Last night my friend and I went on yet another trip to the cinema! This time we went to see the film ' Funny People' at our local cinema. We arrived at the cinema ten minutes before the film , paid our £4.20 and went to choose a seat! We were the first ones in the cinema , so we had to choice of about sixty seats ; our local cinema is quite basic (it's nothing compared to the cineworld cinema we usually go to , but it is cheaper and usually a lot quieter). At one point we wondered if we would have our 'very own private screening' as the film started at 7:20pm and we were the only two in there ; however a few minutes later we were joined by five others!

Funny People is an American comedy film released in the United Kingdom on 28th August 2009. This film was written and directed by Judd Apatow who also directed The 40 Year Old Virgin and Knocked Up. This film stars some of the cast from the previous two movies , such as Seth Rogen and Leslie Mann. This film comes under the comedy and drama genres. Running time of this movie is one hundred and forty six minutes (four minutes short of two hours and a half). This movie is a fifteen as it contains a lot of swearing and crude humour.

George Simmons is a famous stand up comedian ; he lives in a gorgeous house , is doing the job he loves , has loads of money , yet he doesn't quite have it all ; he has no friends. On the other side , is Ira Wright ; he works at a deli counter , but his dream is to be a stand up comedian ; although he is struggling with finding a 'character' he is comfortable with on stage. However , Simmons happens to bump into him at a gig , and offers him the job of being his assistant as well as his 'warm up act' ; a job which he takes. Soon , Simmons is diagnosed with an incurable blood disorder and an old flame enters his life ; Follow his journey as he discovers the important things in life.

I had seen the directors two previous movies ; The 40 Year Old Virgin and Knocked Up , so when I heard that there was going to be a 'third movie' in the series ; I just had to see it! Seth Rogen is my favourite actor and so with him being one of the main characters , I just knew I was going to enjoy this film.

The minute this film began I was in stitches , as the opening scene was hilarious. I loved the 'funny voices' the characters , especially Simmons , burst into and how they made a joke of everything. At first , I really didn't like the character of Simmons , as he seemed really weird and crazy , although as the movie continued and the realtionship between him and Ira progressed ,the viewer got to know him better and got to understand him. By the middle of the movie ; I really liked the character. My favourite character in the movie , however , was Ira ; he's so genuine and down to earth (as well as been really funny!) that you just have to feel sorry for him! I think that Seth Rogen is the best comedy actor in the world ; he has great timing and always gives his best!

For me , this film is quite difficult to describe in terms of likeability. Some parts I loved , while other's I was a bit bored with and felt dragged on a bit too much. I came out of the cinema undecisive about whether or not I had enjoyed the movie or not ; my friend felt the same. I think it's hard to say , but the plot wasn't really that good as I found the scenes quite boring , but I was laughing every other few minutes because the dialouge was so hilarious! I can't count the amount of times I laughed during this movie ; we were laughing our heads off a lot! One of the funniest scenes in the movie was definately the fighting scene on the lawn! How the actors kept a straight face , I'll never know! My friend and I were howling with laughter.

I thought a great bunch of actors were chosen ; my favourite was definately Seth Rogen , I also liked Leslie Mann's character (she is one of my favourite actresses after seeing the film Knocked Up - she's also the director's wife in real life) , however because she played a 'mom' and had two daughters (in fact the same exact daughters she was a mom to in Knocked Up (they're her real life daughters too) , that I kept thinking that they were playing the exact same family in both films ,when really they were two different families. I think the youngest daughter is cute , but the older one is so moody ,in both Knocked Up and this film. I found it really funny when the mom showed Ira and George a clip of her oldest daughter singing 'memory' from the musical , Cats ; she was so proud of her and all George did was laugh at her! It Was so comical!

I also think that the running time of this movie was a bit long ; at two and a half hours long , I was bit like 'oh hurry up and get on with it' by the end as when I thought it might end in certain bits , it would go on to another scene and so I thought the film was 'neverending'. When the film finally finished and I got outside the cinema it felt like another day!

