I'm not going to call you worthless, as you are entitled to your opinion, but I will say I believe you were off base in your expectations of the main characters. Sandler's portrayal of a washed up Stand-Up comic was spot on and Apatow's character development was completely realistic, and nowhere near illogical. I'm not saying this in a condescending way, but I take it you don't know any Stand-Up comics or amateurs trying to break into comedy? Comics are mostly "selfish man-children" by nature("retarded" is a bit harsh). A large part of taking up Stand-Up comedy as a profession is in the abandonment of certain responsibilities most other adults conform themselves to. They have the talent, and the passion, but also the recklessness and immaturity you need to make "goofing off" a way of life. My intention isn't to bash comics; as a matter of fact I'm on the inside looking out considering I am pursuing a career as a Stand-Up comic.
After applying this type of personality to Sandler's role, you can then see the direction Apatow was going with the film. Sandler was selfish, rude, condescending, but also tormented, and at his most vulnerable, honest and afraid. The running time was pretty long, but I believe the reason for the "miraculous save" of Sandler's character was to hammer in that defunct personality once more, and present the audience with a dose of reality in that just because someone changes their ways during a moment of fear and weakness, doesn't mean it's a permanent change. Sandler goes right back to being selfish and immature, because that's who he is, and why he's "cursed" in a sense, to being a Stand-Up comic.
Your gripe with Rogen's character is actually amusing because his character's penis jokes were incredibly authentic as far as portraying a struggling amateur comic. As a matter of fact, the Stand-Up segments being recorded for the film were actual live sets that the actors were trying out in front of live audiences, so what we were left with was their atrocious amateur comedy, which is funny for all the wrong reasons.
I'm not going to touch the Leslie Mann complaint as I've seen many people complain about her being in Apatow's movies, but I personally enjoy her. Anyways, I tried to look at it from your point of view and what I think I noticed was not that you didn't "get" the movie, but that you didn't connect with the characters because you may not know these kinds of people personally. It's not that they're "so deep" it's hard to understand them, but more like if you don't know them personally, or are one yourself, their personalities almost seem made up, or unbelievable. I hope this didn't come off as condescending in any way. I like a respectful discussion. So, yeah, cheers.
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dragonshotz
13 years ago
@tommytwotimes
I suppose I was a bit hot-headed in my first post, I had just seen the movie and for some reason it greatly angered me. Perhaps I was just pissed off that it wasn't funny or that Seth Rogen had some awful jokes, or maybe I was just having a bad day. If I was to be truly honest this wasn't the worst movie I've ever seen---but it would still be the worst HYPED movie I've ever seen. It was adverstised as a comedy and serious drama and in both those respects I believed it failed to a great degree. But then again, like you suggested, I could have just misinterpreted the characters. I'm not a comic, nor do I know any so I'm not really qualified to judge them accurately. From what I've seen on TV and Youtube some comics can be kinda crazy and to put it nicely...irresponsible.
But Sandler's character was much more than merely crazy and irresponsible. In my opinion he was just a complete douchebag throughout and utterly deviod of ANY good human emotions. He never sacrificed anything, he never helped anyone, he never cared period. The only timed he appeared to care about anyone else is when it was self serving, like his relationship with Ira. Are you saying that was Apatow's goal, to estrange George from the audience and make us hate him? If it was I guess he was a succeeded but just find it a poor premise for a movie. If you did become a famous comic would you act even a quarter as shallow as George Simmons? I sincerely hope not.
Anyway I thoroughly disliked the movie from the beginning, but when Mann's unfunny cameo came up and George was suddenly cured my dislike turned to hatred.
Also to be fair this movie did have one very funny scene, Eminem's cameo where he yells at Ray Romano.
I also like discussing movies and sorry if I come off as a pretentious douchebag who has to trash movies. It's just that something about this movie truly irks me and I think that even 10 years from now I will feel the same.
Is your user name a reference to Goodfellas? I f'ing LOVE that movie.
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tommytwotimes
13 years ago
Haha yeah my UN is a play on Good Fellas. "I'm gonna go get the paypas, get the paypas".
I didn't think you came off as a pretentious douche at all. You weren't trolling. You said this was the worst movie you've ever seen, and you offered clear reasons why you thought so. IMO having a reaction like that is better than saying "It was whatever", or "it sucked" and not expanding. Based on what you said I'm pretty confident you definitely will still hate this movie 10 years from now.
Personally, I think this movie is too long but well crafted nonetheless. I knew I was in the minority upon my first viewing though. About half hour into the movie I was shocked but pleasantly surprised that the film was way more dramatic than was advertised in all of the trailers and TV spots. I knew this would piss a lot of people off as they were expecting another hilarious Apatow comedy only now with Adam Sandler (not saying this is what you specifically might have been expecting).
Also, I was personally intrigued by Sandler's character as I could relate to the self-pitying and selfishness that seem to be running characteristics within the comedy community. Granted, George was the extreme version of that type of personality but I even know a few guys like that and I do consider them buddies. I think on a grander scale the best comparison of someone like that would be Dane Cook. I don't know him and the couple of times we've spoken he's been courteous and supportive, but I hear he has been notoriously cold and selfish to most people he's known personally throughout his entire life. Based on some of the guys I know personally, I believe it.
I guess the point of my ramble there is that I have been predisposed to looking past the crappy elements of the George character's personality simply because I have learned to respect and get along with anyone attempting to do comedy for a living. I knew this wasn't a movie for everybody, and I knew a huge part of it was because George is completely unlikeable. The film is exaggerated and lengthy but I think I'll always enjoy it. It was nice having a decent, normal discussion. On IMDB that's a rarity.
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