The romantic comedy or “rom-com” is back and it’s making a grand re-entry. TRAINWRECK sticks to the formula through and through, but is so furiously funny that that it’s never a problem. Often lines of dialogue were missed because the audience was still laughing at the previous joke. I gave ANT-MAN flack for being a rehash of things we’ve seen before, but it deserves it as being entertaining and interesting are the main goals of the flick. TRAINWRECK rehashes plot as a way delivering some of the funniest jokes of the year, while adding some heart to keep the gears spinning.
Amy (Amy Schumer) has been raised from birth by her deadbeat dad (Colin Quinn) under the motto “Monogamy is unrealistic.” Now a trashy magazine writer in New York, Amy lives life in complete hedonism. She does what she likes, in contrast with her happily married sister (Brie Larson), and keeps every relationship at a danger-free distance. Her rule is “never spend the night” after hooking up, but she breaks her rule on sports doctor Aaron Conners (Bill Hader), who she is writing a piece on. As they grow closer, she must decide if she can truly open up to him.
This is Schumer’s movie. It is told mostly from her perspective, and the conflict comes entirely from her ability to handle the relationship. While Conners is still a believable character, he reacts to everything as a straight man. I’ve been following Schumer since she was a rising comic, and despite being a talented actress she has never shown an inclination toward acting. Throughout TRAINWRECK she knocks it out of the park, handling even the more difficult scenes just as well as the easy ones.
The supporting cast is just as fantastic. Hader is great as usual, but he doesn’t get to shine as much as he would without the constraints of being the straight man… but a flamboyant SNL persona like Stefan is not meant to be in every movie. Quinn and Larson are also wonderful in their roles. As Hader’s and Schumer’s relationship is building through the first two acts of the film, the main conflict comes in the two girls dealing with their dad. Quinn becomes a surprisingly complex character, as his actions have affected the two girls so differently.
Larson’s relationship with him is explored just as much as Schummer’s and she is quickly becoming one of my favorite actresses in the game at the moment. Lebron James deserves a standing ovation for his fantastic delivery of every line he gets. He probably gets some of the biggest laughs of the film. For the small role he has, John Cena deserves recognition for taking a random meathead ex-boyfriend of Schummer and making him a riot.
Judd Apatow is not new at this, but TRAINWRECK is his best romantic comedy yet. He lets the conflict play itself out instead of adding unnecessary hijinks and misunderstandings to push to story forward. Quinn and Schumer provide enough in themselves to create growth. The standard sadness montage does get boring, but these rom com staples normally get covered up by laughter. In the end, that matters most.
