4/5 Trainwreck Is the halfway point too early to call a film the funniest of the year? Maybe, but if we are just looking at the first seven months of 2015, nothing even comes close to touching this Schumer/Apatow ball of fury and wit. The film has it’s share of lulls, but that comes with the Apatow territory; this man is going to make whatever movie he feels like making, whether you like it or not. There is something admirable in that. Same goes for the commitment-averse, heavy-drinking, foul-mouthed lead heroine of his newest film, starring and written by Amy Schumer. Whatever you may think of Amy, the comic herself or the character she plays, she will do as she likes. Yes, please. It’s fitting that the first screenwriter Apatow uses other than himself is comedy wunderkind Amy Schumer. For three years now, her Comedy Central show, Inside Amy Schumer, has blended comic raunch, heartfelt earnestness, and stinging reflections on modern women. Coincidentally, these are the same attributes - well, everything save the last one - that have defined Apatow’s films for over a decade. Trainwreck is no different. | Director: Judd Apatow Starring: Amy Schumer, Bill Hader, Brie Larson, Lebron James Writer: Amy Schumer |
Schumer’s Amy - she continues her strange streak of naming characters after herself - took her cheating dad’s advice to heart when he told her that monogamy was unrealistic. Her whole life, she has shifted from one one night stand to the next, her most serious relationship consisting of awkward (but hilarious) movie dates with John Cena. After her editor boss, played by an unrecognizable Tilda Swinton in another knockout role, gives her an assignment to write a piece on sports surgeon Aaron (Bill Hader), Amy happens upon a strange, mushy feeling she’s never felt before. Could it be? Yes, the film follows all of the tried and true signposts on the road to your average rom-com. Amy finds true love, they fight, and they ultimately realize that this is the real thing.
This is one of my two main complaints. Apatow and Schumer think they have made a forward-thinking comedy; but in reality, it looks a lot like many of the other love-and-laughs we have seen for decades - albeit a pristinely made, extremely funny one. I guess you could say that it’s new since the character traits are switched - Amy is the commitment-phobe, Aaron is searching for the one. That may be true, but neither Schumer’s writing nor Apatow’s storytelling really touch on feminist issues, just a reversal of the same old formula.
Apatow recently told Rolling Stone that he hates this critique, but I have to say it: Trainwreck is simply about twenty minutes too long. Without sacrificing narrative and comic momentum, he could have easily taken out some of the extended bits that fall both comedically and dramatically flat. One example would be the intervention Aaron has with Matthew Broderick and sport’s commentator Marv Albert.
Because there are a couple hiccups does not mean that Trainwreck is a bust. A train wreck, this is not. I think Apatow should work with screenplays written by on-fire comedians more often. If he ever felt out of his comfort zone with this outside material, you can never tell. The Apatow/actor link has never felt stronger. Does this have to be the two’s only collaboration? Let’s hope not.
p.s. If there is another sports cameo as naturally funny as Lebron James, I have yet to see it.
This is one of my two main complaints. Apatow and Schumer think they have made a forward-thinking comedy; but in reality, it looks a lot like many of the other love-and-laughs we have seen for decades - albeit a pristinely made, extremely funny one. I guess you could say that it’s new since the character traits are switched - Amy is the commitment-phobe, Aaron is searching for the one. That may be true, but neither Schumer’s writing nor Apatow’s storytelling really touch on feminist issues, just a reversal of the same old formula.
Apatow recently told Rolling Stone that he hates this critique, but I have to say it: Trainwreck is simply about twenty minutes too long. Without sacrificing narrative and comic momentum, he could have easily taken out some of the extended bits that fall both comedically and dramatically flat. One example would be the intervention Aaron has with Matthew Broderick and sport’s commentator Marv Albert.
Because there are a couple hiccups does not mean that Trainwreck is a bust. A train wreck, this is not. I think Apatow should work with screenplays written by on-fire comedians more often. If he ever felt out of his comfort zone with this outside material, you can never tell. The Apatow/actor link has never felt stronger. Does this have to be the two’s only collaboration? Let’s hope not.
p.s. If there is another sports cameo as naturally funny as Lebron James, I have yet to see it.