Trainwreck: Laughs Come Aplenty in This Raunchy Apatow Comedy

Director: Judd Apatow (also producer)
Genre: Romantic Comedy
Starring: Amy Schumer, (also screenwriter), Bill Hader, Lebron James, Brie Larson, Tilda Swinton
Distributed by: Universal Pictures
Release Date: July 17, 2015
My Rating: 8.5/10


I have always been a fan of Judd Apatow's trademark brand of humor, even though I would be lying if I said he doesn't usually tend to zero-in on the same types of characters: aimless losers and vagabonds who are ultimately revealed to possess a sympathetic demeanor.

In his latest film, Trainwreck, we are introduced to Amy Townsend (Schumer), a thirty-something trashy New Yorker who has spent years living a messy existence filled with the same pattern: becoming highly intoxicated, having casual sex with different men, and then drinking more and even getting stoned to numb the pain and embarrassment of the fling from the night before. Amy's fear of genuine commitment to a relationship derives from her father (veteran SNL writer Colin Quinn) brainwashing her and her sister Kim at a very young age after he and their mother get divorced. Amy's father creates the adage: "Monogamy isn't realistic."


Thus, Amy continues to engage in one-night stands, all while dating superficial, fitness-obsessed muscle-man Steven (John Cena), who angrily dumps her after she tells him that they were never 'exclusive'. Following yet another walk of shame to her job at a men's magazine called "S'Nuff," a male staff writer named Bryson pitches a feature article about a young sports surgeon on the rise named Aaron Conners (Hader) at a staff meeting. Although the magazine's editor-in-chief Dianna (Swinton) loves the idea, she assigns the piece to Amy rather than Bryson because she knows Amy detests sports and thinks the opposition would be great.


Grudgingly, Amy begins her assignment by attempting to find out as much as she can about Conners, who is clearly a well-intentioned man, and just sees this as a duty. One night, Amy has a fling with the doctor and after several casual dates, begins a relationship with him. However, it is clear Conners is more enamored with her than she is with him, despite his knowledge of her previous lifestyle. Amy struggles to maintain an unbiased view of her piece's subject as well as approval from her editor, all while periodically supervising her cantankerous father at a local nursing home.


The script is laden with crass jokes and one-liners, and Schumer (who wrote the script) does not appear to shy away from her ease with discussing sexual mishaps, bodily flaws, and pot addiction. The ending is supremely predictable, and a plethora of contemporary romantic comedy clichés abound, including the much-more prim-and-proper younger sister (Larson) and family woman with a precocious child, who seems to make Amy look even worse by leading such a conventional life, the lead male's asinine best friend,--who in this case happens to be superstar Lebron James in a surprisingly hilarious turn as himself--and the dictatorial, uncompromising, and merciless boss who, surprise-surprise! nearly forces the mess of a protagonist to choose between her career and her new boyfriend. There's even a brief, out-of-place Woody Allen reference and a scene involving Schumer performing a goofy dance routine to a classic Billy Joel song (I won't say which one). The cameos of major sports stars like Lebron and Amar'e Stoudemire and cackle-inducing hi-jinks involving medical malpractice on these renown stars, along with Hader's character's occasionally awkward behavior, round out the picture.


So why did I like this film, despite all these trite comedy characters and scenarios? Because Amy Schumer presents a no-holds-barred picture of a woman who seems utterly lost in her life, and because the few moments of pathos that are seamlessly woven into the storyline seem authentic rather than forced, and even they are injected with a very low dose of laughter. Plus, her ability to make other people uncomfortable with her explicit sexual descriptions was also hilarious, even though many will surely find it disturbing. Also, even though the ending is a happy one, it leaves some unanswered questions.


It's strange, yet refreshing to see Hader act normal and use his real voice after being accustomed to hearing him take on so many cartoonish ones for his repertoire of characters on Saturday Night Live, from the blunt, sexist, senile reporter Herb Welch to horny Italian TV-host Vinny Vedecci, to gay, sketchy-club-hopping New York City correspondent Stefon. He and Schumer display strong chemistry from beginning to end. Lebron James is hysterical as he spouts nonsense analogies with his basketball career and spontaneously quotes Kanye as a means to provide his best friend with advice, and SNL player Vanessa Bayer also draws chuckles as Schumer's perennially-smiling, harmless friend and co-worker.


