Good_Will_Harding

Earlier tonight, I saw Judd Apatow's new film 'Funny People' with my cousin and uncle. Now, this article was written last minutes and may seem a bit disorganized and unfocused, but that's because I kind of wasn't planning on doing a write-up about the film. I also wasn't expecting to be blown away by it, but there you go. Honestly, I've always been lukewarm to projects with Apatow's name attached to them. Now, I did like both of the films he wrote and directed himself, those two being 'The 40 Year Old Virgin' and 'Knocked Up'. But the films he's produced never held much appeal to me. They all seemed like cheap imitations of Apatow's own, much more accomplished and matured films.

Now, the film does have a very lengthy and complicated plot, but I'm going to try and sum up the main points in a nutshell. What 'Funny People' tells the story of is a famous comedian named George Simmons, played here by Adam Sandler, an old friend of Judd Apatow. Within the first couple minutes of the film, we (and George) film out that he has an untreatable form of Leukemia and is pretty much going to die in an unspecified amount of time. Around the same time that happens, George also befriends a rising young comedian named Ira, played by Apatow regular Seth Rogen. When George finds out that he may have overcome his disease, it makes him reevaluate his whole life. Motivated by his near death experience, he reconnects with his ex-fiancée Laura (Leslie Mann, Apatow's wife), and winds up getting involved in an affair with her. While George thinks he's doing everyone a favor by freeing Laura from a troubled marriage, the film makes clear that he's really just breaking up a family out of his own selfish interest in reconnecting with his ex. By the end of the film's two and a half hour run time, George manages to alienate not only his ex-fiancée but his only friend as well.

Where most films would get either too corny or too sentimental, Apatow finds a perfect balance between the two that not only fits the atmosphere of 'Funny People', but works very well in the entire sub genre of comedy he seems to have created just for films with his involvement. The material here is handled in a very authentic and honest fashion, thus making the situation and characters that much more relatable. The seriousness of the disease is also handled on a very small scale. Neither the audience nor the characters know what they're up against until it starts affecting George and his life. Throughout the film, I couldn't help but be reminded of F. Scott Fitzgerald's literary classic 'The Great Gatsby'. Whether the similarities between the two are intentional or not is irrelevant, to describe the film as such would be pretty accurate, considering this is not a straightforward comedy as the title or Apatow's involvement may lead you to believe. In short, I really liked this film a great deal more than I thought I would and while I don't except many future Apatow comedies to follow in its example of "characters and story before humor", 'Funny People' is at least a step forward for the genre, which is all any film fan could ask for.

Well, I guess that wasn't very brief now, was it?

In 1974, President Richard Nixon resigned for suspicion of his involvement with Watergate. Soon after, T.V. personality David Frost decides, seemingly out of thin air, that he would like to interview the ex-president. It goes without saying that things get interesting, or at least I hoped they would. Ron Howard may not be the most celebrated director currently working today, but he does deserve some credit for flatteringly capturing this project. Give him something like 'How The Grinch Stole Christmas', you know he'll f_ck that up. Give him 'Frost/Nixon' and he'll fit right in.

Most of the actors here did a fine job. Michael Sheen was alright as David Frost. Nothing exceptional, but serviceable. The supporting cast was all very good as well, with Kevin Bacon (stepping out of the spotlight for a little), Toby Jones, and Sam Rockwell. Frank Langella I did have a problem with, however. Maybe it's just me, but his performance as Nixon appeared forced. It wasn't very convincing at all and the film suffered for it.

'Frost/Nixon' does take its good old time getting to the interviews, which are indeed the highlight of this film. We spend almost an hour of plot and character development before anything of interest happens. At first, Nixon rambles and wastes time (like I do with these reviews). But it's when Frost fights back when things really get interesting. But by that time, I don't expect many people will care anymore. I barely did.

Like Nixon starting the interview, 'Frost/Nixon' spends way too much time on useless information that means nothing to the film as a whole. Perhaps, a little more time spent with the tenser parts of the interviews and less exposition would have benefited this film a great deal. There is a certain level of enjoyment to be found in 'Frost/Nixon', just not nearly enough for a recommendation. As it stands, the film spent too much time leading up to the interviews that when we finally got there, it was too little too late. There's just nothing special here. The directing is plain, the actors seem rather bored to be honest, and the script just appears more interested the journey rather than the destination.