Trainwreck
Directed by Judd Apatow
Distributed by Universal Pictures
Trainwreck, a movie written by and starring Amy Schumer, is a gut blaster. I chortled on several occasions, and that’s all you can really ask from a comedy. However, Trainwreck gave more to the audience than just some laughs.
It’s refreshing to see a woman be an Apatow guy. In the traditional Apatow format, the audience is introduced to a morally ambiguous, chubby, and goofy protagonist who despite his flaws gets the girl of his dreams—a girl who he by all respects has no place winning over.
This time we get a morally ambiguous, chubby, and goofy protagonist who *spoiler alert* gets the rich, handsome, and funny celebrity surgeon, played by Bill Hader.
Schumer’s character is taught by her father from a young age that monogamy is an unrealistic goal. Her sister does not take this lesson to heart, as she ends up building a loving and traditional family. Amy is left with a gaping hole where her father ripped the monogamy out of her. Amy fills her gaping hole with random men.
Is this movie a 10/10 representation of feminist ideals? No. But it doesn’t need to be. It’s the experience of one woman, who likes to have sex with no strings attached, drinking a lot, and smoking some dank. At the end of the day maybe she was going about it for reasons that were not the most healthy. But boy am I, and many other like-minded women, glad to have been able to watch that story play out in such a non-judgemental way.
A surprising gift in this movie came from wrestler John Cena in his portrayal of Schumer’s meat-headed pseudo-boyfriend. He blindsided most of the audience with genuinely good comedic timing. The same cannot be said, unfortunately, for Lebron James. I mean, it was cute because he was playing himself, and he was doing a sensitive friend shtick for Bill Hader’s character, but for the most part his dialogue felt recited and awkward. This makes rumours that he’s pegged as lead for a Space Jam 2 all the more upsetting.
Amy Schumer and Bill Hader were amazing together—they both look like actual people. They had great comedic chemistry. And it was gratifying not only to see an Apatow gal in Amy, but also to see Bill Hader in a role that gratifies my awkward boner for him.
All in all Trainwreck is a funny rom-com, made even better by subverting the genre. I look forward to Amy Schumer’s budding career in Hollywood.
