Trainwreck

They sure don't make romantic comedies the way they used to! As a person who will never see 45 again (...smile...) I find the new ones so anatomical and vulgar, the comedy part seems to elude me. Director Judd Apatow ("This is 40") uses Amy Schumer's script to fashion a frank, repulsive "heroine" who clearly believed her alcoholic father when he urged his daughters to reject monogamy, to have many dolls and to live it up.

The movie starts with him using a metaphorical doll to show his two little girls why he is leaving their mother. They wouldn't want to have just one doll to play with for the rest of their lives, would they? ("No, Daddy.") Now in his 50s and crippled by Multiple Sclerosis, the daughters must move him into a facility that can care for him as his health fails.

The cast:

• Amy Schumer (Lots of TV) is Amy, a talented writer who lives on controlled substances and nerve; she works for a magazine that specializes in trashing reputations and printing vulgar articles. Her sex life is a revolving door and her happily married sister despairs.
• Brie Larson ("Don Jon") Kim is that sister, delighted when her stepson calls her "Mom."
• Colin Quinn ("Grown Ups") is their unrepentant father, Gordon.
• Bill Hader ("The Skeleton Twins") is Aaron, a sports medicine specialist who also participates in Doctors Without Borders as the need arises. He is an earnest, decent fellow whose attraction to the socially unacceptable Amy bewilders me.
• Amar'e Stroudemire ("Beyond the Lights") once again playing himself, is the basketball player who is scheduled for a new knee. He's not sure Aaron feels well enough to perform the surgery.
• LeBron James ("More Than a Game") playing himself, is another high-profile patient. This basketball superstar is articulate, energetic, and very, very funny. He clearly has suffered the slings and arrows of lawsuits, and he warns Aaron, "No penetration without representation!"
• Tilda Swinton ("The Grand Budapest Hotel") is unrecognizable as the glamorous Dianna, editor of that nasty magazine where Amy works (we can see how this cold-blooded viper has set the tone!).

It was difficult for me to remain in the theater during the first half of this one. If I had not been promised that it was "really good!" I would not have stayed the course. It DID become involving and a bit soppy, so I felt the clichéd happy ending was just fine.

This was an R-rated romp with lots of awkward (simulated) sex, vulgar topics, drugs, alcohol and profanity. I DID enjoy Aaron's intervention which featured some of his name-brand patients: Marv Albert, Chris Evert, Matthew Broderick and LeBron James. That part was great fun! (Find the good and praise it!) YOYO (You're On Your Own).

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Take a look at this preview:
http://www.imdb.com/video/imdb/vi2248257049
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