Love him or hate him, Judd Apatow has had a major impact on movie comedies.
Hard to think of another talent whose impact was anywhere as vital to the funny genre as Apatow, who has written and directed three films (“Funny People,” “Knocked Up” and “The 40-Year-Old Virgin”) and produced plenty more over the last five years (“Pineapple Express,” “Forgetting Sarah Marshall,” Drillbit Taylor”).
But if he was a poker player his tells would be obvious even to a neophyte.
So here are five clear signs you’ve bought a ticket for a film Apatow has had a hand in.
- The Man Child Cometh: Most of the males in an Apatow movie reached their emotional peak in the 10th grade, leaving them partial to sugar cereals, message T-shirts and sloppy housekeeping – to say the least.
- The Mann Effect: Actress Leslie Mann, aka Mrs. Apatow, has a role in the movie. Hardly a bad thing. The beautiful Mann is a sharp comic actress.
- It’s All About the Penis: Apatow’s films are obsessed with male genitalia. Obsessed. Let your inner shrink do the psychological math here.
- Gay-apalooza: A go-to gag in many Apatow films is heavy “gay” references. Take the famous running gag in “Virgin” – “You know how I know you’re gay …” In “Funny People, Adam Sandler repeatedly uses the word “Fag” in a derogatory manner.
- Readers’ choice: What Apatow tic have you noticed in his films?
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{ 10 comments… read them below or add one }
The characters (mainly the ones played by Seth Rogen or Jonah Hill, anyway) seem to think that “dialogue” involves screaming out cuss words as much as possible, until the comic effect has long worn off and the viewer just wants to punch them in the throat so they’ll shut up.
Making references to either a line from Star Wars or Lord of the Rings….proving he is one of us thirty-something’s that grew up in the land of Lucasberg.
You suddenly realized you could read War and Peace during the time it takes to watch an Apatow movie.
You leave the theatre and realize the movie should have been over about 20-30 minutes earlier.
Eric – add another 10 minutes for “Funny People”
Yikes. Looks like I’ll wait for video.
Ugly arrogant penis obsessed fat Jewish boy with an afro gets to bang a goy chick. Sounds much like Hollywood itself.
Arnold- since Judd Apatow IS a nerdy Jewish boy who DID marry a gorgeous blonde, he probably doesn’t think that the pairing of Seth Rogen with Katherine Heigl is terribly unrealistic.
He is, to use a cliche, writing what he knows!
Everybody’s Jewish except for the one token goyim.
I”ve never seen any of his pictures, but I love the old Ben Stiller show he worked on. Let’s see who else was on that? Andy Dick and Jeaneane Garafolo….. ouch!
Well, they were funny then. Not as much as the other two guys, but still…