Me, I'm finally picking up work as an editor. I just came off of an editing project for some grad students at Singularity University, located on the grounds of the NASA Research Center in Palo Alto. A day after completing my work there, I landed a one-off PA gig on a public service announcement-type project. That week alone was enough to cover my half of our rent here in the Land of Oak.
Freelancing seems to be the type of dice-rolling, edge-of-your-pants, palm-sweating goddam lifestyle that keeps things interesting. It's like working on MY NAME IS KHAN: every day is a new place, a new set of hysterics and problems and headaches, and is never anything less than damned strange and fascinating. I seem to be shying away from the staid, day-job existence I once sought out as a writer. And let's thank all the holy-rolling cosmic forces for that, yeah?
Or maybe I've become accustomed to this type of work-life. I certainly missed the fun after KHAN was over. Not the most stable of stabilities, right? After the funhouse ride of L.A., though, I must have decided deep down that life doesn't have to be boring, and normal is a make-believe standard that only applies if you're scared to explore all of life's funky little possibilities. And shit.
Which brings us to Judd Apatow's FUNNY PEOPLE. Seth Rogen's struggling comic, Ira Wright, sleeps on a pull-out couch in his buddies' living room. He's a funny man and a talented comedian, freelancing – emphasis on the free – for five minute spots between featured acts at the Laugh Factory until he takes a gig with the devil, AKA Adam Sandler playing a very Adam Sandler-ish sell-out Hollywood douchebag named George Simmons. Yes, it's Sandler's best performance, right up there with it's polar opposite, his nebbishy, insecure basketcase from P.T. Anderson's great PUNCH-DRUNK LOVE. It's also comparable to Jack Nicholson's Viagra-popping, skirt-chasing music exec from SOMETHING'S GOTTA GIVE.
They both play characters remarkably like themselves. Sandler in FUNNY PEOPLE is isolated, lonely, and takes advantage of the loose tail constantly falling into his lap. Nicholson doesn't date anyone younger than thirty, and his conceited Jack-ness masks a deep streak of self-loathing. Both are brave, stellar performances, in movies that are very good and strangely uneven.
Still, compare FUNNY PEOPLE to Judd Apatow's debut as a director: 40-YEAR-OLD VIRGIN is a terrific comedy, lauching Seth Rogen's career and Steve Carell's star into orbit. (Aside: a buddy of mine used to at the Border's book emporium on the Promenade in Santa Monica, which is strangely popular with celebrities. Harrison Ford stopped in, as did John Landis for a Q&A, as well as, uh, the bad guy from TWINS. And so did Steve Carell, who sauntered in dressed in the utterly clichéd tabloid uniform: dark blue windbreaker with the collar turned up, sunglasses, a "how DARE you recognize me!" attitude. I'm not saying he's a prick In Real Life... but I'm not saying he ain't, neither.)
But VIRGIN, for all it's charm, humor (the classic "Know how I know you're gay?" sequence) and real love for its characters, remains firmly two-dimensional. Within the first half-hour of FUNNY PEOPLE, the main characters become fully fleshed out and believable, apparently inspired by Apatow's experiences as Sandler's roommate during their starving days of beer and pizza.
FUNNY PEOPLE struck a deep chord with me for some reason. Maybe because I'm starting to write a broad comedy for the first time. "Comedy is for funny people," Sandler's George tells Ira at one point, after Ira has overstepped his boundaries in George's life during the third act. My wonderful girlfriend Sarah thinks I'm funny, but do I make you laugh? Lord knows I try.
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