Funny People

Advance buzz had tagged Funny People as Judd Apatows cancer comedy. Actually, its leukemia thats putting the squeeze on George Simmons, the jerk-off star of dumb family movies and raunchy stand-up. Adam Sandler, relaxed, focused, alert to nuance, plays George, and its his best performance ever (right up there with Punch-Drunk Love). Forget tear-jerking. Apatow writes with warmth and wit, but hes no soft touch. He knows George can be a cruel bastard, impossible to live with, but the fucker is funny. Jokes have always been his weapons of choice.

The same goes for Apatow. This is only his third film as a director, following The 40-Year-Old Virgin and Knocked Up, but his influence is so pervasive that hes credited or blamed for every bromance on the market. The potently hilarious Funny People, shot by Schindlers List Oscar winner Janusz Kaminski, no less, is Apatows most personal film. He roomed with Sandler when they first came to L.A. They both did stand-up, only Sandler was better at it.

Seth Rogen basically has the Apatow role as Ira Schmyra, to George the struggling writer whom the big star brings in to create material for his act. Hes amazed at the babes who lay down for his boss. Im a story they tell their friends, shrugs George, a pussy hound with no illusions. At the start, Ira is the only one George tells about his disease. They bond, but only till Ira gets too close. Then hes reminded, Youre not my friend, you work for me. Apatow has taken pains to say that this is not a biopic. George is a nightmare version of what he and Sandler might have become without the healing balance of wives and children.

That part of the equation is represented by Leslie Mann (Mrs. Apatow) as Laura, the girl George lost by cheating on her. Now mired in a bad marriage to a skirt-chasing Aussie (Eric Bana demonstrating real comic flair), Laura takes solace in their two children, played by the directors two adorable daughters with Mann, Iris and Maude Apatow. Learning of Georges illness and possible remission, Laura is pulled apart emotionally. Mann, one of the strongest arguments for nepotism in the business, is simply sensational in the role, finding the right blend of humor and heartbreak in a woman who is understandably reluctant to give her trust to a man.

Lauras divided loyalties are symptomatic of the film. Apatow has many stories to tell, too many. Iras life in the house he shares with two competitive friends a riotous Jonah Hill, as a fellow writer, and a terrific Jason Schwartzman (he also did the music) as an actor who stars in the deliciously demented sitcom Yo, Teach could be its own movie, and a good one.

But the soul of Funny People is in the stand-up. Rogen, wonderful throughout, is a hoot delivering a bit about Tom Cruise, David Beckham and Will Smith mushing the tips of their dicks together just because theyre bored rich guys. And its a treat watching Sandler mix it up with other comics, including Paul Reiser, Sarah Silverman and Ray Romano. There are lots of guest shots, including a killer one from Eminem, who tells George hed be better off dead than making more stupid movies. Food for thought. But no worries about this perceptive, deeply entertaining boundary-pusher. Its the work of a major talent. Apatow scores by crafting the film equivalent of a stand-up routine that encompasses the joy, pain, anger, loneliness and aching doubt that go into making an audience laugh. For his funny people, that really is a matter of life and death.