A quick programming note: The podcast for last week’s double feature, “Breathless” and “Jules & Jim” has been canceled, and upcoming episodes will be produced based on the feedback received in the discussions. The remaining weeks have been restructured slightly to encourage greater community participation. Remember, the film fest is about community wide-discussion, and everyone is encouraged and welcome to participate. We don’t bite, I promise!

The Summer Film Fest is back in its penultimate entry, wherein we discuss Paul Thomas Anderson’s incredibly overlooked Punch-Drunk Love and Michel Gondry’s modern masterpiece Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. I paired these two films because they examine two different aspects of the the same theme: How we deal with love.

Punch-Drunk Love is in many ways about the incredible redemptive power of human connection (as many of Anderson’s films are, particularly Magnolia.) Adam Sandler’s stellar, subdued performance as Barry Egan went overlooked by many who expected more traditional Sandler fare, despite the film’s warm critical reception (even making several “best of the decade” lists). Egan is driven by anxiety stemming from his upbringing with seven bombastic sisters. Anderson films the world as chaotic and unpredictable, save for the calming presence of the enigmatic Lena, played by Emily Watson. Punch-Drunk Love is a beautiful take on the traditional romantic comedy. Unlike traditional romantic comedies, it isn’t about two broken people who come together and fix each other, who correct each other’s imperfections. Rather, it is about two broken people learning to be broken together, savoring the imperfections, and finding a link to their own brand of normalcy in a wildly erratic and unpredictable world.

In contrast, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind is about memory, and how the pains and heartbreaks we suffer through ultimately make us who we are. The powerful, esoteric duo of director Michel Gondry and writer Charlie Kaufman craft a beautiful, resonant film that follows Joel, (Jim Carrey who, much like Sandler, turns in an unexpectedly poignant performance from a traditionally comedic performer) a reserved loner who falls Clementine (Kate Winslet), a manic pixie dream girl if there ever was one. Their relationship begins in a similar manner to most films with MPDG’s (i.e. Garden State), but carries on past that, showing the bitter dissolution of their once magical time together as their wildly divergent personalities ultimately tear each other apart. As the film begins, Joel has signed up for an experimental treatment to wipe all of his memories of the relationship from his mind. However, as the procedure is underway, Joel realizes his mistake; His memories of the relationship, while painful, are a part of him, and he sets out to save his memories from being destroyed. Although wild and dreamlike in grand Gondry/Kaufman fashion, at the core Sunshine is a glaringly honest and affecting look at love, loss and the things that make us who we are.

Both of these films are available on Netflix Watch Instantly, and on a personal note, are two of my favorite entries in the festival this year. If you liked or disliked either of these films, join in the discussion in the comments below. If we get enough feedback, then we will release a podcast episode incorporating your feedback into the discussion. And remember, you don’t have to be a film snob to discuss: Anyone and everyone is welcome to join!

What two things do Adam Sandler, Chris Rock, David Spade, Rob Schneider, and Kevin James all have in common?  Well they all used to be on Saturday Night Live, and they all USED to be funny.  Well ok technically Kevin James was never a regular on SNL, but he could have been, and from the way this film plays you might never know the difference. 

The movie itself is a reunion movie as five elementary school friends reunite to share a weekend outdoors with their families.  All five of them were on a championship basketball team and 30 years later when their coach dies, they return to their hometown to attend his funeral.  Lenny  Faber (Adam Sandler) is a Hollywood agent and married to fashion designer Roxanne (Salma Hayek), Eric “Babbay” Lamonsoff (Kevin James) is an assistant manager married to Donna (Maria Bello), Kurt McKenzie (Chris Rock) is a stay at home father married to a very pregnant Deanna (Maya Rudolph), and Rob Hillard (Rob Schneider) is married to Gloria (Joyce Van Patten) despite the fact that Gloria is 30 years older then him.  Marcus “Dickie” Higgins is the only one among them who isn’t married and he spends most of the movie getting drunk and ogling women.  All these men, their bratty kids and all head to Lenny’s cabin to reminisce about the good old days.  I had to wonder if the good old days were interesting and or funny, because the present day certainly is not.

