Trainwreck
Image: Amy Schumer and Bill Hader in Trainwreck. Photo: Credit: Mary Cybulski
Amy (Amy Schumer) is a men’s magazine writer living in New York. She enjoys an uninhibited life, sometimes a little too much, and avoids intimacy and monogamy like it’s the plague. When this ‘trainwreck’ meets and falls for good-guy sports doctor, Aaron Conners (Bill Hader), she begins to wonder if she might have the wrong idea about life and love.
Trainwreck is a hilarious and warm comedy written by Schumer and directed by Judd Apatow (This Is 40) — a man well known for taking a look at real life and finding the funny in it. The combination of Schumer’s clever, punchy writing and Apatow’s expert guidance creates an entertaining film that reflects what it’s like to navigate life — it can be awkward, funny and messy a lot of the time.
Schumer shows good dramatic range as an actress, it might be unexpected from someone ‘playing herself’, but the material being semi-autobiographical adds to the weight of her performance. Hader is delightfully believable playing the straight man to Schumer’s comedic genius and their chemistry is spot-on. Throw in a few hysterical co-stars in the form of wrestler John Cena, basketball star LeBron James, and the enigma that is Tilda Swinton, and you have a hit.
Trainwreck is a more realistic, modern rom-com. It’s about a young woman living in a modern world without the need to assign a moral judgement to it all. It’s about enjoying life unapologetically, while learning and growing in the process. And shouldn’t that be what life is all about anyway? (LL)
*** 1/2
