Have you ever heard of a man named Tom Schulman? No? Well, Schulman won the Oscar for Best Original Screen Play in 1989 for “Dead Poets Society”. Awesome movie, right? Well, in Hollywood, Schulman wasn’t really know for writing Oscar worthy movies... his other work includes “Honey, I Shrunk the Kids”, “Welcome to Mooseport”, “What About Bob?”, “Holy Man”, “8 Heads in a Duffel Bag”, and “Medicine Man”… sure, these movies may be entertaining, however, none of them contain any substance comparable to “Dead Poets Society”.
What made “Dead Poets Society” so different from the rest of his work? It’s because Schulman lived it. He grew up in a prep school. He based Robin William’s character on a real professor he had while at the Montgomery Bell Academy for boys.
What’s my point? Every writer has a “Dead Poets Society”.
And for Judd Apatow, best known for “The 40 Year-Old Virgin” and “Knocked Up”, “Funny People” is his “Dead Poets Society”. He wrote a movie about his experiences as an up-in-coming stand-up.
The movie has the look and feel of a REALLY LONG James L. Brooks movie. I emphasize the long part because the movie runs around two hours and fourty-five minutes… which explains why “Funny People” wasn’t a box office dynamo. Even with Adam Sandler and Seth Rogen at the helm.
However, I wouldn’t suggest the film to be trimmed down for time. The film builds in very interesting, emotional, and comic ways. The lives of these characters are real and believable… and over the course of the movie they grow… and you grow with them… and as an audience member you see genuine moments where friendships are forged. It’s a really beautiful movie. The movie may be long, but the audience needs to see the character build over time for them to be believable.
But don’t get me wrong… the movie can be rough and vulgar at times, after all, it’s a movie about stand-up comics. But it’s a REALLY GOOD movie about stand-up comics. Film critics should have gotten behind this film more… it was solid. It’s a truly great Dramedy with really great performances.
Go see it and let me know what you think!
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