One of the things that a good comedy can do is take funny characters and situations and wrap them up in a heartwarming message.  Recent movies such as Get Him to the Greek, and She’s Out of My League do a great job at doing just that.  Two things that set these successful movies apart from THIS one are interesting characters and a good script.  All of the characters, and I do mean ALL of them, in this film seem incredibly flat.  In a sense they seem more like characters I might see on a SNL sketch.  In fact you will recognize several SNL cast members in the movie aside from its stars: Colin Quinn, Norm MacDonald, Tim Meadows, and even Steve Buscemi make cameo appearances in the film.  Now sketch characters aren’t so bad except when they are asked to carry you through 90 minutes of film.  And by the end of THIS film, you are glad to see them go away. 

The other thing that hampers this film is the script.  Written by Adam Sandler and Fred Wolf the story is a mess of stale jokes, missed opportunities and a never ending battle of trying to decide what kind of movie it wants to be.  Sandler wants us to see these families come together and realize that the best part of life is simply being with each other.  But the language and the dialogue that is used to get us there is either so far out there or right in our faces.  As a frequent moviegoer I’m rather taken back when you insult me with trite dialogue that hits me over the head with a lofty ideals. Good movies use the narrative and dialogue to help me come up with these same ideals on my own, making a much more powerful experience.  I could forgive all of that IF the film was funny.  I can recall two, maybe three actual funny scenes, the rest reminded me of an SNL sketch that missed the mark.  Oh please let this end…  

So you may ask, why did you go see this movie?  That is a great question and one I am happy to explain.  My son had his braces removed and his Mom promised to take him to any movie he wanted to and buy him a big tub of popcorn.  Well, she never kept up her end of the bargain and so when I got him this weekend I told him I would keep her promise.  He really wanted to see this film, and so off we went.  My son and the other 13 year old kids in the house really enjoyed the film, and sometimes that’s enough to make a movie going experience better; my kid liked it so I feel good.  Sadly, despite my son’s enjoyment I couldn’t get past the trite that was on the screen.  So unless you’re 13, or if you have 90 minutes of your life you are willing to just toss away, you’ll want to stay as far away from this film as possible.  I’m not even going to recommend renting this, even if you are a diehard SNL or Sandler fan.  Go do something fun like play Bionic Commando or something.

In six months time, check your local video store – Netflix or wherever the hell you go to rent films – for this movie called “Funny People”. If it is listed under “Drama”, that video store has taste, relevance, and evidence the establishment has a moderate clue of what it’s talking about. If Funny People is listed under “Comedy”, run Denial of Service attacks on the site or walk up to the manager, kick him in the shins, and demand the staff watch the movies before putting them on the shelf.

To spell it out, Funny People isn’t a comedy, it’s a drama with comedians in it. Two hours ‘n fifteen minutes worth. Is it a good movie? Yes. Will it feel longer than An Evening With Kevin Smith? Somehow, yes. My initial assessment was Funny People is The Bucket List * Wild Hogs* Down to Earth, but for indie hipsters or old rich people.

The movie is about Adam Sandler’s character who may as well have played himself. He’s a super rich loner who gets cancer and ditches his career of making shitty movies to attempt another round at standup and cleaning up his personal life before he dies. This is a Judd Apatow work, so Seth Rogen isn’t far behind. Rogan plays a struggling comedian Sandler hires to write jokes for “the last comeback”. You would think this means a series of wacky adventures like somethin’ outta Pineapple Express. Not, so, much. It’s chick flick stuff like “making my daddy like me,” “stealing my ex-girlfriend from her current husband,” and “general backstabbing sleaziness.” Shit like that. The worst part is that it boils down to a story about mega rich celebrities that are unhappy with their lives. You will see many celebrity cameos, several trying to get it out there how hard their life is. “Really,” I say. Three facepalms and a failwhale are awarded for the timing of this film’s release.

Something stranger is that a movie called “Funny People” instead of writing great dick and fart jokes, uses them as a plot mechanic to grow and change characters. The double-sided sword analogy can be fumbled around quite a lot when talking about this film thing. I suppose what it’s really about is figuring out what side of the sword you wanna be on.
Let’s take the premise I just described. I really like it that Funny People shatters the mold of many comedy clichés, but it’s up against the viewers who dropped $10 on a movie specifically expecting a classy comedy premise devised to generate the many laughs as a Judd Apatow brand should. The trailer is kinda engineered as such.
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