By Laurie Coker
Rating: B+
Trainwreck the title says it all, and much of Judd Apatow’s new film plays out like watching a human train wreck, but not necessarily in a bad way. A delightfully witty cast, with excellent comedic timing makes Trainwreck’s less than fresh storyline pop. Even with its all too long running time and its vulgar humor and nudity, stars up-and-comer Amy Schumer and Bill Hader demonstrate perfect onscreen chemistry.
Apatow, known for his crude humor and graphic sexual content, doesn’t veer from his norm. From the onset there are plenty of crass jokes, uncomfortable nude scene and racial and homosexual digs, but Schumer and Hader deliver non-stop in a way that is both funny and serious. An ensemble cast, including sports greats Lebron James and Tony Roma, among others adds to the hilarity. While some might find the idea of a woman being sexually promiscuous unsettling or even disgusting, the switch here, with the comedic talent of Schumer, works well, in part because she wrote the screenplay. She has created the ideal vehicle for her own brand of taut, trashy humor.
Transwreck is a rom-com with little actually substance and a great deal of full-throttle silliness and fun-making. It unapologetically runs the gambit of cliché relationship issues but puts the lead in high-heel and not sneakers and the result range awkward sniggers and full out belly laughs. I am placing a B+ in my grade book. Schumer has taken a tried genre and add sparks. Even in its final, predicable outcome, she surprises.