MY CALL: This is The 40-Year Old Virgin of the present decade, folks. Don’t miss this. MOVIES LIKE Trainwreck: The Change-Up (2011), What’s Your Number (2011), Wedding Crashers (2005), That Awkward Moment (2015), The 40-Year Old Virgin (2005), This is 40 (2012), My Best Friend’s Girl (2008), Good Luck Chuck (2007).
I am one of perhaps millions of people who fell in love with Schumer’s brutally honest and often limit-pushing humor specializing in relationships and sex. Her Comedy Central Roast work was always top notch and her stand-up pleases crowds and creates a powerful female presence shining through the overtly provocative comedic shadows cast by Dave Attell (who cameos in Trainwreck), Daniel Tosh, Louis CK, Jim Jeffries and Dane Cook. That’s not to say there aren’t some equally provocative “R-rated” female comedians out there, but they haven’t become as popularly mainstream as Schumer.
In her first major role as Amy, a well-educated writer for a trashy magazine, Schumer breaks gender barriers and basically plays the female version of a womanizing, overindulgent “bro.” It’s like a frat house version of Sex in the City. She drinks in excess, sleeps with everyone, has a “rule” about never spending the night, takes the longest walk of shame ever (even involving a Ferry from Statin Island), and assumes that if a guy calls her the next day that it’s either a butt-dialing accident or that he’s a psychopath.
The story is simple. The perpetually single and aloof Amy is assigned to write a story about an orthopedic surgeon (Bill Hader; Superbad) to sports stars. They have drinks, click, sleep together and, well, it turns out to be something more meaningful than a one-night stand. Of course, Amy is confused, repulsed and scared by this and from these emotions emerge the resistance and humor that synthesize this story of Amy becoming romantically “sensitized.” Much more interesting than the story, however, are its characters, which include too many cameos to mention. Most comedies have one or two people drawing our laughter, but here we have a dozen!
The film opens with a great scene in which Amy’s father (Colin Quinn; Grown Ups 2, That’s My Boy) rationalizes divorce and infidelity to his two young daughters using Teddy Bear analogies to convince them of the non-existence of happy monogamy. Quinn is delightfully brutal and always on point, stealing every scene in which we find him as he claims that “every 12-year old in the Dominican Republic is better than Babe Ruth” or that his nursing home is basically a Viagra-fueled sex house after lights out.
Likewise, Schumer and Dave Attell (cameo) bombard us with numerous comedic nuggets regarding sex with strangers (or even objects) and overindulgence. Schumer is always “on” but, much to my pleasure and very loud laughter, so is everyone else. As her boss, Tilda Swinton (Snowpiercer, Only Lovers Left Alive) steers clear of her typically serious roles to play a soulless, shallow, quick-witted magazine editor whose every line is a memorably cutting one-liner.
However, among all of the shallow sex jokes we encounter some softer, even touching moments. Amy gives a most memorably sweet yet honest eulogy at a funeral (like in This is Where I Leave You), LeBron James (as himself) steals the show with funny but heartfelt commentary about being romantic and splitting checks and how Cleveland is as awesome as Miami, and Bill Hader brings the voice of reason to the entropy of Amy’s otherwise romance-free life. As Aaron, Hader plays his role straight and dramatic, which works our fantastically.
Most shocking was John Cena (The Marine) as Amy’s perhaps sexually confused boyfriend. Their dirty-talking sex-scene is hilarious, seeing Cena nearly naked is (speaking from a male perspective) equally horrifying and intriguing (at 255 lbs, the dude is gigantic for 5’9”), Cena getting taunted in the movie theater is awkwardly genius, and all of his dialogue is shockingly well-written. By the way, Schumer did an AMAZING writing job penning this–her first script!
Directed by Judd Apatow (The 40-Year Old Virgin, This is 40), this is exactly the raunchy romantic comedy for anyone in their 30s-40s with a history of partying, serial dating or at least a couple one-night stands…or even someone with a close friend or sibling like that. The film is formulaic in general plot points, but excellent in comedic execution. A few scenes feel like they run long, but they account for all but maybe 5-10 total minutes that I wasn’t laughing out loud.
This is The 40-Year Old Virgin of the present decade, folks. Don’t miss this. It is comic brilliance and I can’t wait to see what Schumer does next.