Another criticism I have is the ending ; I felt the movie ended too abruptly. I won't say too much as I don't want to give the plot away ; but I thought that it was quite basic and could have been elaborated a bit more. I would have liked to see what happend between Ira and Daisy in the end. I thought that Ira and George complimented each other really well , and I really believed that they were best of pals!

In the movie , George has an incurable illness. Because the story was based on his life as a comedian , I didn't think that it was necessary to really have the 'illness story' in the plot as it didn't really add nothing to the movie , as he carried on living his life as normal and we didn't see how his illness affected him. I didn't get how one minute he was dying and the next he was cured even though he had only been given an 8% chance of survival. All , we saw him do during his illness was tell jokes and be lively , and then all of a sudden he was cured , which I thought was quite odd , as judging by the way he behaved and lived his life , you wold have thought that he was perfectly healthy considering he was supposed to have a life threatening illness with only one year left to live.

In a way this movie felt like it was split into two ; you have the first part where you learn all about George and see how his relationship with Ira progresses ; this is the comedy bit , and then in the second part you meet the family and it becomes a bit of a drama ; although it certainly gave me a few laughs. I think that the second part could have been used as the sequel ,as it was so different to compared to the first part , and the movie was long enough anyway. Come to think of it , the second part didn't really fit in with the movie ; it was all a bit wishy-washy , although I will admit that it was the second half that I enjoyed the most.

I also thought that Adam Sandler really did a good job at being a stand up comedian! He played the part really well , although having said that , all the actors played their parts really well.

I was a bit confused as to what I was supposed to feel whilst watching this movie. One minute I was laughing my head off at the jokes and the next I was feeling guilty because I had laughed at the jokes , because this man was dying. I don't think the movie was sympathetic enough towards the main character in terms of his illness , and I think considering he was 'dying' , it just became a part of the the story , yet it there was nothing 'serious' (as in it wasn't taken seriously) about it ; as it had the kind of attitude of 'he's dying get over it' which I thought was quite insensitive considering people in real life have serious illnesses like this.

This film is definately not suitable for people under the age of fifteen as it contains a lot of swearing and crude humour. In fact , I think it should have been an eighteen , as it's not exactly 'a role model' type of film.

Eminem makes an appearance in this movie. At first , I was like 'oh my god that looks like Eminem....no wait...it is him.......is it him ? or is it someone who just looks like him?' and then one of the characters shouts ' Marshall' (Eminem's real name) and then I knew it was him. It was kind of weird that he was in the movie really , because he just came out of knowhere , and considering they were at a place where loads of famous people were hanging out , he was the only 'celeb' there. I think it would have been cool if they'd have had more famous people in that scene.

If it were a CD of jokes , I would listen to it all day long , as I laughed out loud so many times at the dialouge , however I feel it is the storyline itself that let the movie down. It was trying to be serious and funny , whereas it wasn't one nor the other , it kind of came together with a 'soggy' balance , although I would say it was more funny than it was serious.

All the actors played their parts fantastically ;they are such a talented bunch and are all great comedy actors ; but I feel it was the plot that let them down. It wasn't that interesting and so it didn't keep me interested.

I had loved Judd Appatow's previous movies (Knocked Up is the best , followed by 40 Year Old Virgin) , so had expected it to be hilariously funny ; but I much prefered the other two movies! I found the one liners incredibly funny , yet I didn't enjoy the storyline and so it is hard for me to decided whether or not I would consider recommending it. I have come to my conclusion. If your a fan of 'typical bloke' comedy then you would probably enjoy it. If you enjoyed the previous movies , then you might like to see what else the director has to offer , with this movie , although let me warn you , it's definately not as good as Knocked Up. If you find strong language and crude humour offensive , then this movie is definately not for you , as that is a major part in the movie , and if your under the age of fifteen then this isn't the kind of movie you should be watching. I would reccommend if for the one liners
( but it's a long two and a half hours overall) but I thought the plot was poor! So yes I would reccommend it , but I also wouldn't reccommend it either , if that makes sense!

Thanks For Reading!
September 15th 2009
xdonzx (also posted on dooyoo under xd-o-n-z-x)