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Two movies I recommend this weekend
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Funny People-In an effort to keep the lucrative teenage male demographic from avoiding the latest Judd Apatow-Seth Rogen-Evan Goldberg film for fear that it has too heavy of a theme, many TV spots for the film Funny People carefully avoided telling us anything about the plot.
If you haven’t seen the full movie trailer, here’s a fair warning: this is a typical Apatow film with its unapologetically crude humor but at the same time, it’s also a deep meditation on mentorship, friendship, escaping solace through comedy and death. It ventures to some dark territory and, surprisingly enough, the film strikes a bittersweet tone that works for the most part.
The film stars Adam Sandler as George Simmons, a popular comic actor who has been diagnosed with a terminal illness. Much like Adam Sandler’s on-screen characters, Simmons is a man child with little artistic integrity (they even could have named the character Adam Sandler and made a mockumentary of the film). He has enormous wealth and access to groupies but feels an empty hole in his life because he has no connection to his family, no friends, and has not had a real relationship in years. Enter Ira (according to imdb’s trivia section, the two are named after the Gerswhin brothers), a talented young stand-up comedian with nothing to show for it yet. He also has low self-esteem and doesn’t even believe that a girl could want to date him.
Ira is recruited by George to write some jokes because he is dealing with his depression by doing more stand-up. If I ever doubted Seth Rogen could act, the way he infuses Ira’s face with a sense of wonder when he comes face-to-face with his idol convinced me otherwise. Throughout the movie, George and Ira form a friendship and each changes the other for the better. It’s a lot like Scent of a Women with more genialia-laced humor. A supporting cast of Jonah Hill, Jason Schwartzman and Aubrey Plaza (who is on track to be the next Ellen Page, watch out!) play aspiring comics in Ira’s life and their interplay adds a lot to the film.
The film’s main weakness is that it drags on for quite a while. It’s third act turns into an unseemly long epilogue but they include some twists and turns that are truly unconventional.
In the Loop- In the Loop felt entirely foreign to me, even though it is in the English language. It’s not so much that the characters are speaking in a slightly different dialect of English but more the fast-paced mode of storytelling where an active effort to keep the audience on board is lacking. While you’re not sure entirely what’s happening at any given moment, you can’t help but enjoy the moment for what it is. That’s the best way I can describe the film. It’s fascinating, funny, idiosyncratic, and filled with interesting characters.
The story follows a British ministry of the interior as he works with a British press secretary as well as officials in the State Department and an a US General to undo the damage of a misattributed statement. There’s a lot of conflict and political maneuvering between various parties among these people. The three most interesting characters in the story are the young aides below, ironically. Toby is a British aide who double-crosses his girlfriend on a trip abroad, Liza is a an assistant with a hectic schedule who writes a policy brief that holds the key to peace in the middle east (or something like that), and Paul is an awkward brainiac who’s attempts at sucking up to his superiors are both pathetic and endearing.
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