Judd Apatow’s ‘Funny People’ Is 2.5 Hours Long? Sandler & Rogen Flesh Out Character Details

Man, yes, Judd Apatow comedies run long — and some say too long (we disagree frankly; investing in the characters is what makes them a cut above).

And yes, it’s only an early test screening, so it’s obviously not final, but JoBlo has delivered a screening report of Apatow’s upcoming dramedy, “Funny People,” and as of this moment, the picture is running two and a half hours long.

Wait, to recap, what’s the movie about? A famous stand up comedian/actor (Adam Sandler) learns he has less than a year to live and sets out to train a young, inexperienced comic (Seth Rogen) while looking for closure in his relationships and legacy (which center on his ex played by Leslie Mann). So yeah, just in that there’s obviously a lot of drama involved as evinced by the actors themselves.

“My character gets sick, and he is a lonely guy. He doesn’t have many friends,” Sandler explained to MTV recently. “He’s a big star, but he made some enemies over the years and didn’t keep in contact with a lot of people. So he’s kind of a lonely dude — and then he sees this guy doing stand-up, and he thinks he’s a funny kid. He wants people to talk to while he’s going through a tragedy in his life, and so he befriends [Seth Rogen].”

Whenever we read a script we like (like this one) we get rather invested in the film’s excellence (some say too much) and we hope those great qualities aren’t lost in the onscreen translation. Our biggest fear about “Funny People,” is that it will be too funny (no, seriously) and won’t focus enough on the darker, harder, bittersweet moments (which there are plenty of in the screenplay, it’s Apatow’s most mature work). We got even more worried when Seth Rogen said (joked?) he and the cast tried to play it like a drama, but mostly went for the easy laughs instead.

But JoBlo’s report reassures us somewhat. They say that, “Adam Sandler gave a standup serious performance” (not to be confused with the stand-up comedian role he plays) and that the picture was “really quite touching at times.” This is what we’re hoping for frankly, these guys can do amazing comedy in their sleep. They also note how great Leslie Mann is in the role and how the picture really makes you believe that Sandler’s character really missed out on something great when he broke up with her.

Rogen explained the complex relationships in the film that make for some really well-rounded and three-dimensional characters. “I’m a naive guy who’s not really a cutthroat competitive type — which can hurt you a lot [in stand-up comedy]. Adam’s a horribly jaded, amazingly bitter and mean guy,” he told MTV.

The dude-friendly website also says the film suffers from a sagging midsection with too many “constant montages of playing with kids,” and while we’re not naive enough to think the film will end up being 2.5 hours in the end (that’s a bit much), over two hours is not out of the question (“Knocked Up” is 2 hours and 9 min).

All and all, we see all of this as good news. Apatow calls the film a “demented ‘Tuesdays With Morrie.’ “Funny People” also stars Jason Schwartzman, Jonah Hill, Eric Bana, Aubrey Plaza, Wu-Tang Clan abbot the RZA (among lots of little comedian cameos) and is set for a July 31 release.