Friday, July 24, 2015

Jason watches TRAINWRECK

And yup, it's pretty darn funny. Amy Schumer, who I think is smart enough and has worked at it long enough to be more than a flash-in-the-pan hottest comedian of the moment, is hilarious. But it's the supporting cast that makes it work. Colin Quinn is her kinda racist, definitely philandering father who teaches her (at way too young of an age) that monogamy isn't normal. Bill Hader has great chemistry as her partner, although except for one surgery-on-no-sleep scene his wackier comic skills are kept in check for him to play a very appealing straight man. Dave Attell has what amounts to a recurring cameo as a wise-cracking homeless man outside her building. Vanessa Bayer is her best friend who is just as into pro-drinking and pro-hookup as she is. Probably the best supporting character is the surprisingly hilarious John Cena as her somewhat serious, possibly gay boyfriend. Oh, and Tilda Swinton almost unrecognizable as her acerbic boss. And lots of others, what I'm saying is kudos to the casting. Oh, and Lebron James, hilarious as Lebron James.

As for the story, it feels like a formula rom-com, but on deeper reflection it subverts the formula nicely. Despite the title, Amy isn't really damaged. She has a good career. She's promiscuous, but despite the occasional walk-of-shame she's not really slut-shamed, she's 100% sex-positive. Maybe more importantly, when she meets Bill Hader's handsome sports doctor character, there isn't an instant hate that has to fester over the entire movie until they realize they love each other (seriously, something like 90% of ostensible rom-coms are actually hate-fuck flicks.) Instead, they seem attracted to immediately. And they even go ahead and say it pretty early on. And they start dating. Because that part is easy. It's not complicated to go from hating someone to liking them (it's often idiotic, but it's not complicated.) What's complicated is going from liking someone to being willing to make significant life changes for them. And that's what the movie's about. And nails it mostly perfectly.

Running Time: 125 minutes
My Total Minutes: 403,141

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