Summary
Amy is a writer for a New York magazine who doesn’t believe in happily-ever-after but when she begins to have feelings for the subject of an article she is writing, she is confronted with her ideas about relationships and individualism.
My Thoughts
I think this is the first thing in which I’ve ever seen Amy Schumer (“I Feel Pretty”). Not intentionally. I just want you, the reader, to know that I am not a hater or fan of hers in order to put out there what a pleasant surprise “Trainwreck” turned out to be.
Like many these days, as Valentine’s Day came bearing down on my wife and me, we found ourselves casting about for cheap date options or at least easy ones. A little quick stir fry from yours truly and we were snuggled up with the kitties on the couch and popping in “Trainwreck,” a film I’d walked past a thousand times but had only recently had recommended to me by a friend.
This film was a real treat and not just because it was part of a lovely night that I spent with my wife. It did a great job of subverting expectations in delightful ways even as it reveled in comedy that is so relatable that I was literally in an elbowing contest with Katie as we poked each other squealing between laughs, “That’s you. No that’s YOU!”
This movie is chock full of rom-com cliches that you probably know well and that I have rolled my eyes at on more than one occasion. “Trainwreck” does a lot to turn those cliches on their head, though, or use them in such an hilarious way that I didn’t mind.
First off, Amy Schumer is really funny and the character that she’s playing is really creative. In many ways she plays a character that has more in common with the typical rom-com male lead than with the girl-in-a-big-city stereotype. She is loud, sarcastically mean, pedantic, and could match the notches on her belt/bedpost with any womanizer.
Luckily, this isn’t the only trick up this movie’s sleeve. If it was, the film would get pretty old, real quick. As in other Judd Apatow movies, such as “Funny People,” the journey our protagonist Amy will go on is a deeper version of the surfacey way that a comedy would normally grow a character up. It isn’t a simple misunderstanding that gets resolved and every one moves on with their hunky dorey lives.
Real change comes through pain and struggle. “Trainwreck” doesn’t shy away from that fact. It leans into it. Amy makes a complete mess of even the things in her life that seem to be going well and she has to confront the true depths of her selfishness and the ways she hurts others. Doing the work to write this journey takes time but Judd Apatow allows the movie to linger a little longer than some audiences may expect or care for in order to give the resolution a realistic and meaningful catharsis. The characters may be wacky but their inner quest for peace, happiness, and meaning need to feel real and earned and not just driven by random chance.
Another bright spot is Lebron James playing himself. Bill Hader (“It: Chapter 2”) plays Aaron, a sports doctor, who Amy is writing a story on for her magazine. Pretty much as soon as she meets him she finds out that Aaron is not just a doctor to NBA all stars, he is BFFs with Lebron James. James is delightful as he overplays the concerned friend which would typically be a best girl friend of the female lead. Once again, this movie turns your expectations on their head and makes fun of the typical rom-com tropes even as it gives them new life which feels fresh.
This movie isn’t going to blow anyone away and will probably get relegated to not-even-a-classic-of-its-genre status but I would add this to my list of light, funny, yet heartfelt comedies that I feel like pulling out to enjoy with my special someone. When it isn’t really about how good the ‘art’ of the film is as much as it is about who I am watching, laughing, and crying with along the way.
Review Written By: