Funny People (Bob says 2 out of 2)

1. Did I enjoy it? YES
"What are you watching?" My dad asked inquisitively.
"Funny People," I hollered back.
"Well this doesn't seem like a very funny movie," he retorted.
Obviously Dad wasn't watching the comics during their standup bits. But this film is in fact more of a dramedy than anything else. Adam Sandler plays what might be a fictional version of his real self, a comedian whose career took off after making several hit comedic films. Unlike Sandler, however, George Simmons finds out he has cancer that may be terminal unless a very experimental treatment happens to work. George decides to hire aspiring stand up comedian Ira Wright to write him some jokes and keep him company. We learn that beneath the fame and the attention he receives from his very willing female fans, George is alone. What viewers may first take as a film about the struggle to stay alive is actually a film about a man struggling to become a better human being. Does Sandler have the same issues as Simmons does? It's hard to say, but I suspect this character is an authentic portrait of many celebrities today: Happy and on top of the world on the outside, but a mess deep down. Thank goodness for Ira then, who is the one person who can build a relationship with him and tell him not what he wants to hear, but what he needs to hear.

2. Would I watch it again? YES
Adam Sandler seems to be going the same route as Jim Carrey: alternating between pure comedy and taking roles with a more dramatic spin. This film develops more of the latter, and proves to me once again that Sandler is capable of taking roles that have more than one dimension to them. I hope to see him win a Golden Globe for Best Actor in a Dramatic Role someday. He can get there.