movie coverI'd rather be watching TV![IMDB link] [Netflix link]

PLOT SUMMARY: Adam Sandler’s dying, and hires Seth Rogan as his personal assistant and confidante.

UNCOMFORTABLE PLOT SUMMARY (inspired by this): [highlight for spoilers]→ Selfish dying comedian tries to destroy the family of the love of his life.

PEOPLE: Written & Directed by Judd Apatow. Starring Seth Rogan, Adam Sandler, and Leslie Mann (17 Again, The 40 Year Old Virgin, Knocked Up, Timecode). With Eric Bana (Nero in Star Trek 0, Bruce Banner in Hulk (2003)), Jonah Hill (Forgetting Sarah Marshall, Walk Hard, Superbad, Knocked Up, Grandma’s Boy, The 40 Year Old Virgin), Jason Schwartzman (Walk Hard, Slackers, Spun), the great deadpan awkwardness of Aubrey Plaza (Parks And Recreation), Aziz Ansari (Human Giant, I Love You Man, Observe And Report). Appearances by Andy Dick, Paul Reiser (sooo old compared to Mad About You), Carol Leifer, Norm MacDonald, Eminem, Dave Attel, Sarah Silverman, Ray Romano (“I thought everybody loved you!”).

QUIRKS: A comedy about comedians. Very self-referential, and inspired by real-life events of Judd Apatow and Adam Sandler.

TRIVIA: The prank phone calls at the beginning of the movie were real — from when Judd Apatow and Adam Sandler were real-life roommates.

BAD STUFF: People will be hit with a drama when they are expecting a comedy. And the ending. At least it wasn’t cliche, but it kind of made things feel like a waste.

CONCLUSION: A pretty good dramatic movie with comedic elements — but definitely the least funny of Apatow’s movies. This is more of a “mature movie” than his usual work. Which for me means I didn’t enjoy it as much. The cast was absolutely great, though.

RATINGS:
Clint: Netflix: 3/5 stars. IMDB: 7/10.
Carolyn: Netflix: 4/5 stars. IMDB: 8/10. “I thought it was somewhat depressing, but I enjoyed it. It was no Click though… It had funny moments. This was definitely more on the drama side than the comedy side… There was barely anything funny about it. Some of the stand-up jokes were funny, but mostly the whole movie was sad.”
The native public rating for this movie is Netflix: 3.6/5 stars (3.9/5 stars for people who rate like me), IMDB: 7.2/10.

RECOMMENDATION: If you’re looking for an Apatow comedy in the spirit of his previous films, you might be comedicly disappointed. Let this post serve as a warning: This is basically a dramatic movie filled with comedic people. As such, there are definitely a lot of funny moments. But it’s not really a comedy. Go in knowing that, and you might not be disappointed.

SIMILAR MOVIES: The movie Click has some slight similarities to this, though this had much more comedy, and less obvious emotional string pulling.

MOVIE QUOTE: Mark: When my grandfather died, there was one candle next to his bed. And the candle started flickering. We all thought it was him going to Heaven, you know?
Leo: You don’t pass through fire to get to Heaven. I think he went to Hell.

Music: Pixies – Santo