Audience expectations may be the biggest enemy for Funny People, the new film from writer/director Judd Apatow.  Built up in the trailers as the “third film from the director of The 40-Year-Old Virgin and Knocked Up” and starring the likes of Adam Sandler and Seth Rogen, audiences are likely to go in expecting a laugh-a-minute comedy.  It is even suggested in the title.  Apatow is trying to branch out, however, and this more dramatic effort is sure to let many filmgoers down.

Sandler plays George Simmons, a veteran comedian and movie star who has just been diagnosed with a rare disorder and told that he doesn’t have long to live.  One night, when making an impromptu visit to a comedy club, he meets Rogen’s Ira Wright, a struggling comedian whom he decides to have write jokes for him.

His entire life, Simmons has been a selfish jerk which has led him to a life where he has no friends, no family, and the love of his life wants nothing to do with him.  Suddenly faced with death, he feels alone and Ira becomes his confidant, but the relationship is definitely one-sided.  Even facing death, Simmons remains so self-centered that he uses his disease to lure back the woman who got away, despite the fact that she is now married with two children.

Although Apatow is definitely aiming to go in a more dramatic direction, Funny People is not without its comedy opportunities.  There are many funny moments sprinkled throughout the film, but there are no real memorable moments.  There are also plenty of comic moments that fall flat.  Most of the stand-up routine sequences, for example, are just plain not funny.

Another reason audiences may approach this film with misleading expectations are the film’s trailers and television spots.  Many of the more humorous lines in the trailers—particularly the older ones—seem to have been cut and replaced with decidedly less funny lines.  The trailers also inexplicably reveal a twist that occurs in the middle of the film.

The main problem with Funny People is that it lacks any real focus.  It is as if Apatow never really had a clear vision of what he was looking to get out of the story.  At first, the movie focuses on the friendship between George and Ira, but in the second half of the film, Ira practically vanishes into the background while George pursues his former flame Laura.  The film could be about George and Laura, but despite one phone call, Laura doesn’t appear until the second half of the film.

The common thread is George and it could simply be a film about a man coming to grips with death and finding second chances in life.  Unfortunately, George is a real jerk and it is difficult for us as an audience to connect with him. There are flashes where we sympathize with him, but these moments are usually followed by another when his actions generate an opposite reaction.

Although Sandler does an excellent job as George and proves once again that he has a talent for drama as well as broad comedy, I couldn’t fight the idea that he was wildly miscast in the role; this despite the fact that Apatow has said that the part was written specifically for him.  There are constant references to the character’s age and it was difficult to see Sandler as a member of comedy’s “old guard.”  The role seemed like it was written for an older comedian and I can imagine this being the perfect role for someone like Bill Murray.

The rest of the casting works.  A slimmed down Rogen is a good fit as an aspiring comedian, while Leslie Mann is a delight as always.  Jonah Hill and Jason Schwartzman have some funny lines as Ira’s roommates, even if it does seem they were there because they added some fun to the set, not necessarily because their characters added anything to the story.  At 146 minutes the film is about half an hour too long, so some of these scenes with minor characters might have been better left on the cutting-room floor.

Really, I am glad that Apatow is trying to expand his repertoire a bit, but it just doesn’t come together right with Funny People.

Funny People is rated R for “language and crude sexual humor throughout, and some sexuality.”  There are a lot of crude body-part related humor and a few sex scenes. The R rating is certainly appropriate.

Courtesy of a local publicist, Jeff attended a promotional screening of Funny People.