Rip-roaringly, outrageously funny, then in its final turns predictably conventional, the Judd Apatow-directed Trainwreck presents the one and only Amy Schumer. Both the film’s lead actor and its writer, Schumer portrays a character, Amy Townsend, who takes the words of her rough-hewn dad in the film’s opening scene, and boldly personifies them. “Monogamy isn’t realistic,” dad (a very funny Colin Quinn) lectures his two daughters at the movie’s outset. “What if I told you there was only one doll you could play with forever?” Not even close to their teens yet, the girls seems rapt with attention.
The one daughter, Kim (Brie Larson), goes on to marriage and children; the other, Amy, is much more a chip off the old block. Amy’s basically a disarming yet oddly alluring character who left her filter behind with her inhibitions. Steadily boozing and partying, her escapades include a stiff number of one-night sexual encounters. “Never have them stay over,” she brags in voice-over. When she accidentally does once, she wakes up to an Al Pacino Scarface poster and mutters, “Please, God, don’t let this be a dorm room.”
By day, Amy writes for the men’s magazine S’Nuff. Her boss is a hilarious, practically unrecognizable Tilda Swinton, who, after last year’s roles in Only Lovers Left Alive and Snowpiercer, continues on an incredible roll. Since she basically knows nothing about sports, Amy is given the assignment to profile a leading sports medicine surgeon, Aaron Connor (Bill Hader), who she ends up dating. Among his clients: LeBron James, here playing an amusing if tightwad version of himself. Aaron and LeBron playing a game of one-on-one is worth the price of admission. Other sports celebrities pop up in cameos during the film. Though they often feel somewhat gratuitous, their inclusion basically works, including a highly unusual panel who attempt to come to Aaron’s aid, much to his surprise and annoyance.
Trainwreck goes full tilt in reversing a lot of cliches of raunchy rom-com male tom-foolery. Amy shock-talks profusely, avoids commitment, sidesteps romance, seems to value quantity over quality in relationships. Yet the film makes no attempt to avoid the usual Apatow placement of comfy traditions on a pedestal, albeit one that must be reached through many hurdles. Trainwreck succeeds because it’s damn refreshing celebrating a chick who out-guys the guys. It wouldn’t possibly be the year’s funniest comedy to date if it weren’t for Schumer’s huge on-screen comedic talent.