Tuesday, August 10, 2010

Funny People II


I saw just the end of this movie a few weeks ago, but last night I just happened to catch it from the start.

I misjudged it; this was a great movie.  The basic premise is that a superstar comedian (Adam Sandler) lives a very wealthy lonely life-been there, seen that.  When he is diagnosed with a form of leukemia he reflects on the empty lousy life he has been living and bumps into a chump that is trying to get a comedy career started (Seth Rogen)--oh really, did we need this movie again?  This was my initial thought without seeing the whole thing, but I have to say it fought out from the trite package it wrapped itself in with the casting.  I think mixing Adam Sandler into the Apatow-pack worked great. 

I don't want to ruin it for you, so that's it for plot outline, but Jonah Hill and Jason Schwartzman play actors that are doing whatever needs to be done to climb the B-list Hollywood ladder and the level of unspoken self-reference was great there and I laughed pretty hard at some of the back-and-forths they were in because of that.  This film is a lot more substantive than the Judd Apatow flicks you might have seen and I highly recommend it.

Real life it is not--however, the dialogue and the characters seemed very natural to me and if you can suspend the need for realistic details and meet them halfway to try and relate despite the odd situations, you will enjoy it.
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50 Great Movies

(movies listed in italics are available for instant streaming on Netflix if you subscribe to that)


Comedies (15)

Borat

(2006, Sacha Baron Cohen, Ken Davitian)

(Sacha Baron Cohen)


Talladega Nights

(2006, Adam McKay)

(Will Ferrell)


Anchorman

(2004)

(Will Ferrell)


Rushmore

(1998, Wes Anderson)

(Jason Schwartzman)


The Big Lebowski

(1998) (Jeff Bridges)


There’s Something About Mary

(1998, Farrelly bros)

(Ben Stiller)


Austin Powers

(1997) (Mike Myers)


Happy Gilmore

(1996) (Adam Sandler)


Tommy Boy

(1995) (Chris Farley)


Bottle Rocket

(1994, Wes Anderson)

(Owen+Luke Wilson)


Greedy

(1994, Jonathan Lynn)

(Michael J Fox)


The Naked Gun

(1988, David Zucker)

(Leslie Neilsen)


Raising Arizona

(1987, Joel Coen)

(Nicolas Cage)


Three Amigos!

(1986)

(Chevy Chase, Steve Martin)


Stripes

(1981, Ivan Reitman)

(Bill Murray)


Non-comedic (35)


Slumdog Millionaire

(2008, Danny Boyle)

(Dev Patel)


No Country for Old Men

(2007, Coen bros)

(Javier Bardem)


The Departed

(2006, Martin Scorsese)

(Leonardo DiCaprio)


Syriana

(2005, Stephen Gaghan)

(George Clooney)


Brokeback Mountain

(2005, Ang Lee)

(Heath Ledger)


Walk The Line

(2005) (Joaquin Phoenix)


Crash

(2005, Paul Haggis)

(Sandra Bullock)


Mystic River

(2003, Clint Eastwood)

(Sean Penn)


Traffic

(2000, Steven Soderbergh)

(Benicio Del Toro)


Unbreakable

(2000, M. Night Shyamalan)

(Bruce Willis)


The Matrix

(1999, Wachowski bros)

(Keanu Reeves)


Man on the Moon

(1999) (Jim Carrey)


Saving Private Ryan

(1998, Steven Spielberg)

(Tom Hanks)


Boogie Nights

(1997, Paul Thomas Anderson)

(Marky Mark)


Starship Troopers

(1997) (Denise Richards)


Good Will Hunting

(1997, Gus Van Sant)

(Matt Damon)


Braveheart

(1995, Mel Gibson)

(Mel Gibson)


The Usual Suspects

(1995, Brian Singer)

(Kevin Spacey)


The Shawshank Redemption

(1994, Frank Darabont)

(Tim Robbins)



Schindler's List

(1993, Steven Spielberg)

(Liam Neeson)


Unforgiven

(1992, Clint Eastwood)

(Clint Eastwood)


Glengarry Glen Ross

(1992, James Foley)

(Al Pacino)


JFK

(1991, Oliver Stone)

(Kevin Costner)


Boyz 'N the Hood

(1991, John Singleton)

(Ice Cube)


The Silence of the Lambs

(1991, Jonathan Demme)

(Anthony Hopkins)


Goodfellas

(1990, Martin Scorsese)

(Robert DeNiro)


La Bamba

(1987) (Lou Diamond Phillips)


Full Metal Jacket

(1987, Stanley Kubrick)

(Mathew Modine)


Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan

(1982) (William Shatner)


Raiders of the Lost Ark

(1981, Steven Spielberg)

(Harrison Ford)


Superman II

(1980) (Christopher Reeve)


Apocalypse Now

(1979, Francis Ford Coppola)

(Martin Sheen)


Slaughterhouse Five

(1972) (Michael Sacks)


The Godfather

(1972, Francis Ford Coppola)

(Marlon Brando)


A Clockwork Orange

(1971, Stanley Kubrick)

(Malcolm McDowell)