I'm a big fan of Judd Apatow.  I was a fan of his TV shows (Freaks & Geeks, Undeclared), and I was excited when he jumped into feature films.  While you may feel that my review of Funny People, may be biased, there is no doubting that it is an excellent movie. 

The story is about George Simmons (Sandler) who is kinda like the Kanye West of the comedy world.  He has money, power, and can consumate with the females whenever he likes.  George finds out that he has AML which is a form of leukemia and the doctors' prognosis isn't too bright.  George befriends Ira Weiner (Rogen) and essentially pays him for his friendship while at the same time teaching him the ropes of the comedy world.  The love interest Laura, is played by Leslie Mann, Apatow's real life wife, and Apatow's kids, as in his other movies play her children.  Simmons, upon coming to grips with his mortality, tries to rekindle his once long lost love with Laura, but the catch is that she married an Aussie named Clark (Eric Bana).  Not to ruin the story, but George does get better, but a conventional "change my life story" isn't the tale that Apatow sews. 

Not to sound effeminate, but the movie's story was endearing.  The strength of Apatow's feature films are that they are date night, chick flick movies that guy's won't have a problem enjoying.  In fact all the movies that have been produced by Apatow have the same attribute (Forgetting Sarah Marshall, I Love you Man, Superbad) in that women can appreciate the emotional message of the film, and men can appreciate the at times crude humor.  What distinguishes Funny People, from the aforementioned films that Apatow has produced, is that when Apatow writes and directs a film, there is a realistic honesty to the nature of his films.  He deals with real life situations (ie: Losing your virginity, having a child) and puts them in perspectives that while not likely and may seem overly comedic, have the common thread that the audience has an easy time relating to; real life relationships are not conventional and difficult. 

The cast of the film flows together perfectly.  There are definite moments when you can tell that they are off script and interacting with each other like real friends do.  Rogen, per usual, plays the every man that anyone who wasn't a jock can relate to, and at the same time the jocks can appreciate as a cool guy.  Sandler, for me the past couple of years, has been an actor and comedian whose humor I had thought I had outgrown.  But like Spanglish, I came to appreciate his dramatic portrayal of Simmons while learning once again to laugh at and appreciate the immature accents of opera man, and Billy Madison. 

Like all his previous movies, I have to give Funny People, a 10.  Some viewers may find the 2 hr and 16 min movie mark a little too long for a feature film, but I welcomed the length of the movie as I like to feel like I'm getting my money's worth and I'm tired of seeing movies that suck for 90 minutes.  It's a formula that some may find tiresome, but Apatow has something that works, and works well.  Why stray from something tried and true?