8) Judd Apatow’s Recent Movies
There exists more public conversation about the use and potential of comedy than ever before, and the films of Judd Apatow belong right at the center of this discussion. Funny People and This is 40 become more interesting to me every time I watch and think about them, because they’re so often dismissed as failed comedies.
What’s fascinating about them both is that they are, in many ways, specifically about the limits of comedy, where we’re left when humor fails, where it’s still useful, what it’s used for, and whether it’s ultimately a healthy disposition at all. They explore the notion of maturity and seriousness in ways that deserve the time to contemplate and consider, while still maintaining a lightness that helps pass the time. They seem to know exactly what they’re doing.
In the end, though, the only thing a person can do if they’re frustrated by the listed runtime of a movie they’re considering watching is to decide not to watch it. No one is forcing you to see The Wolf of Wall Street or The Hobbit, except for the fact that these are two culturally significant films with elements that mark certain levels of achievement for the medium.
Long movies get evaluated in the same way that a lot of cinematic trends get evaluated, through a prism of baseless cynicism and internet-fueled annoyance, where it’s just as easy to conclude something is the worst as it is to conclude it’s the best. We see this with things like shaky cam, lens flares, and other identifiable features that are immediately valued as “bad” without seemingly much if any thought put into what their purpose actually is, and whether that purpose is served or not. If we’re going to complain about the length of movies, it’s at least worth appreciating the artistic reason behind the choice to push the audience’s patience from time to time.