- Title: Trainwreck
- IMDb: link
Amy Schumer, who also wrote the script, stars as a relationship-averse mess of a woman whose world view is changed after interviewing a doctor (Bill Hader) for a local magazine. Trainwreck is a pretty straightforward romcom focusing on Amy’s struggles with love and her dysfunctional relationships with her father (Colin Quinn), sister (Brie Larson), and former boyfriend (John Cena). Like many scripts written by stand-up comedians, Trainwreck is a bit uneven. At times the film is quite funny even if all of its jokes don’t quite hit home.
Directed by Judd Apatow, the film boasts an odd collection of unlikely supporting characters. Along with Cena we also get LeBron James (playing himself) as Hader’s client and friend, Amar’e Stoudemire, Tilda Swinton as Amy’s demanding boss, and Daniel Radcliffe and Marisa Tomei as the stars of a movie within the movie about a dogwalker and his client in a running gag that never pays off.
The defining aspect of a romantic comedy is getting the audience to want two characters to end up together. Because Amy is such a mess, albeit an entertaining one, I’m not sure Trainwreck ever quite accomplishes this. Sure, it sells us on the idea that she is better with the doctor than she is alone, but is he better off with her or, as several scenes in the movie suggest, could he do better? This, along with the inconsistencies of the script when the laughs fail hit their mark, makes Trainwreck a bit of a mixed bag. That said, when it works the movie is quite funny which can help overcome many of its flaws.
Available on Blu-ray and DVD, extras include a gag reel, trailer, deleted and extended scenes, scenes from “The Dogwalker,” commentary with Schumer and director Judd Apatow, and featurettes on the making of the movie and the press tour.
[Universal Studios, Blu-ray $34.98 / DVD $29.98]
