Comedy from a common pool

Judd Apatow is the Ram Gopal Varma of Hollywood. He has cracked a formula to churn out three or four films a year. They follow predictable plotlines — all are light-hearted comedies strung on cheap taglines.

Funny People
Big Home Video/Universal, Rs 499
Rating: ** & 1/2

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Judd Apatow is the Ram Gopal Varma of Hollywood. He has cracked a formula to churn out three or four films a year. They follow predictable plotlines — all are light-hearted comedies strung on cheap taglines. They employ actors from a common pool — the dope-loving Seth Rogen is part of the furniture. And every now and then, Adam Sandler appears in the role of a misogynist college prankster’s foulmouthed idol. Despite the predictability, this 2008 film redeems itself by turning a cold light on the fiercely competitive lives of professional comedians.

Famous stand-up comedian George Simmons (Sandler, seemingly out of an anger management session) finds he has a rare form of leukaemia. He hires aspiring comedian Ira Wright (Rogen, thinner than ever) to write the jokes he has run dry of. When Simmons tries to win back his ex (Leslie Mann, another Apatow regular) by wrecking her marriage, Wright, who’s himself shown to be a turncoat to his friends, turns into an activist of political correctness. Many expletives and a fistfight later, Simmons simmers down.

There’s a lesson here. Aspiring comedy directors can learn from Apatow how to keep the viewer glued till the end — even when it comes well past two hours. Just lay out the plot like a series of television episodes.