This review may contain spoilers. I can handle the truth.
His Royal Majesty James of House Cameron’s review published on Letterboxd:
This review may contain spoilers.
I'm not a Judd Apatow fan. The only movies of his I can say I liked were The 40 Year Old Virgin and Knocked Up, and even then most of it is due to the talent of people like Steve Carell or Jason Segel, not Apatow's writing or directing. His latest film entries have been getting progressly worse, but I made the effort to watch the one I had left behind, Funny People.
Although I heard mixed reviews since around the time of its release, I was curious to see what Apatow could do on a more serious ground (or at least what I thought would be one). Starring Adam Sandler (another comedy name that has been going downhill for some time now), Funny People tells the story of a comedian who, much like Sandler in real life, is on the top of the world. That is until he receives the news that he has a serious disease (uh...oh) that has a high chance of ending his life. One night he meets Ira, played by Seth Rogen, a struggling comedian whose group of friends provide all of the sub-plots of the movie, which are all basically weak filler. Sandler hires Rogen to be his assistant and off we go.
Now, although I've been showing nothing but contempt for this movie up until now, I actually liked the first hour or so. Sandler's character really conveys some serious emotion and Rogen's awkwardness around of him results in some good chemistry and heartfelt moments. That all ends when Leslie Mann's character starts to become a bigger element in the movie. I'm not saying that it is necessarily her fault, but at this point Apatow craps all over the tone he had going on the first half of the movie and tries to turn it into another one of his comedies, with known celebrities parading around the screen and spouting a line or two just so we can know they're there. Eric Bana is also featured as Mann's husband, but of course he's portrayed as a distant, womanizing, pompus asshole so Sandler can come in and save the day (See, because Sandler has a past with Leslie, but he was an asshole that grew up and changed. And now is sick too, so...bah, forget it).
By the end, none of the aspects I liked about the beggining of the movie were present. Instead, it became just one more Hollywood comedy with an "happily ever after" bow strapped on it. For shame, Mr. Apatow. And stop casting your wife in your movies, you're not Tim Burton.