Funny People – Blu-ray Disc Review

November 23, 2009 – 11:43 AM - Posted by: Brendan Surpless

Tags: Adam Sandler, BD-Live, Bonus View, Eric Bana, Jason Schwartzman, Jonah Hill, Judd Apatow, Leslie Mann, Pocket Blu, Seth Rogen, U-Control, Universal

has an average rating of 7.2 on IMDb
1080p in AVC MPEG-4 on a 50gb disc
DTS-HD 5.1 Master Audio
include over 11 HOURS of footage
– &
– 2009
– 146 Minutes & 153 minutes (UNRATED)
– Universal
–
Disc 1 uses 45.5GB total.
Disc 2 uses 38.0GB total.
Street Date: November 24th, 2009

Overall Verdict – Definitely Recommended

Buy it for $23.99 @ Amazon.com

— Review written by: Brendan Surpless —

‘Red Band’ Trailer:

The Movie Itself was Written and Directed by Judd Apatow of “40-Year-Old Virgin” and “Knocked Up” fame. Famous comedian George Simmons (Adam Sandler) is known throughout the world both for his stand-up comedy and his varying films. When George is told that he has a rare type of leukemia and doesn’t have much time to live, his obviously becomes depressed wondering if anyone will truly remember him outside of his craft. That’s when Ira (Seth Rogen), a struggling comedian, enters the picture. Ira begins to bring George back to the places where he started, as well as trying to rekindle his former flame (Leslie Mann). What results is a real charm of a film that shows that director/writer Judd Apatow is maturing as a filmmaker.

With “Funny People“, a few things we’re proven true. First off that Sandler, when he wants to, is a damn fine actor. As George Simmons he captures everything about a perfect character. All the emotions are portrayed in a manner that makes us complete the entire spectrum. By this I mean there are scenes where he we laugh with Simmons, cry with him, but also loath him as a human being. Simmons, for Sandler, represents the kind of character that might have it all in life but it takes a life threatening disease to make him realize just how shallow he has been throughout his life. There’s one scene where his sister basically calls him a jerk for not being their for her or his parents having deserted them when fame came. Secondly, “Funny People” represents director Apatow’s finest effort to date. Not only is the film is hilarious, but the film is also moving, poignant at times and really makes you think about your life. Are we doing things that people will remember us for or are we just thinking about ourselves? “Funny People” may have been ignored by audiences for some reason (I blame the marketing really), but I honestly feel that in a few years people will realize just how special the film is.

In closing, “Funny People” shows that Judd Apatow is clearly capable of giving us far more than your standard gross-out comedies. Not only does this film have genuine heart, great acting on the part of both Sandler and Rogen, but actually is able to successfully craft and mix both humor and emotion. I personally believe that if people go into this expecting a “40 Year Old Virgin” type film, you’ll come out rather disappointed. Personally I went in with quite the open mind, not expectating much and I came out extremely pleased. Apatow has directed a fine film that continues to prove that Sandler is truly a great actor and that Apatow is able to give us more than what we’ve come to expect. Highly Recommended.

Video Quality on this release is in full 1080p using the AVC MPEG-4 codec on a BD-50 (50 gigabyte dual-layered Blu-ray Disc) in the 1.85:1 aspect ratio. Taking place in California, the film’s palette tends to focus on warmer colors like blues and yellows. While the colors do tend to look a bit over saturated at times, the overall palette is warm and pleasing to the eye. Fleshtones haven’t been really pumped up either giving our characters a rather natural look to them. Film grain is present but that is more how Apatow and cinematographer Janusz Kaminski shoots their films. The film’s print is also in fine condition. My only negative is that there are a few instances where we had anomalies that occur on screen. One such example is when the limo arrives and Ira is looking over the balcony down into the street. This doesn’t occur more than once or twice throughout the entire presentation but is still something worth mentioning. Besides that, this is a faithful presentation that fans will be pleased with. This earns a great “4.5 Star Rating“.

Audio Quality on this release is presented in DTS-HD 5.1 Master Audio. With this being a rather heavy dialogue film, I had feared that this mix would be a front heavy mix. While this is the case most of the time, I was surprised and pleased with the film’s sound design. While dialogue is reproduced just fine (no instance of drop out), I found the actual performances to be great. Take for example when Simmons initially performs on stage. Here the way the sound field has been set up makes it actually feel like you’re sitting in the audience. We can hear the coughs, the laughs, every little effect either from the center channel (Simmons in this case) or from the rears (the effects). LFE is minimal at best but does occasionally crept up mostly during a musical scene. Pans are excellent with no drop out. My only negative is that some of the archival footage is a bit hard to understand resulting in either subtitles or a volume increase. This was probably done on purpose though. All in all this earns a solid “4 Star Rating“.

