10 Awesome Movies That Fail In The 3rd Act
3. Funny People
Judd Apatow's self-indulgence as a filmmaker has never been more apparent than in his 2009 film Funny People - a 146-minute dramedy about a comedian, George Simmons (Adam Sandler), coming to terms with his impending death from acute myeloid leukemia.
But after 90 minutes of typically crude-yet-heartwarming shenanigans from Apatow, it's revealed that George has responded to a last-ditch treatment and is effectively cured.
It then feels like the movie's setting to wrap up with the depressed George learning to embrace life once again, but it continues on for almost a whole other hour as George decides he wants to try and win back his ex-fiancée, Laura (Leslie Mann), who is now married to another man (Eric Bana).
It feels like nothing more than an excuse for Apatow to shove his family - wife Mann and kids Maude and Iris - into the movie, and elongates a film that's entertaining for about 100 minutes into a two-and-a-half hour slog.
Given that Apatow hasn't made a single movie under two hours in the 13 years since, he's evidently learned nothing about brevity being the soul of wit.