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Funny People

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Funny People
Teaser poster
Directed byJudd Apatow
Written byJudd Apatow
Produced byJudd Apatow
Clayton Townsend
Barry Mendel
Seth Rogen
Evan Goldberg
Jack Giarraputo
StarringAdam Sandler
Seth Rogen
Leslie Mann
Eric Bana
Jonah Hill
Jason Schwartzman
Aubrey Plaza
CinematographyJanusz Kamiński
Edited byCraig Alpert
Brent White
Music byJason Schwartzman
Michael Andrews
Production
companies
Distributed byUniversal Studios
Columbia Pictures
Release dates
July 31, 2009 (US/Canada)
August 28, 2009 (UK)
September 10, 2009 (Australia)
Running time
145 min.
CountryTemplate:FilmUS
LanguageEnglish
Budget$75 million[1]
Box office$61 million [1]

Funny People is an American drama comedy film, written, co-produced, and directed by Judd Apatow, and starring Adam Sandler and Seth Rogen as stand-up cotidians. The film was released on July 31, 2009 in North America, and on August 28, 2009 in the United Kingdom. Funny People implements more dramatic elements than seen in Apatow's previous films. The film was co-produced by Apatow Productions and Mr. Madison 23 Productions, a subsidiary of Sandler's company Happy Madison. Universal Studios and Columbia Pictures co-financed the film; Universal also served as a worldwide distributor.[2]

Plot

George Simmons (Adam Sandler) is an extremely successful comedian and actor, having starred in a number of successful lowbrow comedy films. But he is also very self-absorbed, lonely and estranged from his family by choice. When he finds out that he suffers from a rare form of leukemia and his treatment has only an 8 percent chance of success, he falls into a depression, where he finds solace watching old videos of his early stand-up and other work. It is then, he decides to go back to his roots and start performing standup comedy again.

Meanwhile, Ira Wright (Seth Rogen) is an aspiring stand-up comedian who dreams of quitting his day job at a deli. He shares an apartment with roommates Leo Koenig (Jonah Hill), another aspiring comedian who has found more success than Ira, and Mark Taylor Jackson (Jason Schwartzman), an actor who has recently come into wealth and fame as the star of a lame NBC sitcom called Yo Teach! Ira has a crush on Daisy (Aubrey Plaza), a female comedian who lives nearby, but has been unable to act on it, and Mark gives him an ultimatum to act on it or else he will sleep with her.

George and Ira meet at a comedy club, where George unexpectedly takes the stage to deliver a dark, depressing routine which Ira has to follow. Ira draws some laughs by mocking George's morbidity while George watches from the back. The next morning, George calls Ira and invites him and Leo to write some jokes for George to perform at a MySpace corporate event. Ira eagerly agrees, but claims that Leo is too busy.

The event goes over well, and George hires Ira as a joke writer and personal assistant. The next morning, George informs Ira of his health condition. Ira supports and cares for George as the illness and treatment take their toll on his health; meanwhile, both comedians work on their acts. Eventually, Ira breaks down while with George at a restaurant, begging George to tell more people about his prognosis so Ira doesn't have to carry the whole burden.

George is reluctant but agrees, talking about his disease with his comedian friends and making amends with his estranged family. He also receives a visit from his ex-fiancé Laura (Leslie Mann), now married with two daughters. Laura says that her husband Clarke (Eric Bana) is always away to China on business and that he cheats on her, the same way that George did, and she regrets breaking up with George. They tearfully reconcile.

George comes to Thanksgiving at Ira's apartment, along with Ira's roommates and the cast of Yo Teach! Leo finds out that George had asked him, as well as Ira, to write jokes for him, and is angry at Ira for not telling him. Ira is angry at Daisy for sleeping with Mark before the two were set to go on their first date at a Wilco concert, and Ira calls off their date. Leo later accepts a role on Yo Teach!

