Funny People is a rare thing, it's an Adam Sandler film that I don't hate. Wohay! And not only that, but it's a film that I like partly because of him, and not in spite of him. Funny People is about Adam Sandler, playing an ageing Comedian who is fed up with his life, who discovers he has serious Cancer and has to undergo a series of experimental drugs to cure it. After getting the news he goes to a local comedy club to do an impromptu set where he bombs, but he meets Ira (Seth Rogan) a comedian with good ideas, but no real way of getting them out in the right way. Adam Sandler ends up calling him for jokes and the two strike up an unlikely friendship/employment situation which benefits them both in different ways. There's also a side story involving a past flame, but I'll get to that.
For the first 90 minutes or so, the film moves along at a really nice melancholic pace. When one of your leads has Cancer, you don't want to be bombarding the audience with a joke a second, because quite frankly they won't appreciate it. The film works during this segment mostly because it provides brief chuckles and smirks to break the tender scenes in between. It is a character piece, looking at the way that you view your life when you think it may be coming to an end, and from Ira's view, how you deal with your life changing in monumental ways, and you're still the same guy as before. There's a really nice relationship between Ira and Daisy (Aubrey Plaza) the girl next door. She's also a comic and is attractive in a kinda geeky/cool way that intimidates Ira so he can't simply ask her out. For all the knob gags he tells on stage, he's actually kind of a sweethearted shy man. His flatmate (Jason Schwartzman) gives him an ultimatum, in 10 days, if he's not made a move, then he'll sleep with her. It's crude, but it provides an honest and sweet look at their blossoming relationship, whilst also providing a nice look at the dynamic of the group who live together.
The film is filled with melancholy looks back at life. When Sandler attends Thanksgiving with Ira and a bunch of other young people he tells them that this will be the best Thanksgiving of their lives, when you're young and living your life, free and independent, surrounded by your friends. It's a really nice moment. The film isn't all nice however. You've got the relationship between Ira and Sandler as his boss, who seems prone to these magnificent mood swings which leave him berating Ira for the littleist thing. The implication in the film is that he's scared, but deeper down he has issues.
The reason I like this film is because the lead character feels like Adam Sandler holding his hands up for past mistakes, there are numerous movie spoofs in this film, all of which look terrible, and none of which would be out of place in the Adam Sandler catalogue. The film lampoons him, but reveals underneath that there is a man who does have taste, and who simply wants to be around people who like him. It's revealing, and could be completely false, but I like to think that that is the case.
However, the final third of the film is what really lets down what could have been a great film. When his Cancer is shown to be in remission, Sandler goes to visit his ex girlfriend, the love of his life. She's married with two children, but that doesn't stop him trying to get back together. There are some nice moments in this segment, but it really jars with the rest of the feel of the film, and feels far too tacked on for me to really care about it. It's almost as if studio bosses said that the script needed more romance, and rather than weave one into the existing story, maybe bulk out Daisy & Iras relationship (which I really liked), they just added one on at the end. This portion of the film does allow Sandler and Ira to fall out properly though, and that fall out provides a nice ending, which may seem initially downbeat, but is actually really quite wonderful.
This film may be flawed, it's too long and the final third isn't really all that, but I really honestly liked the first 2/3 a lot, and that is what brings me back each time, to prove to myself that Adam Sandler isn't a complete waste of space.
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