Movie Review: Trainwreck
What We Liked
What We Didn't Like
Judd Apatow is the maestro of the dick joke, the current reigning king of gross-out humor, and the guy who brought you all those hey-bro-let’s-get-drunk-and-get-laid movies. But Apatow’s secret weapon, and the likely reason for his broad appeal, is that he’s admittedly a family-values guy at heart. From The 40-Year-Old Virgin to This Is 40, the binge drinking and drug use and sexcapades in Apatow 
films always wind up leading to monogamy, long-term commitment, and reinforcement of American social norms.
So it makes for an interesting collision of creative talents – and personal values – when the similarly raunchy but more deeply subversive comic Amy Schumer teams up with Apatow in Trainwreck. Schumer writes and stars in the film, which focuses on a thirty-something journalist and dedicated wild child also named Amy. Amy drinks hard, parties harder, and hops constantly from one new sexual encounter to another, following the mantra her cheating father instilled in her from childhood: “Monogamy isn’t realistic.”
But this is an Apatow movie, so of course it is. Enter Aaron Conners (Bill Hader), a mild-mannered, renowned sports doctor who Amy is assigned to profile in the low-brow men’s magazine she works for. The two hit it off. But even as a genuine romance grows between them, the devoted Conners struggles with Amy’s increasing evasiveness, while Amy confronts her own deeply rooted views on sex and commitment.
You can guess where the film goes from there, but the way it does so is thoroughly entertaining. Although Schumer may still be unfamiliar to many moviegoers outside of those familiar with her Comedy Central series Inside Amy Schumer, she’s likely to make an immediate favorable impression. She’s a comic tornado, a master of the biting comeback and the well-timed eye roll. But she’s also a real acting talent, selling Amy’s uncertainty and vulnerability in a way that genuinely tugs at the heartstrings in a few key moments. A terrific supporting cast surrounds her, particularly the consistently exceptional Hader, an almost unrecognizable Tilda Swinton, and the hilariously bleak Colin Quinn.
The surface flaws of the film are few. As with most Apatow films, there are at least fifteen minutes of material that were great when the actors were riffing on set but should have been cut for a smoother final product. There’s a parade of increasingly embarrassing celebrity cameos: LeBron James plays an actual supporting role in the story and does so well, but John Cena isn’t as funny as he or the filmmakers think he is, and a slew of third-act celeb walk-ons becomes a little pathetic.
These issues aren’t enough to significantly detract from what is fundamentally an enjoyable and very funny film, but there’s a certain feeling of lost potential for something a little more game-changing in Trainwreck. Schumer has become known for her unapologetic feminism – whether crafting an entire episode of her show around a 12 Angry Men parody in which a group of jurors must decide if she’s hot enough for TV, or asserting in a recent awards acceptance speech that “I’m 160 pounds and I can catch a dick whenever I want.” It’s a somewhat subversive twist to see her filling the traditionally male role of the bed-hopping commitment-phobe in Trainwreck, but by the end she’s boxed into a standard-issue Apatow happy ending. It’s not quite as disappointing as Kristen Wiig in Bridesmaids, last seen being lovingly pushed into the back of a police car by her cop boyfriend. But with Schumer’s gift for making us actually think about women’s role in society while also making us laugh our asses off, Trainwreck feels like something of a missed opportunity.
That said, it’s still a blast to watch and Schumer is only just getting started in the movies. Here’s hoping that her next flick finds her paired with a director and/or producer whose subversiveness runs more than just skin deep. Schumer’s got the goods. Now let’s see her really let it rip.
Patrick Dunn
Latest posts by Patrick Dunn (see all)
- Interview with Alex Garland, writer/director of Ex Machina - April 24, 2015