George goes to the doctor for the results of his test and he learns that the medicine has been working and that there aren't any traces of the disease in his blood, but there is a possibility that it could resurface. Ira is happy with the news, while George is unsure of what to do with his life. He ultimately decides that he wants a long-term relationship. He calls Laura, but is unable to tell her about his health. She invites him to visit her in Marin County.

George and Ira go to San Francisco to perform at the Orpheum, and Laura meets them there. George tells Ira to tell Laura that he's better during the intermission between Ira's act and George's act. Ira is puzzled as to why George didn't tell her already, but ultimately agrees to tell her himself. He does so, leaving Laura speechless. Later she confronts George, who tells her that he didn't tell her sooner because he didn't want to jinx it. He and Laura embrace and she invites the two to her house.

George and Ira arrive and spend time with her and her daughters. George and Laura go out to get groceries while Ira watches the kids. George and Laura actually sneak into the guest house to have sex, then Laura talks about possibly leaving Clarke. Ira learns from her two daughters that Laura is still in love with George and Ira tells them that George is better. George and Laura go back into the main house and tell Ira they will just order pizza. Ira, however, easily finds out that they had sex and becomes worried.

While they are waiting for the pizza to arrive, Clarke unexpectedly arrives home, leading to an awkward first encounter between George and Clarke and an awkward dinner. Laura asks George and Ira to keep up the façade of George still being sick as Clarke had despised George before learning of his illness and sympathized with him after learning of it and Clarke will suspect something if he learns George is better. George and Ira spend the night in the guest house and watch a game of Aussie Rules Football with Clarke, who is obsessed with it.

In the morning, Clarke gives George a tearful goodbye, thinking he will die soon. Then, his daughters reveal that George is actually better, as Ira had told them earlier. Clarke then confronts Laura about this as he suspects she's cheating on him. Laura tries to explain that he may not be entirely better, but Clarke doesn't believe her. When Laura then calls him out on his infidelity, Clarke leaves the house. Laura tells George that she will meet with Clarke later to tell him to find a new place. Ira tells George that he thinks they should leave and that it's not worth it to break up a twelve-year marriage so that George will be happy, but George yells at him and threatens to fire him.

The next day, George, Ira, and Laura watch a video of Mable performing "Memory" from Cats. Ira and Laura find the performance moving, but George finds it hilarious and ridicules it to where it offends Laura. Laura then leaves for the airport to talk to Clarke, planning to tell Clarke that, when he gets home from his trip, to find somewhere else to live. Ira tells George he's going to the store to buy cigarettes, but instead follows Laura to the airport. Laura meets up with Clarke, who tells her that he wants to give their marriage another try. Laura, now conflicted with her feelings, ultimately agrees and says her fling with George was just a flirtation. Ira catches their interaction and tries to sneak away, but Clarke spots him. Ira is forced to tell him that George had sex with Laura and Clarke vows to kill him. Laura then chews Ira out for entering her life and the three race back to the house.

Clarke catches George watching TV with the kids and chases him outside and starts beating him. George then yells at Ira for lying to him and then asks Laura to tell Clarke she still loves him, but Laura sides with Clarke realizing that George will never care about her girls as much as Clarke. Clarke then feels it was his own fault this happened and apologizes to George. Laura and Clarke go back into the house and George and Ira head back to Los Angeles. A heated exchange develops between the two when George berates Ira for his betrayal and officially fires him as his assistant. Ira however, fires back at George for not learning anything from his near-death experience and that his insensitivity hasn't changed. George drops Ira back at his apartment and the two part ways. Leo forgives Ira for lying to him and Mark offers Ira a part on Yo Teach! if one is offered, but Ira declines.

George ends up lonely again, while Ira goes back to his job at the deli and enters into a relationship with Daisy. Ira meets up with George again at a club and George watches Ira being much more confident on stage. The next day, George finds Ira working at the deli and asks to speak with him. George admits that even though he is no longer sick, his attitude still needs much improvement. George offers Ira some jokes he wrote down to help Ira's act, proving that he is making an attempt to become a better person.

