene that had "Keep Me In Your Heart" by Zevon and it broke my heart. That is my favorite Zevon song ever. The music in this movie was wonderful and perfectly placed.
The cameo roll call got annoying. I am not going to lie, James Taylor and his "Fuck Facebook" line was se magnifique and if you are a YouTube geek like I am then you probably caught Bo Burnham's blink and you'll miss him moment and rated an imaginary 5 stars. But seriously I felt the Laugh Factory alumni stopping in for a one liner was just unnecessary in this already excessive 2 and a half hour movie.
Even though this was going to be Apatow's stab at serious...it felt like when he was done writing he declared: "Just to satisfy let me sprinkle some signature stuff on them" and he went back in the script and wrote in penis, penis, penis, dick, masturbate, penis, dick, fart, penis, balls into every other line in the first half of the movie. I love immature humor and language, seriously it is my favorite but in this instance, could have done without.
As for the movie itself...I felt like it was a 2 for 1 special. I really liked the beginning and then when it gets into the second half where he goes and tries to win back the "lost love" it just gets too draggy. Mann's character was not in the first part of the movie and then she just shows up and all of a sudden is a lead. The second half is where I lost interest and the last 10 minutes or so kind of angered me...it is like they cut a little of good off the beginning and slapped it on the ass of the end to kind of remind you that the movie was about the life of comedians.

Verdict: After blogging about this I have realized that even though I feel like I am in the middle of where I stand...I am leaning more towards liking it. Glad I saw it. Too long to watch again. Def worth watching...but too complicated to defend if someone walks out saying it SUCKS and why wasn't "FUNNY PEOPLE, FUNNY?"