Amy
Schumer has become the unlikely voice of a new generation in stand-up and
sketch comedy. Her work is thoughtful, brazen and cleverly funny, taking on all
kinds of relevant subjects like feminism, ageism, body-shaming and race, while still
retaining just enough gleeful locker-room filth to make it palatable to the
masses. After receiving awards attention
and praise for her ambitious and subversive sketch comedy show, Schumer has
teamed with producer/director Judd Apatow to tell a more personal story that
exists somewhere between the detachment of her ironic wit and the pain that it
masks. “Trainwreck” is a conflicted and
sometimes frustrating film where Amy shines as a performer and a burgeoning writer,
but lacks the narrative consistency and the truth of convictions that we have
come to expect from her point of view.
Amy’s
character Amy is a hard drinking, sex-starved city girl who enjoys her life the
way it is, much to the displeasure of her family and her pro-wrestler boy-friend
(John Cena) who breaks up with her after discovering her multiple hookups.
Later, after her magazine editor boss (Tilda Swinton) has her interview a
sports doctor named Aaron (Bill Hader), the two develop a wholesome
relationship and Amy finds herself unable to reconcile her fear of commitment
with her newfound fondness for the nice-guy surgeon. This personal struggle is
augmented by the mounting tension between her and her sister played by Brie
Larson and their father played by Colin Quinn who’s struggling with the early
stages of Parkinson’s disease and needs to be put into an affordable facility.
Every
actor here has their moment to shine, including, and especially, Amy Schumer. Because
much of the comedy derives from her stand-up as well as her real life issues,
there’s definitely a vulnerability presented in this film that Schumer usually
tries to avoid on stage, which is refreshing and revelatory too see from her.
Compared to the broad characters he’s become known for playing on Saturday
Night Live, Bill Hader dials things way down and functions more as a graceful
support for Amy’s louder screen persona and the movie’s surprisingly
conventional romantic comedy plot. Side
characters and cameo performances such as Tilda Swinton as the venomous editor,
Ezra Miller as the weird-quiet intern, Dave Attell as the friendly bum, and
Labron James playing himself to great affect keep every scene activated and
entertaining even if the movie as a whole runs about 20 minutes too long—a
typical Apatow problem.
As
I’ve alluded to already, “Trainwreck” suffers from a strange double standard.
When it comes to how women who openly enjoy sex are viewed in society, Amy uses
her persona as an outspoken satirist to build her character and set up the
movie’s sense of unexpected laughs. This is then contradicted when the story reinforces
the traditional rom-com values of waiting for ‘the one’ to come in and set her
straight. It’s clear that her character is irresponsible with other people’s
feelings and for dramatic purposes she would need to express some sort of
change , but the choice to have that change occur through a familiar Hollywood
romance is somewhat disappointing, if only because it’s coming from her. The gender roles of this romance are swapped
and the film makes a point to show how it changes the perspective of the
archetypal narrative structure, but turning a male sports doctor into a
white-knight cure for promiscuity undercuts the entire point of the experiment.
All
that aside, this movie’s funny. Schumer’s comedic voice is present throughout
and the satellite performances constantly jolt the audience with a surprise
laugh. Directorially, this is also one of the stronger efforts from Apatow in a
while, even if he’s too generous with his actors and still doesn’t know when to
say cut. If the worst thing we can say about “Trainwreck” is that it’s
traditional, then I suppose we can chock that up as a moderate win for Schumer
as a first time screenwriter.
Originally Published in the Idaho State Journal/Jul-2015
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