Cast

Leslie Mann, Adam Sandler and Judd Apatow in Berlin (2009)

Dave Attell, Sarah Silverman, Norm Macdonald, Paul Reiser, Tom Anderson, Charles Fleischer, George Wallace and Andy Dick filmed cameo appearances as themselves, who are acquainted with George.[3] Rapper Eminem,[4] comedian Ray Romano, musician James Taylor,[5] MADtv member Nicole Parker,[6] and newcomer Bo Burnham[7] also appeared in small roles. Undeclared alum Carla Gallo had a cameo in the film as a character on Yo Teach!, the television show within the film that Mark stars in,[8] while Justin Long and Apatow regular Ken Jeong have cameos in the film as characters in movies for which George is famous.[9] Owen Wilson and Elizabeth Banks are featured on posters for fake movies in which George starred.[10]. Bryan Batt makes an appearance as George's agent. Musicians Jon Brion, Sebastian Steinberg, and James Gadson appear in the film as members of George's jam band. Comedians Rod Man, Budd Friedman, Monty Hoffman, Mark Schiff, Orny Adams, Al Lubel, and Jerry Minor appear as themselves. Comedienne/producer/writer Carol Leifer appears as herself.

Production

Judd Apatow had expressed his desire to make a stand-up comedian mentor film loosely based on his own early experiences as a struggling performer. He could not come up with an interesting idea since most of his mentors were kind to him. He then thought of making a film about a mentor facing a life crisis, and decided to have his former roommate Adam Sandler play that role. The two of them discussed making the film almost two years prior to production.[11]

Apatow had cast Sandler, Seth Rogen, and Leslie Mann as the three leads in March 2008.[12] Eric Bana, Jonah Hill, and Jason Schwartzman were later cast in June 2008 when the title of the film was announced. When asked about the decision to cast Bana, Apatow said that both he and Rogen are fans of his films as well as his sketch comedy work in his native Australia.[11] Rogen additionally commented they cast him as Leslie Mann's character's husband because he was someone who would be considered an intimidating presence to both Sandler and Rogen.[13] Bana mentioned that he decided to make his character an Australian so he could improvise more.[14]

Academy Award-winning cinematographer Janusz Kamiński handled the cinematography for the film. Apatow had Sandler, Rogen, and Hill, who all play stand-ups in the film, write their own material for routines. Apatow filmed them performing their routines in front of live audiences, using six cameras to capture their performances and audience reactions. Apatow filmed their entire performances, although only five to ten minutes of stand-up footage appear in the film. Additionally, Apatow filmed scenes from Sandler's character's fictional filmography, as well as scenes from Schwartzman's character's fictional television show Yo Teach!, for the film to add realism.[15]

Apatow used an old video of Sandler, from when the two were roommates, in which Sandler makes prank phone calls.

Marketing

The first teaser poster for the film was released November 13, 2008. On the day the teaser poster was released, Universal Pictures and MySpace partnered together to create a contest that would allow people to have a part in the film by just writing a comment explaining why. Additionally, Apatow held a stand-up comedy concert event called "A Night of Funny People" at the Orpheum Theater in Los Angeles to film a scene for the movie. The event was open to the general public and featured acts by Adam Sandler, Seth Rogen, Aziz Ansari, Sarah Silverman, David Spade, and Patton Oswalt, with Sandler, Rogen, and Ansari performing as their characters in the film. The first theatrical trailer for the film was released February 20, 2009 on the Internet, with a shortened version first appearing in theaters with I Love You, Man.

A website for a fictional television show-within-a-film was created on NBC.com.[16] The sitcom, Yo Teach!, "stars" the film's egocentric character Mark Taylor Jackson (Jason Schwartzman), who is a C-list actor portraying a young teacher with a class of failing students, and includes a cameo by internet celebrity Bo Burnham.[17]

A website for Aziz Ansari's character Randy Springs was created, along with a documentary of the character on FunnyOrDie.com. The documentary was directed by Jason Woliner.

