Trainwreck (2015)

Movie Info

Ugh…monogamy!

Gordon Townsend (Colin Quinn) has taught his daughter Amy (Amy Schumer) some bad habits.  While her sister Kim (Brie Larson) gets married and starts a family, Amy has decided to take a career path at a men’s magazine as a writer.  Amy spends her nights drinking and sleeping around and cheating on her musclebound boyfriend (John Cena).  When Amy is assigned to cover a sports doctor named Dr. Aaron Conners (Bill Hader) for an article, Amy finds that the concept of monogamy might work for her…if she doesn’t sabotage the situation first.

Directed by Judd Apatow and written by Amy Schumer, Trainwreck is a romantic comedy.  The movie was well received by critics and had a strong box office show.  The film was marred by a tragedy when on July 23, 2015, a man in Lafayette, Louisiana went into a showing of the film and randomly killed two viewers and himself.  Schumer as a result made some statements on gun control and dedicated a show to the two victims of the shooting.

Hit Me!

I like Amy Schumer.  She’s funny, dirty, and despite her often self-deprecating humor much more natural and real than most of the women in Hollywood.  I’m not a huge Judd Apatow fan however because his movies often follow a pretty distinct pattern and are generally too long.  Trainwreck shows both Schumer’s skill and aspects that seem a lot like Apatow touches.

I can’t discern how much influence Apatow had on Schumer’s script.  There is a lot that feels like straight Apatow although he’s not given writing credit.  The best parts of the movie is when Schumer is herself and involved in the sensitive virtually corny love/romance scenes (she even calls herself out on it).  I understand that it is the point of the movie that despite her destructive nature that she could possibly find the cheesy romance, but it doesn’t necessarily make for fun and laughs as it goes into predictable tropes.

Worst Intervention Ever

Schumer however is great.  She’s damaged good but is both unapologetic and sympathetic.  Bill Hader felt a little miscast.  I’m glad they didn’t pick a traditional romantic lead, but I don’t know that I loved him in the role.  Generally, I’m not a fan of Colin Quinn but he also worked as Amy and Brie Larson’s abrasive father (I kind of wish there had been a couple more scenes with him).  John Cena was fun for his role as the muscle bound and somewhat gay boyfriend of Amy and Tilda Swinton was unrecognizable as Amy’s glamourous boss.  The movie has a surprisingly large part for LeBron James and cameos by Daniel Radcliffe, Marisa Tomei, Marv Albert, Chris Evert, Matthew Broderick, Tony Romo, and Tim Meadows.

I’m your Uptown Girl

The movie is pretty standard when it comes to its style.  It makes a few nice uses of New York City and Central Park, but I think it was trying to distinguish itself from the high class lifestyle of someone like Sex and the City’s Carrie Bradshaw who “lived” New York City.  I did like the little Woody Allen homage on the park bench.

Trainwreck is fun.  It is a bit too long at over two hours with the credits.  It does have me hoping that Schumer does continue to helm her own projects and not allow herself to be subjected to “best friend” status in movies or wacky comedies.  Fans of both Apatow and Schumer will enjoy.