Back in the mid-2000s, Judd Apatow emerged with The 40-Year Old Virgin and essentially changed the face of comedy from then through even now. He brought to the table a movie that was sweet, charming, funny, had a great message, gave us great, fully fleshed out characters-- but was unbelievably raunchy. Normally the R rated comedy riddled with dick jokes was saved for teen sex comedies like American Pie all the way back to Animal House. Apatow crossed comedy genre barriers and gave new life into comedy. He also re-emerged the "commit-o-phobe" trope... you know, the lovable loser, slacker, pothead who has no desire to begin and maintain a relationship-- that is until he meets the girl that changes him and he gets his life together? You know, like Knocked Up, Forgetting Sarah Marshall, Superbad, and Funny People. Here, we get what is essentially that same story but with a gender reversal. It ends up being the same kind of film... I mean, almost exactly the same. And while it is thinly formulaic, Schumer is able to bring something bigger to the table that makes Trainwreck a very effective and quite often hilarious Apatow film.
Say what you will about Amy Schumer, she's incredibly smart. Whether her humor is your cup o' tea or not, she always has something important to say. She may not say it with the finesse of a clean comic (in fact, if she's making a point, she's probably doing it in the most disgustingly vulgar, yet hilarious way possible). Trainwreck is no different. She's not just writing a throwaway rom-com that will be forgotten after its run in theaters. She's writing something very personal, very close to her heart, and as genre-challenging as Bridesmaids. It's the film that proves Amy Schumer is here to stay. And I, for one, say thank God.
Amy Schumer plays Amy, a trash magazine writer assigned to do a story on a sports doctor (Bill Hader) by her editor (Tilda Swinton). Amy's life is an endless barrage of partying, drinking, pot, self-loathing, and a lot of random sex. She's perfectly happy being subconsciously unhappy. It was engrained in her head by her father (played perfectly by Colin Quinn) that monogamy is a myth. She willfully sleeps around on her boyfriend (scene-stealing John Cena) and doesn't even realize she's hurting other people. She's not good with confrontation, so she avoids it at all costs. It's not until she starts visiting Dr. Connors (Hader) that she finds he's a person she actually has a connection with. He has his shit together. He's an accomplished doctor. He's intelligent, yet very funny. His best friend is LeBron James. He's got his life together and is the complete opposite of her. At first, she's hesitant to start anything because what she feels inside is foreign in nature to her, but more and more she starts to mature and realize that whatever her father has instilled in her may not be the truth for her.
It's a perfect blend of emotion, heart, and unbelievably crude, filthy, vulgar, hilarious humor. Schumer in her film-leading debut is perfect. She's exactly what the title suggests: a trainwreck. She's a a woman-child that needed just a little nudge into growing up. Her and Hader have great chemistry together-- a product of two very smart comedic actors coming together. Their relationship is organic and blossoms very believably, both ups and downs, but you really do root for it to work out for both of them. The film is an ideal vehicle for Apatow because he's able to bring his previous work into play, but gender flipping it to see it from a woman's perspective. It may be even better this way because while most of the men in his films are written one-dimensionally, Schumer is able to bring multiple dimensions to what could've been boiled down to a one-dimensional character. He's able to bring a lot of emotion into the film as Apatow has perfected over his career. A side plot focusing on Amy's relationship with her father suffering from MS will both tug at your heartstrings and have you shaking your head laughing. There is perfect balance of the dramatic and comedy that Schumer and Apatow have effectively collaborated on to bring to the table.
The biggest surprise of the film however is watching actors shine that you would never expect to be funny. Specifically, John Cena and LeBron James literally steal every second of every scene they are in. Cena shines as Amy's guy-pal who exhibits obvious gay tendencies but really does care about her, even when she doesn't. But, it's LeBron who provides most of the film's laughs as Hader's best friend. He's cheap, yet loyal, and his favorite show is Downton Abbey. Both of these prominent sports figures I had little expectation for and they garnered most of my laughs in the film.
Basically, it comes down to Apatow returning to form. This isn't one of those in-your-face comedies like Superbad, but it's also not an overly long, tone-confused awkward comedy like Funny People. It's a nice little emotionally driven comedy that doesn't skimp on the dirty, but it really doesn't skimp on the heart. It's the best comedy of the summer.
B+
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