‘Girls, your mother and I are getting divorced…’
I love Judd Apatow. As with any divisive figure, the stuff that his detractors lob at him (his movies are too long, too sentimental, too improvised) are the exact things that I love about his work. Despite my usual misgivings about any movie longer than 90 minutes, I don’t mind that Apatow gives his characters time to breathe. I like spending time with his characters. Even Amy…
Amy (Amy Schumer) is a cynical writer who bounces from guy to guy whilst living under the pretence that she is monogamously bound to her kinda boyfriend Steven (John Cena). When her sociopathic boss Dianna (Tilda Swinton) sends Amy on an assignment that sees her spending time with a seemingly perfect doctor (Bill Hader), Amy must re-evaluate her whole philosophy on relationships.
I think this is the only Apatow flick that he didn’t also write (Schumer wrote the screenplay based on her own experiences) and Trainwreck does suffer a little as a result of that in comparison to his other works, but it is still an enjoyable and strangely moving cinematic experience. Schumer is superb in the lead role and her flagrant enthusiasm rubs off on the rest of the cast who are all clearly having a blast – particularly Colin Quinn as Amy’s uncompromising father Gordon. Sure, there is a bunch of American sports stuff that did nothing for me – I’m only vaguely aware of who LeBron James is for example so his extended cameo left me cold here – but, on the whole, Trainwreck is an entertaining and charming flick that had me rooting for its central characters from the off.
Trainwreck is arguably Apatow’s worst film, but with an output as strong as his, that’s still no bad thing. Worth watching for Schumer’s performance alone.