Unfunny people

Funny people are people, too

I watch movies to enjoy them, not to walk out of them. Nearly 140 minutes of my life have been stolen from me so I need to let this out. Team Apatow has done it again… beating a dead and already massacred horse, that is.

Like most of Apatow’s work which is seemingly crafted for the fickle-minded, we are always quick to forget the downward spiralling trend he follows- the staggering second act that not even a few funny people and funny dialogue can save. He indulges too much of his background in stand-up comedy that it screams autobiographical at times. A family affair within the same Apatow universe he has built, one can only take so much inside joking and horsing around that it gets tiring. It really, really does. What’s more excruciating about this movie other than its insane running time were the several attempts to resurrect the candor with even more bland comedy and sometimes slapstick humour causing it to fall flat on its face really, really bad (maybe they were thinking there was safety in toilet humour and crudeness?).

I learned one thing from all this, though: Hilarity ends when it tries to tread on. Sure the comedy was there, but its purpose was to blindside everyone and distract them of a story that never unfolded. Pretty soon you’ll realise the whole movie was a joke. The punch line was there, but I guess no one can point it out.

Shmash-shmortion!

He has a nice personality

Knocked Up (2007): 4/5

Contrary to popular belief, I do keep an open mind when it comes to movies of the Will Ferrell type (the ones of the Happy Madison people, however, have gotten increasingly irritating- must be the mood swings or that time of the month). But i’m glad this movie caught me at neither occasion. Regardless of it being another stoner flick with endless hit-and-miss comedic bits, this movie isn’t as knocked up as it appears to be, yet there is some heart to be found in the depths of its apparent and well, stupid-movie surface. It runs a bit too long though, clocking in at more than 2 hours, but the point being driven at is clearly there (or did I look too much into this movie?).

It’s a good movie, this one is. Good movies make you care, make you believe in possibilities again. And to sum up, a line from one of Woody Allen’s movies comes to mind after watching Knocked Up (for the second time!). It goes:- “I just met the most wonderful man. He’s fictional but you can’t have everything.” 🙂