Bonus Materials are presented in both Hi-Def (HD) and Standard Definition (SD) video with Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo sound.

• BD-Live is included on this Universal Blu-ray Disc release, which requires the user to be on a “Profile 2.0” capable Blu-ray Disc Player to access online content such as trailers, share bookmarks and so forth. This title features something called “Pocket Blu” which allows users on iPhone or iPod Touch to access content via an application. Also included is “My Chat“, which gives viewers the opportunity to chat with friends while watching the film. “My Funny People Commentary” allows viewers to create play-by-play video, audio or text movie commentary and share it with friends through UniversalHiDef.com.

• “U-Control” is included on this release which uses “Bonus View” to deliver an on-screen Picture-In-Picture presentation. This requires the user to be on a “Profile 1.1” capable Blu-ray Disc Player.

• Gag Reels: Here we get two different gag reels that are broken down into one part (5min53sec) and another part (5min20sec).
• Deleted Scenes: Here we get a whopping 48min24sec worth of scenes. They are as follows: George Comes Homes, George Calls Ira, Make Me Some Eggs, Cars/Mausoleum, Prank Call – Strip Club, Prank Call – Deli, Ira Quits Otto’s, Ball Cleavage, Mark Signs Autograph, Talk at Bar, Girls Hit On George, Sick Prank Call, Talk to Sleep – Go Somewhere, Talk to Sleep – Penis, Reading Scripts, Parents – Assistant, Inviting George to Thanksgiving, Driving to SF, Driving to Laura’s, Laura Smokes Pot, Ira Calls Daisy, Parents, Randy – Garage and Randy – Garage Golfin’ It Up. All in all these scenes were definitely worth a watch but most weren’t as funny as the extended scenes found below.
• Extended/Alternate Scenes: Here we get 1hr6min19sec worth of scenes. They are as follows: Ira Sees Limo, Ira Talks George to Sleep, Playlist, Comics Lunch, Sarah Silverman Visits, Norm/Dave Visit, Charles Fleischer Visits, Andy Dick Visits, Manage Visits – Thank You, Sister Visits – Tell Dad, Eminem – Bar Long Cut, Bar – Ira/Ray, Dinner – Peanut Butter, Leo Dances, Aussie Rules – Full Cut, Drive Home, Apology and George/Ira Montage. All in all these scenes are hilarious. In particular the extended bar scenes with Eminem and the Aussie Rules are my highlights.
• Funny People Diaries: Running a total length of 1hr15min6sec, this is quite the extensive documentary that Apatow made while filming the movie. Topics include just about every aspect of the filmmaking process from early cast reads all the way down to varying techniques used during filming.
• Raaaaaaaandy!: This runs 21min32sec and looks into the fame that actor Aziz Ansari has received since his portraying Randy in the film.
• Music From Funny People: Running 49min59sec this looks into the music inspired by the film. Acts include James Taylor, Jon Brion, RZA and Sandler himself.
• Audio Commentary with director Judd Apatow and stars Adam Sandler and Seth Rogen:
• Kids on the Sequel: The Loose: This is an odd little feature that runs 5min6sec that features Apatow’s kids.
• ADR Line-O-Rama: This runs 2min50sec and shows the different ad-libs used throughout the film.
• George in Love: This, in 2min4sec shows the varying women George made love to.
• Charlie Rose: This runs 56min54sec and is the appearance both Sandler and Apatow made during the promotional circuit for the film on the “Charlie Rose” show.
• “Yo Teach…!”: This is a brief feature running 8min3sec that looks into the behind-the-scenes footage of “Yo Teach…!”.
• Prank Call 1990: Now this is downright funny. What’s presented here is 18min23sec worth of actual prank calls Sandler made early in his career taken from Apatow’s personal video library.
• The Films of George Simmons: Kind of a cute little look into the different movies Simmons made. This runs 6min45sec and includes a look at “Sayonara Diary” and “Merman”
• From the Archives: This runs 27min14sec and takes us back to 1990 when Sandler and Apatow appeared on an episode of “The Midnight Hour with Bill Maher“.
• Funny People Live: Running 42min10sec, this is a collection of stand up performances by the film’s cast.

Overall the bonus materials are extremely lengthy and will please both fans and newcomers to Apatow’s great film. Definitely worth checking out are the deleted/extended scenes as well as the making-of.

Blu-ray Disc packaging:

Screenshots:

NOTE: The full-sized 1920×1080 files are in a .PNG file format and uncompressed. Bare with the slow loading times, keep in mind these files are at least 1MB (1 megabyte) in size each.

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