Trainwreck Review

2015 in film

Jul 15

Written By Rendy Jones

Preview

R: Strong Sexual Content, Nudity, Language and Some Drug Use

Universal Pictures, Apatow Productions

2 hrs and 5 Minutes

Cast: Amy Schumer, Bill Hader, Brie Larson, Tilda Swinton, Vanessa Bayer, Lebron James, Colin Quinn, John Cena, Randall Park, Jon Glaser, with Ezra Miller and Mike Birbiglia

Editor’s Note: This review was originally published during my adolescence. Outdated language might be seen in these old posts. Since then, my thoughts and values have grown. This review is being presented as they were originally written, grammatical errors, shitty sentence structure, and typos galore. Because to do otherwise would be that same as claiming these flaws never existed.

BACKSTORY: Tuesday July 14th, after work I go to Manhattan to see Amy Schumer's passion project she collaborated with Judd Apatow with. When the film was about to start, some dumbass triggered the fire alarm, so the entire theater was evacuated for a good 10 minutes. On my way out somebody bought a large popcorn and soda from the concession stand, but didn't decide to take it with them on their way out. So of course I said fuck it and took the popcorn, but couldn't reach to get the soda. By the time I got back I had a large popcorn ready to review.

STORYLINE: Since she was a little girl, it's been drilled into Amy's head by her rascal of a dad that monogamy isn't realistic. Now a magazine writer, Amy lives by that credo - enjoying what she feels is an uninhibited life free from stifling, boring romantic commitment - but in actuality, she's kind of in a rut. When she finds herself starting to fall for the subject of the new article she's writing, a charming and successful sports doctor named Aaron Conners, Amy starts to wonder if other grown-ups, including this guy who really seems to like her, might be on to something.

REVIEW: At first I thought of Amy Schumer as an unfunny comedian that hosted the MTV movie awards and wrote her own film (which I wasn't looking foreward to), but I took the benefit of the doubt and watched her sketch comedy show "Inside Amy Schumer" from seasons 1 to 3. Then after watching every episode ever, I fell in love with her. Her sketches actually pointed out the bullshit in society from how relationships are, how guys act, how girls act, how even freaking kids act, and this film consists of all of those things together and less of a stretched out episode of her show, but an actual movie that feels inspired. Seriously this film doesn't even feel like an Apatow film, but is really more of an Amy Schumer stand up adaptation. She carries the film with her own two hands and with a supporting cast that bounces off her realistically.

Every character in this doesn't aren't written as a character type, but are written like actual characters. When this film is rated R, it takes advantage of it's R rating. Where you have R rated comedies that are rated R for dumbass juvenile humor (cough Ted 2 cough), this film's R rating is extremely mature in both its humor and its content. There are even moments where I'm laughing hard, but at the same time feeling uncomfortable. Its not everyday you see John Cena have sex in a film and you see his gluts out. It literally became WWE RAW. But seriously the gags used in this film (mainly thanks to the sports cast especially LeBron James) are so funny it makes you want to take other bad comedian directors and sit them down and say, SEE THIS IS HOW YOU MAKE CLEVER JOKES NOT EVERYTHING HAS TO BE ABOUT DICK AND BALLS OR ANYTHING FOR SHOCK VALUE! Even when the film gets a bit racy with its jokes it always result in a hilarious punchline. Yes this is a raunchy comedy romantic comedy, but it's also a coming of your age film with a positive message. The chemistry between Schumer and Hader is very authentic where you would actually want to see them get together in real life. As a matter of fact most interactions between the different character are very realistic, there's even a point where you could see LeBron James being best friends with Bill Hader. Now you may be thinking, yeah Amy could carry the film with her writing power, but what about her acting? Well.........SOMEBODY IN HOLLYWOOD NEED TO GET HER MORE ROLES BECAUSE SHE CAN FUCKING ACT! You see her wide range in her show, but in this film she expands on emotion and when she feels there are a lot of times you feel. Its really one of the best performances I've seen so far this year. The only thing about film that is sinful which mainly most comedies are and there will be a day Hollywood will listen but, STOP PUSHING PAST THE GODDAMN 2 HOUR MARK. The way the film ends is a bit of a cop out, but already felt as if it was going too long for it to end anyway. Try 110 minutes or less never 120, because then if you're running out of steam, I'm running out of interest, but thankfully this film never loses steam.

LAST STATEMENT: Though it still goes into Apatow time limit, he directs the entire cast fantastically as Schumer's strong performance and genius writing that consists of hilarious lines/gags and real life situations, makes Trainwreck one of the year's best comedies/films. Trainwreck is everything this film isn't.