Oh boy. I saw “Funny People” on Saturday. Never have I felt so compelled to review a movie and apologetically because I do love Adam Sandler with all my heart…but wow, that movie was a massively depressing disappointment. First of all, the previews were completely misleading and contained the funniest parts of the movie. After seeing the hilarious previous, expecting to see an awesome movie about comedians with some of the funniest actors I’ve ever seen, I made it a point to get out and see this movie the moment that I had the opportunity.
Nowhere in any of the previews I saw, was I warned that I was about to see a movie that opens with a man being told he has a rare form of leukemia and tries an experimental medicine that has a very low success rate. It basically centered around the fact that this character will most likely die, so he is trying to live like someone who had just found out they’re dying would probably live…depressed but attempt to be fulfilling. I spent most of the movie feeling sorry for the character, it was definitely more of a drama than a comedy. Don’t get me wrong there were some funny parts, a lot of the banter between Sandler and Rogen was mildly amusing. As usual, nearly everything Jonah Hill said was funny and I’m beginning to wonder if that guy is just a genuisly funny smart ass and he just improvises all his lines.
Overall, I blame the previews for being uninformative. I shouldn’t have to research the movie before seeing it, that’s kind of what the previews are for. At the same time, how can you call a movie “Funny People” and leave out the whole “completely depressing” part? I’m not anti-drama but I’m definitely not for masking the movie as a comedy to sell tickets.