I don't know if monogamy is realistic or not, but Amy Schumer delves deep into a persona that we're all familiar with and proves that these trashy, disastrous types of women can redeem themselves if they just genuinely try. Nothing is downplayed in this story, and that's just great.     

Love & Mercy: A Harrowing Tale of A Musical Genius

Director: Bill Pohlad
Genre: Biographical Drama
Starring: Paul Dano, John Cusack, Elizabeth Banks, Paul Giamatti
Distributed by: Roadside Attractions
Release Date: June 5, 2015
My Rating: 7.5/10

Even today, it's rare to see a biopic that portrays a visceral, emotionally charged account of a celebrity's personal or professional life. And yet, that is exactly what Love & Mercy does in this beautifully shot film that could only be more disturbing if it had been a documentary with raw footage. The film delves into the story of Beach Boys frontman Brian Wilson, who after suffering a panic attack during a live performance, embarks on a journey to produce a revolutionary album with his band called "Pet Sounds." The young Wilson (Dano) ends up working more behind-the-scenes in the recording studio during the band's tour, and despite his father's snide and confidence-crushing remarks on what he considered to be puerile and poorly-written music, Wilson perseveres and even fires his father as his manager.

The film constantly flashes back, at times somewhat too quickly and disconnectedly, between the 1960s and 1980s, during which we see an even more jaded, confused, and almost catatonic Brian Wilson (Cusack), who meets his future second wife Melinda (Banks), a car saleswoman, after a failed attempt at buying a car. Wilson is also placed under the care of psychotherapist Eugene Landy (Giamatti), although 'care' is clearly identified as a euphemism from the start. Landy incorrectly diagnoses Wilson with paranoid schizophrenia, and thus not only patronizes him, but chastises him for nearly everything, overmedicates him, manipulates him and his relationship with Melinda, and monitors his every move.

Giamatti is brilliantly terrifying as the nefarious psychiatrist who initially presents the image of an agreeable caregiver, much like many sociopaths. It's shocking to imagine how people like him can often exist, although in hindsight, one can quickly realize that litigation for mistreatment in cases like these was probably much longer and more complex during the 1980s than it is today. A modern-day psychiatrist with such high levels of abuse would never have gotten away with half of the 'therapeutic methods' that Landy did.

Opposite him, Miss Bank's performance appears very linear and monotonous throughout most of the film. However, this could be attributed to the fact that that was exactly how the real Melinda initially reacted to Wilson's situation: with a circumspect attitude, and as we say in Mexico "como el perro de las dos tortas" ("like the dog with the two cakes," i.e. torn between two things), in this scenario the two cakes being helping Wilson, whom see sees genuine kindness in, and complying with Landy's demands of staying away from him to improve his health.

The studio recording scenes showing the legendary band's music developments beautifully demonstrate Brian Wilson's ability to mesh together dozens of vocal sounds and instruments in a europhic manner via original musical arrangements. These scenes also overtly reveal the disagreements between the different Beach Boys, especially the other members' swelling discontent with Brian Wilson's controlling, obsessive, and perfectionist nature, along with his growing selfishness.

Dano draws empathy as the diffident young Wilson, and one can veritably see just how precarious his mental state was for many years. What is perhaps the most mentally disturbing montage of constant flashbacks between the young Wilson and the older Wilson laying in bed in a near-catatonic stupor (don't worry, no explicit violence or other graphic images are displayed, only emotional torture) presents the pinnacle of the musician's illness toward the end of the film. The alternation between close-ups and long takes, combined with the eerily soft background music devoid of lyrics almost makes the scene appear as a modern-day infomercial for mental illness, which feels much longer than it actually is due to its visceral nature.

Like many other biopics, the film concludes with a black screen and a few short blurbs describing the end results. However, a final scene showing the real-life Brian Wilson performing the title track "Love and Mercy" at a concert in 2013 proves a wonderfully soothing tactic to close the movie.