Review: Funny People Is Packed With Exactly That

Adam Sandler and Seth Rogen prove the title correct in Judd Apatow's stuffed-to-the-gills comedy

Review in a Hurry: The maudlin trailers might make you assume it's a downer, but in fact, the title represents truth in advertising: Knocked Up director Judd Apatow has done it again, with a movie that's packed to the gills with genuinely funny people. And yes, that includes Adam Sandler and Eric Bana. We're kinda surprised, too.

The Bigger Picture: Critics have often accused Adam Sandler of just playing himself in movies, but this time he does so in a more open way than usual, in the role of George Simmons, a wealthy comedian famous for two terrible high-concept comedies: Re-Do, in which he played a baby with a grown man's head; and Mer-Man, in which he had a fish tail.

When he's diagnosed with what may be a leukemia-like terminal disease, Simmons decides to do some stand-up sets like old times, but the darkness of his well-being undercuts the funny, something aspiring comic Ira Wright (Seth Rogen) seizes on and jokes about in a follow-up set. When Ira and George meet again in the parking lot, initial hostility turns to mutual respect, and George hires Ira to be his assistant and sometime joke-writer.

That would be premise enough for your average high-concept comedy, but there's more: At Ira's urging, George finally makes his condition public, which earns him the forgiveness of his ex, Laura (Apatow's thankfully talented wife Leslie Mann), who's now happily married. Well, as the relationship status bar sometimes says on Facebook, "It's complicated." Fortunately for us, it is never less than laugh-out-loud entertaining.

Apatow and Sandler appear to have called in every showbiz favor they could muster on this one, from comedians like Ray Romano, Dave Attell, Norm MacDonald, and Paul Reiser to fellow celebs like MySpace founder Tom and Eminem, who's a good deal funnier here than he was at the MTV Movie Awards.

All of them add to the comedy, but it wouldn't matter if not for the strong work of the leads. Sandler lets us see past the schtick, while Rogen pokes fun at his own weight issues.

Jason Schwartzman and Jonah Hill bring the industry satire as Ira's amusingly success-hungry roommates bragging about minor sitcom fame, while Bana is a revelation—at least to anyone who didn't know he began his career as a comedian—as Laura's overly macho Australian-football-loving husband.

How good is he? So good you'll forgive him for Ang Lee's Hulk.

The 180—a Second Opinion: There's something that doesn't sit entirely right about a movie made by a hugely successful director with a beautiful and talented wife that's all about how much it sucks to be hugely successful.