Trainwreck Movie Review
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Amy Schumer is known for her gratuitous raunchiness which she uses for a shock and awe effect. I bet she could even leave Andrew “Dice” Clay speechless with some of her material. Amy has gone out of her way to separate her brand of comedy from the more typical female comedian. Spending the first several years of her career either on stage or on television, Amy has now graduated to theatrical performer as the lead actor in the Universal Pictures comedy, Trainwreck. Will this be a case of too much too soon for the young up and coming actress or might she follow in the footsteps of others who have made the seamless transition from small to big screen? One thing’s for sure, she’s in no way bashful about putting her “real self” out there for the world to see. Love her or hate her, Amy will do exactly what got her to where she is today.
Amy (Amy Schumer) learns from an early age that monogamy is overrated and, as such, there’s no need to pursue that course of life. Well those words from her father (Colin Quinn) left a mark on her soul thus making her the woman she is today. Being the Trainwreck that she currently is, Amy jumps from bed to bed avoiding emotional attachment like the plague. Even her current semi-relationship is unhealthy as she’s out to self sabotage that just like everything else. On the flipside of the coin Amy’s sister, Kim (Brie Larson), is in a committed marriage that includes a stepson and is the levelheaded one in the family. As a work assignment Amy has to interview a renowned sports doctor (Bill Hader) for an article even though she knows absolutely zilch about sports. Amy discovers pretty quickly that she’s on a life-altering course.
The talented Judd Apatow has been tasked with bringing Amy Schumer’s work to life as well as give it some emotional depth between the laughs. One might assume at first glance that this is simply a slapstick comedy with little to no actual real content. Surprisingly, and somewhat refreshingly, Trainwreck is more than just adolescent jokes and sexual innuendos. There are some real emotional issues that are addressed throughout this comedy. In a way it runs a similar course to 2006’s romantic comedy, The Break-Up starring Jennifer Aniston and Vince Vaughn. Yes there were laughs but there was also heartache and pain. Trainwreck follows a similar path and doesn’t allow itself to get too silly by grounding itself with emotion. The unfortunate part is that in order to throw everything they wanted to into this movie it feels as though it goes on for forever. Upon checking the runtime those feelings are somewhat validated since it clocked in at 125 minutes. Sometimes less is, in fact, more.
Being from Manhattan it was kind of a natural fit to set Trainwreck in New York. After all, write what you know, especially early on in your career. She even kept her real first name the same as the character she is portraying. Speaking of characters, this movie was full of familiar faces from the New York area, more specifically Saturday Night Live. At times I thought I was watching a Lorne Michaels production but Tina Fey was nowhere to be found. Even the New York Knicks were featured so it was a real shout out to her home town. Another athlete (not associated with New York to their dismay) was prominently featured throughout much of the movie. This would be Lebron James. Apparently he’s not only looking to follow in Michael Jordan’s footsteps on the court he also likes to dabble in movies. While this is no Space Jam Lebron does get to show off his comedic side.
As one might expect, Trainwreck will not be for everyone. Surprisingly, based on the laughter around me, the most consistent and loudest chuckles were from the female contingent. This movie is full of potty humor, sex jokes and other similar somewhat offensive dialogue or situations. The more conservative patrons will be turned off very quickly at this so it might be one to steer clear of. Amy Schumer and Bill Hader have great chemistry on screen but it won’t be enough to give her first movie long sustainability. It just goes on too long and it can’t decide what type of movie it wants to be more the latter stages. Still for the proper audience there will be lots of laughs and maybe even a few tears shed. So if crass conversations don’t bother you then it could be worth a look.
Amy (Amy Schumer) learns from an early age that monogamy is overrated and, as such, there’s no need to pursue that course of life. Well those words from her father (Colin Quinn) left a mark on her soul thus making her the woman she is today. Being the Trainwreck that she currently is, Amy jumps from bed to bed avoiding emotional attachment like the plague. Even her current semi-relationship is unhealthy as she’s out to self sabotage that just like everything else. On the flipside of the coin Amy’s sister, Kim (Brie Larson), is in a committed marriage that includes a stepson and is the levelheaded one in the family. As a work assignment Amy has to interview a renowned sports doctor (Bill Hader) for an article even though she knows absolutely zilch about sports. Amy discovers pretty quickly that she’s on a life-altering course.
The talented Judd Apatow has been tasked with bringing Amy Schumer’s work to life as well as give it some emotional depth between the laughs. One might assume at first glance that this is simply a slapstick comedy with little to no actual real content. Surprisingly, and somewhat refreshingly, Trainwreck is more than just adolescent jokes and sexual innuendos. There are some real emotional issues that are addressed throughout this comedy. In a way it runs a similar course to 2006’s romantic comedy, The Break-Up starring Jennifer Aniston and Vince Vaughn. Yes there were laughs but there was also heartache and pain. Trainwreck follows a similar path and doesn’t allow itself to get too silly by grounding itself with emotion. The unfortunate part is that in order to throw everything they wanted to into this movie it feels as though it goes on for forever. Upon checking the runtime those feelings are somewhat validated since it clocked in at 125 minutes. Sometimes less is, in fact, more.
Being from Manhattan it was kind of a natural fit to set Trainwreck in New York. After all, write what you know, especially early on in your career. She even kept her real first name the same as the character she is portraying. Speaking of characters, this movie was full of familiar faces from the New York area, more specifically Saturday Night Live. At times I thought I was watching a Lorne Michaels production but Tina Fey was nowhere to be found. Even the New York Knicks were featured so it was a real shout out to her home town. Another athlete (not associated with New York to their dismay) was prominently featured throughout much of the movie. This would be Lebron James. Apparently he’s not only looking to follow in Michael Jordan’s footsteps on the court he also likes to dabble in movies. While this is no Space Jam Lebron does get to show off his comedic side.
As one might expect, Trainwreck will not be for everyone. Surprisingly, based on the laughter around me, the most consistent and loudest chuckles were from the female contingent. This movie is full of potty humor, sex jokes and other similar somewhat offensive dialogue or situations. The more conservative patrons will be turned off very quickly at this so it might be one to steer clear of. Amy Schumer and Bill Hader have great chemistry on screen but it won’t be enough to give her first movie long sustainability. It just goes on too long and it can’t decide what type of movie it wants to be more the latter stages. Still for the proper audience there will be lots of laughs and maybe even a few tears shed. So if crass conversations don’t bother you then it could be worth a look.
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