7/10

Judd Apatow gives us a modern romantic comedy far from anything that we are used to seeing from the genre. ‘Trainwreck’ is the film that stars comedian Amy Schumer as a New York City magazine writer who has been told all of her life that spending life with just one person isn’t possible. Her nightly life of multiple sex partners, as well as drunken blurs are thrown for a loop when she is told against her will that she will do a story on a successful sports doctor, Aaron Connors (Bill Hader). Amy starts to see that everything she knew has been untrue, and now she stands at a crossroads with love if she decides to go against all of her principles. ‘Trainwreck’ is easily Apatow’s best work in a decade. It would be easy for him to craft another raunchy comedy, sticking his characters in awkward and unpredictable situations, but his latest film builds with a subplot that his audience can relate to. This woman is emotionally ungiving because of a lack of committment from her live fast and party hard father (Colin Quinn) whose views and opinions have crippled her views on love. The movie is appealing to both genders for an enjoyable date night. It’s got more of the quotable one-liners made popular in past Apatow offerings such as ‘The 40 Year Old Virgin’, as well as ‘Knocked Up’. The ladies will be treated to a love story that refuses to settle for the same cliches that paralyze those films of that genre. This is a couple who have a lot of problems, and the script refuses to ignore that, all the while giving us many key performances to making this a passing effort. Schumer is pure comedic gold, but i was honestly surprised by how complex her emotional pallate was. There is a nice transformation in her character that isn’t always easy to spot, but by film’s end we believe that she is living with her eyes wide open for the first time in her love life. Bill Hader also showcases again that he can’t be held down by just one style of character. After his solid award worthy turn in 2014’s ‘The Skeleton Twins’, Hader has shown a gentle charm beneath a lovable goofball exterior. He plays to a breed of comedy that doesn’t need cheap slapstick during an era soaked in it. The side characters were there, but i was kind of surprised at the lack of screen time that most of them received. Despite critical praise, Lebron James is in the film for a matter of five scenes. I guess if you are going to see his acting debut, you will have to accept it in small doses. One actor who doesn’t have a lot of scenes but makes the most of his time is John Cena. It was during his parts that the movie reached in and demanded the most honest laughs of the night. Cena might’ve failed in his action run in Hollywood, but the man has great comedic timing that can’t be denied. Cleveland native and SNL alum, Vanessa Bayer also disappears for half hours at a time during a point in the movie where Amy could use a best friend perspective. A lot of those type of scenes are instead used for Amy’s sister (Played by Brie Larson) that while they do work, makes Bayer’s character struggle for screen time meaning. The movie has a lot of great cameos, none of which i will spoil for you the reader. If the movie does suffer from one problem it’s that it takes a lot for us to get through the nearly two hour run time. This isn’t because of bad storytelling, but instead a lack of editing famous for the Apatow filmography. His movies always seem to run too long, despite a tight story that never needs these pointless inserts in the script. There are many scenes that don’t do anything but pause the progression of the film’s pacing, and i felt it more than once. That’s not to say that it ruined the movie, but with a twenty minute trimming of the scenes that only slowed down the comedic momentum of a smarter than usual script, the film would’ve moved into a territory that not any other Comedy has done in 2015 yet. Even still, the charm of the on-screen chemistry between Schumer and Hader can’t be denied. ‘Trainwreck’ is anything but, and it’s sharp humor along with characters who are hard not to root for, makes for a must see experience to anyone on the fence about checking it out.