10 'Comedies' That Were Secretly Really Depressing

By Brogan Morris /

7. Funny People

A film called Funny People, all about comedians and the stand-up circuit, directed by funny Knocked Up filmmaker and comedy giant Judd Apatow, starring funny guys Seth Rogen, Jonah Hill and, to a lesser extent, Adam Sandler? Sounds pretty funny! No - if you're thinking there'll be many laughs here, then you're wrong (although former stand-up Eric Bana manages a few zingers late in the game). Funny People, it turns out, is an ironic title for a film that looks at the 'dark side of comedy', and leaves you in the company of a really rather nasty protagonist - that'd be Sandler, naturally - for two-and-a-half soul-sucking hours. Though Adam Sandler gives one of his better performances in Funny People, it's a strictly dramatic one, as he plays an awfully lonely, mean-spirited, sell-out comedy actor likely about to die of cancer. Happily, he beats the cancer - yay! - only to then alienate his one friend and start behaving horrible and selfish all over again. Boo!