TRAINWRECK – The Review

TRAINWRECK is smart and funny and its female-centric theme will appeal to many women. I just hope they have the patience to trudge through the slow spots in the story which director Judd Apatow should have trimmed down to a more brisk running time. Amy Schumer wrote TRAINWRECK and stars as single New Yorker Amy, a feature writer at S’Nuff, a jerky magazine that runs articles such as “You’re Not Gay, She’s Boring” and “You Call These Tits?”. Amy is a Good Time Gal who smokes pot, drinks too much, and sleeps with more than her share of men. Sometimes she avoids the walk of shame, but other times wakes up wondering whose bed she’s landed in (“I hope this isn’t a dorm room” she mumbles after spotting a SCARFACE poster on the wall of her latest drunken conquest). Though she sorta has a boyfriend (John Cena), when it comes to relationships, Amy is decidedly noncommittal. The film opens with a flashback speech from her father (Colin Quinn) about whether monogamy is even possible, illustrating his point with young Amy’s doll. Her editor (Tilda Swinton) assigns her a story on geeky Dr. Aaron (Bill Hader), a surgeon who specializes in rebuilding injured athletes. She seduces him after their first meeting, only to realize that he’s really into her, and to her surprise, she may feel the same way.

TRAINWRECK is often hilarious but plays as more a series of sketches than a full-blooded movie. The overall result is patchy and at 122 minutes, the film is at least half an hour too long. Seeing it I felt like I was binge-watching 4 or 5 episodes of some sort of foul-mouthed Amy Schumer sitcom popular on HBO (I’m aware such show exists somewhere). Ms Schumer is a huge talent but has the presence of a TV actress, not a movie star. Apatow’s penchant for close-ups and medium shots adds to the small screen feel. A romantic montage spoof ending with the Queensboro Bridge shot from the MANHATTAN poster (with Amy noting “I think this is where Woody Allen met Soon Yi”!), is the only time TRAINWRECK seemed cinematic. Schumer’s script is clever but uneven and the director’s trademark improvisation creates messy scenes that don’t know when to end. An odd intervention sequence with Chris Everett, Mathew Broderick, and Marv Alpert  (a punchline 20 years ago!) is a dud and the climactic cheerleader showdown goes on and on just when you want the movie to end. There’s also a weird movie-within-the-movie, The Dog Walker, starring Daniel Radcliff and Marisa Tomei, that they should either have done more with or left out.

Fortunately, TRAINWRECK is blessed with a large and terrific supporting cast for which Schumer has generously written colorful roles. The two surprise scene-stealers are a pair of athletes – NBA star LeBron James proves a natural comedian playing himself as a Downton Abbey fan who’s both Aaron’s patient and best friend, always with the doctor’s best interest at heart. And former WWF lunk John Cena as Amy’s musclebound boyfriend is not only notably funny but provides real warmth in a scene where he, believing he and Amy are dating exclusively, is heartbroken to discover that’s not the case. Comic Dave Attell gets in some zingers as the acerbic homeless guy living in front of Amy’s building and an unrecognizable Tilda Swinton rules as Amy’s brittle boss. Brie Larsen brings some seriousness as Amy’s sister Kim, Colin Quinn gets more comedic mileage out of his role as Amy’s sick racist dad than he probably should have, and it’s nice (if startling) to see 100-year old Norman Lloyd in a role, small as it may be, as one of dad’s nursing home pals. Hader nicely plays the decent straight man here, though you wonder why a successful surgeon would put up with the mercurial Amy (“You go down on me too much!” she scolds, “but don’t try to spin this into a reason to not go down on me!”)

Judd Apatow comes up with a lot of great ideas and has a formidable eye for talent in others. He noticed Steve Carell, Seth Rogan, and Kristen Wiig in minor roles in his other films and launched them to stardom. His and Schumer’s decision to blanket the thin narrative of TRAINWRECK with overlong and needless interludes inevitably wreak some havoc on the movie’s momentum, but many, especially women, are going to love the film and I do recommend it.

3 of 5 Stars