I’m a big Amy Schumer fan; always have been. I’ve seen all her stand up specials which I love and I enjoyed I Feel Pretty. She just has this dry hilarious sense of humor that I respond to. Schumer not only starred in Trainwreck but she also wrote it and it’s full of the exact type of comedic dialogue that I expect and love from her. Another great thing about this film is that not only is it well written and lead by the hilarious Schumer but it also has a stellar supporting cast.
Some people like to hate on Amy Schumer but 80 – 85% of what I’ve seen from her is not only funny but I’d say delightful. There’s just something very lovable about Amy in my opinion. Her comedy is outrageous and dirty and she knows just how to deliver a line that’s great for stand up. For feature films, you also need to be able to act and to be likeable. That combination of dirty humor AND lovability is what makes her shine in Trainwreck.
The script that Schumer has written does a good job of being R rated and sporting a dry sense of humor but also featuring characters that feel real. This is not a complete farce, it’s an adult comedy with hints of drama and a central romance that feels real and believable. I love that the script isn’t uneven. Enough attention is paid to both the wild comedy and the more dramatic elements.
Before I move on to the supporting characters and what they bring to the project I have to talk about one scene in particular that I feel is just brilliant comedy wise. There is a baby shower to Amy’s sister played by Brie Larson at one point in which all these Stepford-ish wives start telling crazy things they’ve done as a game and of course it’s just the most innocent dumb stuff you could imagine; then they get to Amy and her answer is of course completely inappropriate. That and other sequences in this film is an example of Schumer’s great comedic ability and the cast’s ability to deliver the material in a gut busting fashion.
Like I mentioned, the supporting cast really is great here and it features a couple people that you may not expect to see do well in a comedy film, like Tilda Swinton or John Cena. It just goes to show you that people can be great at more than one thing. Cena is really the first supporting cast member we see, he plays a man Amy is seeing non exclusively. Cena handles the comedic material very well and he’s a lot of fun to watch.
Full disclosure, I have a huge crush on John Cena, as many people do, but I was so happy to see that he’s more than just a hunky muscle man, he’s also a capable actor. I’ve seen him in other films since this came out and I’ve been more than pleased with his work, I think we have another Dwayne Johnson on our hands. I’ll be interested to see if he ever does drama in the future.
Bill Hader is someone I’ve really only seen in one thing- It Chapter 2– and I really like him in that so I figured I’d enjoy him in Trainwreck. I know Hader is known for his comedy but this was the first comedic thing I’d seen him in surprisingly, but I liked him a lot. Interestingly, he isn’t really the funny guy here. Him and Brie Larson are more normal and everyone else handles the more wild comedy. I thought he fit the role of the very sweet male love interest for Schumer and they both had a pretty enjoyable chemistry.
Tilda Swinton is a phenomenal actress, there’s no doubt about that and while I’ve seen her be fantastic in dramatic roles, I hadn’t seen her in a completely comedic role before. Swinton is the perfect choice for this kind of cutthroat no fucks given boss type. I could tell she was having a lot of fun getting to say things that of course she’d never say in real life and it was a lot of fun seeing her playing this type of character we don’t usually see from her.
The only thing about Trainwreck I didn’t like so much is LeBron James. While Cena is an example of an athlete that can act and be funny, I just didn’t really get that from James. He’s just not an actor and his comedy didn’t land well, especially when compared to the other cast members.
Trainwreck succeeds as an adult comedy that’s both hilarious and sweet. All in all, this film is a success because of the talented Amy Schumer who wrote such a funny script and because of the cast who all bring their A game and for the most part, succeed.
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