Comedy Central aired a special, "Inside Funny People" on July 20, documenting the making of the film and showing clips of the stand-up. The channel also aired "Funny People: Live" on Friday, July 24, which is a live broadcast stand-up of Adam Sandler, Seth Rogen, and Jonah Hill as part of the film's promotion.

Release

Critical reception

Funny People currently has a 68% "Fresh" rating on Rotten Tomatoes, despite a 50% "Rotten" rating among Top Critics, based on the consensus that the film "features the requisite humor, as well as considerable emotional depth, resulting in Judd Apatow's most mature film to date."[18] Another review aggregator, Metacritic, gave the film a metascore of 60 out of 100 under the "Mixed or Average Reviews" category, based on 35 reviews.[19]

Jeffrey Wells from Hollywood Elsewhere received feedback from sources who had seen a test screening, with one source calling it "really funny, a really sweet movie, a lot of veracity...really a brilliant film", comparing it to the works of James L. Brooks.

The film has received generally positive reviews from critics. Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times awarded the film 3½ stars of four, writing in his review that the film is "a real movie. That means carefully written dialogue and carefully placed supporting performances — and it's about something. It could have easily been a formula film...but George Simmons learns and changes during his ordeal, and we empathize."[20] Peter Travers of Rolling Stone also praised the film, writing, "Apatow scores by crafting the film equivalent of a stand-up routine that encompasses the joy, pain, anger, loneliness and aching doubt that go into making an audience laugh." [21] Kyle Smith of the New York Post wrote that the film was "one of the most absorbing films of the year." [22]

Michael Phillips of the Chicago Tribune gave the film one of its mixed reviews, complaining of the film's two-and-a-half-hour running time: "Funny People is...an attempt by Apatow to reconcile the huge success he has become with the up-and-comer he once was. The results run an increasingly exasperating 2 1/2 hours."[23]

Box office

Funny People was commercially released on July 31, 2009 in the United States and Canada. It was distributed to 3,008 theaters, and grossed $8.63 million on its opening day.[1] At the end of its opening weekend, the film had grossed $23.44 million; in comparison, Apatow's last directorial effort, Knocked Up, made for $33 million, grossed $30 million in its opening weekend, eventually making over $60 million.

Home Video

Funny People will be released on DVD and Blu-ray on November 24, 2009. There will be two DVDs, a one-disc "Unrated & Theatrical" cut and a two-disc "Unrated Edition". The Unrated cut of the film runs at 153 minutes, 16 minutes longer than the original theatrical cut.[24]

Soundtrack

Untitled

The soundtrack of Funny People was released on July 28, 2009.

  1. "Great Day" by Paul McCartney (2:08)
  2. "Wires" by Coconut Records (2:26)
  3. "All the King's Horses" by Robert Plant and the Strange Sensation (4:19)
  4. "Carolina In My Mind (Live)" by James Taylor (4:58)
  5. "Keep Me In Your Heart" by Warren Zevon (3:27)
  6. "Real Love" by Adam Sandler (4:56)
  7. "We (Early Take)" by Neil Diamond (4:11)
  8. "Jesus, Etc. (Live Summer '08)" by Wilco feat. Andrew Bird (4:01)
  9. "George Simmons Soon Will Be Gone" by Adam Sandler (2:15)
  10. "I Am Young" by Coconut Records (3:07)
  11. "Memory" by Larry Goldings & Maude Apatow (3:53)
  12. "Numb As A Statue" by Warren Zevon (4:07)
  13. "Photograph" by Ringo Starr (3:58)
  14. "Watching the Wheels (Acoustic Demo)" by John Lennon (3:06)

Bonus tracks on iTunes release:

  1. "Secret O' Life (Live)" by James Taylor (3:45)
  2. "Photograph (Live)" by Adam Sandler (2:55)
  3. "Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere" by Adam Sandler (4:02)
  4. "Nighttiming" by Coconut Records (2:48)

The film also features "Joanna" by Kool & The Gang, "Three Little Birds" by Bob Marley, "Diamond Dave" by The Bird and the Bee, "Man in the Box" by Alice in Chains, "(I've Had) The Time of My Life" by Bill Medley & Jennifer Warnes, "Walk Like an Egyptian" by The Bangles, "In Private" by Paul McCartney, and "Give Me Love (Give Me Peace on Earth)" by George Harrison.

