Well, They're Kinda Funny

By Chase Kahn

Whatever mumbling or groaning recieved as a result of Judd Apataw's Funny People over the last few weeks is fine by me. The film is not an utter catastrophe in the slightest -- it's slyly amusing here and moderately charming there -- but it's undoubtedly a messy, half-way-there, stench in the air kind of thing.

The film curves this way and that way until it ultimately winds up in nowhereland. There are appreciable characters here and there (mainly played by Jason Schwartzman and Eric Bana), plus a very nice self-parody performance that took considerable guts by Adam Sandler, but I couldn't help but feeling like Funny People was, at the end of the day, a big shot in the dark for writer/director and maestro of new-age comedy , Judd Apataw. Call the result a slight graze.