10 Famous Movies Whose Genres Everybody Always Seems To Get Wrong

9. Funny People

Mistaken Genre: Comedy What It Actually Is: Drama/Dramedy When Funny People was released in 2009, Judd Apatow was on a phenomenal hot streak, having written, directed or produced (or, in certain cases, all three) some of the decade's funniest movies, while employing a stable of top-notch comedic actors like Paul Rudd, Steve Carell and Seth Rogen. Continuing the trend, Funny People, brings together Rogen, comedic giant Adam Sandler, Apatow's real-life wife Leslie Mann, and a host of up-and-coming stand-ups like Aubrey Plaza and Aziz Ansari. Throughout the first half of the film, there€™s a very explicit emphasis on comedy, as Sandler€™s George Simmons character is diagnosed with a rare and fatal disease and decides to return to his roots on the stand-up circuit for one last hurrah. The tone of the movie shifts dramatically in its second act. The stand-up subplot is abandoned and the focus switches to George trying to win back his former love, Laura (played by Mann). Funny People gets mighty uncomfortable from there, as the audience watches two self-destructive people make terrible decision after terrible decision, leaving everyone involved irreparably broken by the end. I guess you could call it a "dramedy," but that would ignore the fact that Funny People's first half is an undeniable comedy, and its second half is a very serious and depressing drama. These two genres never blend together the way they traditionally do in a dramedy.