***2015 RECAP*** MOVIE REVIEW | Trainwreck (2015)

“I like you, Amy. You’re clever but you’re not too brainy. You’re prettyish but you’re not too gorgeous. You’re approachable.”

I like Judd Apatow and Judd Apatow movies.  Even when everyone turned on him after Funny People and especially This is 40, I stuck with him.  Sure, the privileged problems of the rich, white people of This is 40 were a little hard to sympathise with, but Apatow is funny enough that I could look past that stuff and just enjoy the ride.  With Trainwreck, it seemed to be the least Judd Apatow movie ever made by Judd Apatow.  He didn’t write it, and it’s not filled with his regular stable of actors.  Written by its star, Amy Schumer, who I have little to no interest in, I couldn’t get excited about Trainwreck.  But the reviews were just too good, so I caved in.   

Raised by a father (Colin Quinn) who vocally apposed to the concept of monogamy, Amy (Schumer) has grown up taking his words to heart.  While her sister (Brie Larson as Kim) lives the quiet, picket fence life with her husband (Mike Birbiglia) and step son (Evan Brinkman), Amy bounces from one casual encounter to the next, kicking men out of her bed and house the second the deed is done.

MOVIE REVIEW | Trainwreck (2015)

“I like you, Amy. You’re clever but you’re not too brainy. You’re prettyish but you’re not too gorgeous. You’re approachable.”

I like Judd Apatow and Judd Apatow movies.  Even when everyone turned on him after Funny People and especially This is 40, I stuck with him.  Sure, the privileged problems of the rich, white people of This is 40 were a little hard to sympathise with, but Apatow is funny enough that I could look past that stuff and just enjoy the ride.  With Trainwreck, it seemed to be the least Judd Apatow movie ever made by Judd Apatow.  He didn’t write it, and it’s not filled with his regular stable of actors.  Written by its star, Amy Schumer, who I have little to no interest in, I couldn’t get excited about Trainwreck.  But the reviews were just too good, so I caved in.   

Raised by a father (Colin Quinn) who vocally apposed to the concept of monogamy, Amy (Schumer) has grown up taking his words to heart.  While her sister (Brie Larson as Kim) lives the quiet, picket fence life with her husband (Mike Birbiglia) and step son (Evan Brinkman), Amy bounces from one casual encounter to the next, kicking men out of her bed and house the second the deed is done.

MOVIE REVIEW | Misery Loves Comedy (2015)

“You don’t have to be miserable.  But there has to be something wrong with you.”

I’d say most people who recognise Kevin Pollock, recognise him as an actor.  In the 90s, he had an amazing run.  He was in big budget, big prestige movies like Scorsese’s Casino.  He was in massive money makers like Grumpy Old Men.  And he was in one of the quintessential indie-movie-becomes-blockbuster of the 90s, The Usual Suspects.  But before his acting career took off, during his acting career since, and seemingly with no sign of slowing down, he’s always been a stand up comedian.  Which is why he seems like as a good a person as any to make a documentary examining what makes comedians tick, with Misery Loves Comedy.

Through a series of talking heads, Pollock takes us through a kind of life cycle of his subjects.  Who was the first person they recognised as funny?  When was the first time they realised they were funny?  When did they start using that skill to their advantage?  And eventually, he gets to the title with his final question, do you need to be miserable to be a successful comedian.