Collegiate Times

This past weekend Judd Apatow released another one of his comedies on the masses - but this time out it isn't all laughs. "Funny People" stars Adam Sandler and Seth Rogen in Apatow's third directorial debut.

Sandler plays a big-time comedian who has just been recently diagnosed with a rare blood disease.

Rogen is a hard working, up-and-coming comedian who recently started performing standup.

The pair meets by coincidence at a comedy club that Sandler, fresh off his bad news from the doctor, has decided to perform at to relive his glory days.

Their initial altercation is less than spectacular, but Sandler offers Rogen a job as his assistant.

Shortly after, Sandler goes through a realization phase where he talks to people from his past and reconnects with "the girl that got away."

He attempts to win the girl and doesn't let a 12-year marriage and two kids get in the way.

Sandler gives a solid performance that blends his work in comedies with his more dramatic roles.

The film really mimics Sandler's career quite closely. He basically plays himself, along with a deadly disease and a long-lost love.

The film incorporates a lot of Sandler's early work to set-up the background of the character.

This includes audio sound bytes, home videos, and clips of standup performances from his past.

This makes the film moving to those who have watched and listened to Sandler throughout his career and remember seeing him when he first started out.

As someone who has listened to Sandler's early album releases, all his voices and jokes in the movie are either directly imported or subtly changed to fit the film script.

This made the film less funny than it should have been, but to those uninitiated, this new perspective on the king of family-friendly comedies will be fresh and hilarious.

 The film also has a  group of cameos from the comedic world, including some unexpected ones.

The only thing missing are Sandler's mod squad that usually appears in his "Waterboy" type movies. Several musical artists also make appearances at different points in the film.

"Funny People" is a movie that feels nothing like Apatow's previous works.

Both "Superbad" and "Knocked-Up" were films that touched on serious subjects like friendship and having a baby out of wedlock, but were light-hearted.

Neither tried blasting its underlying subject at viewers, who oftentimes didn't even realize there was one.

Most would expect "Funny People" to follow in its predecessors' footsteps - but it doesn't.

This movie takes its serious elements and bashes it over the audience's head. It doesn't attempt to be subtle or light-hearted.  

This is a story of a broken man struggling to overcome his illness and get back some of what he has lost by letting his career, fame and ego get in the way of family and friends.

This serious element might not be so bad if the film weren't so focused on Sandler's character  for the two-and-a-half hour runtime.

Another problem with the film is that the dialogue seems spur of the moment.

Awkward pauses and stutters give the impression the actors made up their lines on the spot and that the editors put those takes in the final version to give the movie a less programmed feel.

Sometimes it feels natural, but other times characters sound like they have  horrible stutters.

This movie isn't going to leave people rolling in the aisles like "Superbad" or "Knocked-Up." This film makes you think about the life of someone who brings laughter to the masses, but like so many people, can't find happiness of his own.

There are laughs along the way, however, this movie has more drama and leaves you wanting to watch another comedy just to feel good.

It is definitely worth a watch, but it won't make you cheery.