Trainwreck

Trainwreck provides an unconcerned look at players coming off the bench, of accompaniments, of value-added information.

The overt narrative kept losing me.

But throughout the film there are a remarkable number of scenes that suddenly pop-up and add unpretentious inappropriate callous cheeky depth, again and again, scenes which break through the tedium and nonchalantly confide, like writer Amy Schumer was aware that one component of a bipartisan entity (a relationship) sometimes finds romantic comedies unfulfilling, and cleverly came up with ways to keep them playfully amused.

Excalibur.

Enter LeBron James, who I thought performed well enough, commenting on this and that while exercising a pleasantly absurd frugality.

Brainstorming ideas for new articles at the office offers brief insights into minimalistic discourses of the hilarious.

Check out Daniel Radcliffe and Marisa Tomei.

Dianna's (Tilda Swinton) blunt obstinance proves fertile, like an egg pickled in stolichnaya.

And it's like these subtle snarky distractions are slowly building to a fever pitch, in the form of a well-played quasi-intervention, Matthew Broderick, LeBron, Chris Evert, and Marv Albert sitting in, expressing their interest while coveting the genuine, unexpected and well executed, a welcome late inning strike.

Reminiscent of Rance Mulliniks.

Asteroids.

Funny People

Funny People's pretty funny but the last third of the movie tanks. Extremely successful comedian George Simmons (Adam Sandler) gives down on his luck funny man Ira Wright (Seth Rogan) the opportunity to write jokes for him after he discovers he has a terminal illness. The two develop an odd sort of acquaintanceship, Wright's fortunes improve, and Simmons is miraculously cured. Afterwards, George decides to make amends for his lecherous youth and make it up with one time girlfriend Laura (Leslie Mann), at which point the film takes a disastrous turn, with even the fight between George, Ira, and Laura's husband Clarke (Eric Bana) falling flat. Which is unfortunate since so many films end when their cantankerous antihero awakens moralized (As Good as it Gets for instance), and director/writer Judd Apatow decided not to follow this trend.

There are more problems: in Funny People's last act, we lose supporting characters Leo Koenig (Jonah Hill) and Mark Taylor Jackson (Jason Schwartzman) whose offbeat temperaments helped carry the opening moments. There's a terrible musical interlude where George sings a maudlin song whose only saving grace is that it must have been ironic (it attempts to generate sympathy for Simmons but we haven't known the character for long enough to grow attached, so Apatow circumvents our expectations by making the song terrible, although, perhaps the irony is absent insofar as we should have been expecting something terrible). And unfortunately, the dramatic aspects of the script require a little bit more depth than either Rogan or Sandler provide, which, to their credit, only increases the value of their comedy, for you have to be really funny to find yourself playing dramatic roles which are somewhat out of your league.

But Funny People has many positive features as well. James Taylor, Norm MacDonald, and Eminem have hilarious cameos within, as do many others. Throughout, we consistently catch glimpses of the extremely cheesy films Simmons has starred in during his career, an example of Sandler humbly making fun of his earlier work. And George and Ira positively change and grow throughout as a result of their constructive enmity, Ira falling for complicated love interest Daisy (Aubrey Plaza), George learning how to not be such a dickhole.

Not bad.