I was really looking forward to Amy Schumer’s Trainwreck. Like many, I thought she was too crude at one time, but three skits on her tv series Inside Amy Schumer turned me right around this past winter.
1. 12 Angry Men shot in black and white. First, don’t try this at work, unless you want to get fired as it’s the entire 30 minute show. Paul Giamatti (nominated for an Emmy guest appearance by the way) plays the angriest juror as the men debate whether Amy is hot enough for television..hysterical, intelligent, perverse.
2. Silent Film being ousted by Talkies (also shot in black and white), a skit where the aforementioned topics are switched to handies vs. mouthies…and I’ll let you figure that out if you dare not to watch.
3. The Herpes Scare with Paul Giamatti again (can you tell I’m a fan?-John Adams, Sideways, Love & Mercy!). Paul plays God in this skit which is perfect; witty and obscene.
Now back to Trainwreck: I truly enjoyed it, but will concur with Marshall Fine (Hollywood and Fine reviews) in that Apatow needs to edit. Until you’re Scorsese you can’t put every bloody scene you shoot in a flick.
And at the risk of sounding too Amy-like (meaning commitment phobic NOT whorish), the romance aspect was overdone. And please, no more straight roles for Bill Hader, he does his best work as kooky characters like Stefan on the SNL News. Let this man camp it up and NOT play a pathetic Dr. Oz look alike!
To finish on an up note, as I do think her writing is genius, I love how she layers her comedy, what with the recurring movie within a movie starring Daniel Radcliffe and Marissa Tomei and if I lived anywhere near Manhattan, I would have seen both of Colin Quinn’s Broadway shows. Watch out Kristen Wiig, here comes Amy.
I was blown away by Love and Mercy and I never liked the Beach Boys. But now I do! An engaging screenplay, co-written by Oren Moverman, who also wrote The Messenger and I’m Not There is the deepest I’ve seen in trying to capture the long term effects of child abuse.
The director, Bill Pohlad, is most known for his big budget productions (12 years a Slave, Into the Wild).
And thank the good Lord that John Cusack got a decent script. Let’s kick his Abe Lincoln Vampire Slayer days to the curb, shall we, and add Hot Tub Time Machine as well. Even he had the good sense to say no to Hot Tub round two. Cusack’s phenomenal nuanced performance of depressed and uber eccentric older Brian Wilson is award worthy. Paul Dano’s terrific portrayal shows the mad genius behind every great songwriter.
I admit that I was skeptical going in about how Paul Dano and John Cusak were going to play the younger and older versions of Wilson when they don’t look too much alike. But alas, I never even thought twice about it.
And Paul Giamatti, not only was I on a high from his knock out performance as the angriest juror in Amy Schumer’s take off on Twelve Angry Men, but then he shows up in Love and Mercy as the creepiest sadist I’ve seen in some time.
Absolutely, go see this film.