Funny People (2009)

When seasoned comedian George Simmons learns of his terminal, inoperable health condition, his desire to form a genuine friendship cause him to take a relatively green performer under his wing as his opening act.

Director:

Judd Apatow

Writer:

Judd Apatow

Stars:

Adam Sandler, Seth Rogen, Leslie Mann

2 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Adam Sandler	...	George Simmons
Seth Rogen	...	Ira Wright
Leslie Mann	...	Laura
Eric Bana	...	Clarke
Jonah Hill	...	Leo Koenig
Jason Schwartzman	...	Mark Taylor Jackson
Aubrey Plaza	...	Daisy Danby
Maude Apatow	...	Mable
Iris Apatow	...	Ingrid
RZA	...	Chuck
Aziz Ansari	...	Randy
Torsten Voges	...	Dr. Lars
Allan Wasserman	...	Dr. Stevens
Rod Man	...	Himself
Wayne Federman	...	Comedy & Magic Manager

Storyline

George is a very successful stand up comedian who learns that he has an untreatable blood disorder and is given less than a year to live. Ira is a struggling up-and-coming stand up comedian who works at a deli and has yet to figure out his onstage persona. One night, these two perform at the same club and George takes notice of Ira. George hires Ira to be his semi-personal assistant as well as his friend.

---

Plot Keywords:

comedian | stand up comedian | craigslist | infidelity | unfaithfulness | 

---

Taglines:

George Simmons was prepared to die, but then a funny thing happened.

---

Genres:

Comedy | Drama

---

Certificate:

18A

Details

Official Sites:

MySpace Universal Pictures [France]

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

31 July 2009 (Canada)

Also Known As:

Drôle de monde

Filming Locations:

Griffith Park Observatory, Griffith Park - 4730 Crystal Springs Drive, Los Angeles, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$75,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

£1,001,152 (UK) (28 August 2009)

Gross:

£3,427,741 (UK) (18 September 2009)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Universal Pictures, Columbia Pictures, Relativity Media

Technical Specs

Runtime:

146 min 153 min (unrated)

Sound Mix:

DTS Dolby Digital SDDS

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The opening video with the prank calls is a real video shot by Judd Apatow when he and Adam Sandler were younger. The two other people appearing in this video are Janeane Garofalo and Ben Stiller.

---

Goofs

When George and Ira are at George's house and Laura shows up, behind them you can see pool cleaners cleaning the pool. However, when it switches to the security camera, there is no one cleaning the pool.

---

Quotes

Ray Romano: [regarding George's illness] How did he know he had it?
Ira Wright: He said he was feeling dizzy and tired. So he went to the doctor, and it was in his blood work.
Ray Romano: That sucks, 'cause I get dizzy and tired. Anybody gets sick and I think I'm gonna get it. Is it contagious? It's not contagious, is it?
Ira Wright: No. No, I've been around him a lot. I feel fine.
Ray Romano: Okay, 'cause when you were talking, a little bit of your spit hit my lip. Not that you got it, but he spits on your lip, you spit on mine, and the next thing you ...

---

Connections

Featured in The Rotten Tomatoes Show: The Ugly Truth/G-Force/Orphan (2009)

---

Soundtracks

The Fat Mouse
Written by Rupert Gregson-Williams
Performed by Rupert Gregson-Williams
Courtesy of Walt Disney Records

User Reviews

Sometimes enjoyable, occasionally cringe-worthy.

Ira (Seth Rogen) is a struggling comic working at a sub shop. George (Adam Sandler) is a famous comedian and movie star who finds out that he's got a rare form of leukemia and won't live much longer, he's put on experimental medicine to try to combat the illness. This revelation rocks George's life. He's made tons of money and has plenty of people to suck up to him, but that just isn't enough. His world is falling down around him, all the mistakes he made have come back to haunt him. He tries to reconnect with the only girl he ever loved, Laura (Leslie Mann) and she doesn't want to talk to him until he tells her that he's sick. That plot line took up far too much of the movie.

George and Ira meet when George goes to one of the old comedy clubs he used to do stand up at and stands on stage without any material, talking about how he knows he's bombing when he can hear people in the audience cough. George ends up hiring Ira as his assistant and their odd friendship/work relationship begins. Ira has always been a big fan of George and is spellbound by the limos, private planes, and the women George has gotten so used to.

Their relationship is at sometimes interesting, I'm not sure where Judd Apatow (the director) meant to go with this picture, he seems to get a little bit of everything, not enough of the good and too much time spent on the bad. Ira likes one of his neighbors, Daisy "Aubrey Plaza" and that was a fun relationship that the movie really neglected. By the end, it felt very underdeveloped. Most of the dialog feels improvised and very clunky. Judd Apatow was trying to convey something here that he just couldn't in the end.

For what does work, this movie deserves a 6/10 rating. It's a dramedy, anyone looking for one or the other will likely be disappointed.