Movie: Trainwreck
My Rating: 4 stars
I strongly suspect that Amy Schumer made this movie so that she’d have an excuse to smooch so many hot guys. Or, maybe she was just taking advantage of her new stardom by working in a few extra hanky-panky scenes. Either way, I salute you Amy! Schumer has always had a reputation for being irreverent and lewd, so I think a lot of people were expecting this movie to be pretty edgy. Consequently, a lot of critics were disappointed when the movie turned out to be a pretty typical romantic comedy. (Amy’s an irresponsible, drunk slob, and she starts dating the very nice and responsible Bill Hader. What a wacky match!) But, I like to look on the bright side. I like movies, and so I find something to enjoy about almost everything I watch. And, I actually found myself laughing a lot during this one. So, I like to look at this movie as a better than average romantic comedy, rather than a biting social commentary. It’sraunchy, rude, and actually funny. Because, the normal rom-coms are pretty sappy, demeaning, and marketed toward the worst kinds of women.
But, then it also seems like Amy used this movie as a good excuse to collect all her funniest friends into the same project. I’m kind of in love with this cast. It’s got so many of my favorites. Amy Schumer and Bill Hader play the romantic leads. The love of my life, Tilda Swinton, plays Amy’s narcissistic boss. And, in an eyebrow raising move, Tilda is joined by Ezra Miller, her evil son from the very dark We Need to Talk About Kevin. (Of course, in this movie, he’s a comedic character—the airheaded office intern). I think it’s pretty hilarious that Schumer cast John Cena as her boyfriend. The juxtaposition between those two personalities and body types is a silly visual gag. And then, some of her friends are played by Randall Park, Dave Atell, Kyle Dunnigan, Nikki Glaser, the raunchy Bridget Everett, and one of my new favorites, Claudia O’Doherty. It’s a great collection.
I really liked this movie. I liked that it features an unrepentantly flawed lady as the main character. And, I liked that she doesn’t necessarily want to clean up her act all that much. Of course, she has to stop treating her friends and family like garbage, but she holds on to plenty of her partying ways. It’s fun to have a few vices! While I’m not wild for the classic romantic comedy formula, I think there’re enough of Amy Schumer’s wild antics to make up for it. Of course, this movie is not for delicate flowers. Lovers of the standard rom-com should probably avoid this one. It’s quite rude. But hey, I’m rude, so this one was right up my alley.