Additional songs used in the film's trailers are "We Will Become Silhouettes" by The Postal Service, "My Friend" by Dr. Dog, and "Nothing'severgonnastandinmyway (Again)" by Wilco.

References

  1. ^ a b c "Funny People (2009)". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved 2009-08-30.
  2. ^ Michael Fleming (2008-06-11). "Trio joins Judd Apatow film". Variety. Reed Business Information. Retrieved 2008-10-20.
  3. ^ "Stand-Up Comedian Cameos in Judd Apatow's Funny People". Slashfilm.com. 2008-12-17. Retrieved 2009-01-31.
  4. ^ "Eminem In New Judd Apatow "Funny People" Movie". Rap Basement. 2009-05-16. Retrieved 2009-05-16. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |image= ignored (help)
  5. ^ Mark Shanahan and Paysha Rhone (2009-01-08). "Taylors turn to film". The Boston Globe. Globe Newspaper Company. Retrieved 2009-01-25.
  6. ^ "MADtv's Nicole Parker Joins Wicked as Elphaba Beginning January 16". Broadwayworld.com. 2009-01-07. Retrieved 2009-01-31.
  7. ^ From YouTube to Hollywood
  8. ^ "Carla Gallo Exclusive Video Interview". Collider.com. 2009-01-09. Retrieved 2009-01-31.
  9. ^ "Dr. Kuni Speaks". IGN.com. 2009-03-04. Retrieved 2009-03-04.
  10. ^ "Judd Apatow Reveals Adam Sandler's 'Funny' Films With Owen Wilson, Elizabeth Banks and More". MTV Movie Blog. 2009-05-11. Retrieved 2009-05-11.
  11. ^ a b "Funny People Set Visit: Judd Apatow". Comingsoon.net. 2009-04-07. Retrieved 2009-05-08.
  12. ^ "Sandler reteams with Apatow". Variety. 2008-03-09. Retrieved 2009-05-08. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  13. ^ "Eric Bana teaches AFL to Seth Rogan". The West Australian. 2009-03-05. Retrieved 2009-05-08. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  14. ^ "Australians Are Extra Insane: Bana". Empire Online. 2009-04-08. Retrieved 2009-05-08.
  15. ^ "Judd Apatow Wants You To 'Enjoy The Ride' Of 'Funny People' For 2.5 Hours…Then Watch The Super-Long DVD". MTV Movie Blog. 2009-05-07. Retrieved 2009-05-08.
  16. ^ http://www.hitfix.com/blogs/2008-12-6-motion-captured/posts/2009-5-3-the-morning-read-5-29-09
  17. ^ http://newteevee.com/2009/05/29/bo-burnham-gets-schooled-in-yo-teach/
  18. ^ "Funny People". Rotten Tomatoes. 2009-08-10.
  19. ^ People "Funny People". Metacritic. 2009-08-10. {{cite web}}: Check |url= value (help)
  20. ^ "Roger Ebert's review". Roger Ebert. 2009-07-30.
  21. ^ Funny People : Review : Rolling Stone
  22. ^ WIENERS & WOODY IN JUDD APATOW'S 'FUNNY PEOPLE' - New York Post
  23. ^ 'Funny People' stars Adam Sandler, Seth Rogen, Leslie Mann -- chicagotribune.com
  24. ^ Amazon Home Video details

Fictional websites created for the film

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