THR review: “Funny People”

We’ve been tracking Judd Apatow’s upcoming movie Funny People with posts here, here, here, and here. With the “Apatow gets serious” meme, it’s really interesting to see what the reaction to Funny People will be.

Well, here is the first review, from Kirk Honeycutt of the Hollywood Reporter:

Bottom Line: A more mature but still funny Judd Apatow comedy whose move into serious human relation issues nearly scuttles the third act.

Critique zeroes in on the script and narrative choices Apatow made:

It’s hard to consider “Funny People” as anything other than a comedy even if it does deal with a comic (Adam Sandler) who has a deadly disease. Indeed a medical checkup only presents an opportunity for Sandler and his assistant (Seth Rogen) to mock a tall Swedish doctor. But there is a serious side to this film that makes the second half go awry.

Set aside the merits of the movie per se, we can probably expect this type of response from many critics as they try to get their bearings to the ‘new’ Judd Apatow. Honeycutt admits as much:

Still Apatow is on the right track. In moving his adolescent male comedies into more adult realms, the humor sharpens and characters deepen. “Funny People” might be a transitional film for Apatow, and the good news is that his people remain funny.

“A transitional film?” We shall see. Funny People opens this weekend.

UPDATE: The LA Times with “Judd Apatow’s ‘Funny People’ takes a serious turn”.

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