GO. SEE. FUNNY PEOPLE.

It’s hard to write something about a movie without ruining any part of the movie. So this won’t be very detailed but let me say that if you read my previous blog entry about my distaste for most recent movies and my excitement about seeing Funny People over the weekend, let me just put it this way: Funny People was possibly the best movie I have seen in several years. I went into it both expecting to like it and being fully aware of its’ running time. And when the credits started rolling, I turned to my friend and said, “Honestly, I could have done with a little more movie.” I cannot stress to you how impatient I normally am with movies so the fact that I thought the more than two and half hours was not enough says volumes.

I started thinking about how apparently some people thought the movie was too long and I searched my brain with a fine tooth comb to try to think of a single scene that the movie could have done without and I couldn’t think of a single scene. In fact, before I saw the movie, I watched a total of three Making of/Behind the Scenes specials about the movie and figured that I would probably end up having seen half of the movie before I even saw it in the theater. Turns out, the stuff that I saw on TV that actually made it to the movie represents a sum total of about six minutes of the movie. And once I left the theater, I started to wonder what make up the bonus features on the eventual DVD. I was hoping it wasn’t just the Behind the Scenes/standup stuff that I had already Tivo’ed and seen. So if you’re keeping score, the movie runs 2 hours and 40 minutes. I have watched 3 hours of additional standup and commentary on TV specials. And I still want more. That means that at this point, I want the movie’s running time to be over 6 hours. And this isn’t a bit, I’m not being funny (people). It’s an emotionally intense film but also it's an intensely funny movie. Viva la Movies again!

So if you’re keeping score, The Return of Amanda’s Will to Live can be currently attributed to:

1. Funny People
2. Football

Football is back. I’m slowly emerging from my deep, dark hole of pessimism. I’m sure the Cowboys will drag me back down into that hole by the BYE. Heh, I said “by the BYE”. Heh.