‘I think Trainwreck is the new Bridesmaids’ – woman on the tube, who clearly had not seen Trainwreck.
To call Trainwreck the new Bridesmaids is a bit of an expected comparison. Sure, it’s directed by Judd Apatow, who produced Bridesmaids, and of course it has a stellar performance from one of the most famous women in Hollywood right now. It also has catchy one liners and relatable characters, but it’s no Bridesmaids. Trainwreck is one of a kind.
Meet Amy. Amy Schumer plays Amy (keeping it simple) who is taught from a very young age, along with her traditional sister Kim, that monogamy isn’t realistic, their father’s way of trying to explain why he and their mother are divorcing. Kim brushes this off, but it seems Amy is going to carry this rule in her pocket going forward. Twenty something years later, she’s dragging a guy through her front door, playing it coy and sweet about the one night stand that is occurring, but Amy has this down. Get it done, then never speak to the guy again. It’s not that she doesn’t like the guy or enjoy the sex, but come on, monogamy isn’t realistic, right?
Whilst dabbling between guys and her on-off dating/not dating boyfriend (played terrifically by WWE wrestler John Cena), Amy works at a magazine called S’nuff under the watchful eye of her editor Diana (Tilda Swinton – yep, if you watched the movie too and are only now just realising it was her I feel your shock). Weekly assignments are issued, such as seeing if garlic can make semen taste different and who are the ugliest celebrity kids under the age of six. It’s no Vanity Fair.
Amy is assigned a sports piece, in which she profiles Dr Aaron Conners, Bill Hader, a sports doctor treating basketball players worldwide but Amy has no interest in sports nor profiling Aaron who takes an immediate shine to Amy. Eventually after a non-drunken hookup, Aaron wants to date Amy. Does Amy want to date Aaron?…No.
After a few nudges here and there, Amy starts to realise that after non-dating Aaron and her continuing changing habits she has fallen hard for the sports loving guy, who is unaware of Amy’s colourful past with guys. It unravels soon after when Amy goes into a miserable downward spiral. Smoking weed like a chimney, drinking copious amounts and arguing until the sun comes up takes it’s tole on Aaron and the soon the pair are broken up. Usually this would be Amy’s forte, she would be totally cool with this, she’s a trainwreck (duh) but this time she feels different…maybe monogamy is realistic.
I won’t spoil the rest for you, but it’s about time Amy Schumer got her platform to shine. Sure, at face value, this is a rom-com, but a smutty, hilarious and self deprecating one at that. Schumer had me sitting in my seat feeling 100% better at the fact sometimes you do wake up, hungover, with cheese next to you, but hey, thats okay? She’s not perfect and she seems to be quite okay with that. She’s ferociously quick with her put downs with her conquests, but is also soft and has a (very) small heart of gold. As much as we don’t want her to become the girlfriend in a relationship, you can’t help but feel happy for her when she hooks up with Dr. Conners
Bill Hader himself is a reason to write home about. I think it’s time for a new heroic, comedic leading man. The Saturday Night Live legend has been featured in some quality flicks (The Skeleton Twins, 2014 with SNL & Bridesmaids heroine, Kristen Wiig) but Trainwreck is a whole new level of lovable for him. As much as he sees the worst in Amy, he also sees the best in her. It’s nice to not see the usual Bradley Cooper type of guy playing the shy and humble character with a top job, but instead see, in my opinion, a honest face value type of character, such as Conners, who plays basketball with LeBron James and does not have a chance in hell of scoring, wish as he may.
The film is a collision of jokes which you cringe so bad at, but at the same time are so quick and witty. It has those sad bits which you feel are a little weary, but are always ultimately uplifted. It also features a class performance from athlete LeBron James, who I can say steals some of the movies best scenes. There’s even tennis player Chris Evert saying the word cock block so casually you almost double take. There’s comparisons to penis sizes being as big as the cast of Game of Thrones and isn’t that what you almost want in a film? A little bit of too much honesty?
Bridesmaids is fantastic in it’s own right, but Trainwreck is a film without borders, as is Amy Schumer.
