10 Movies That Completely Missed The Point
5. Trainwreck (2015)
Amy Schumer’s almost autobiographical comedy, directed by Judd Apatow, eviscerates the usual cliches and assumptions of romantic comedies in subversive and witty style. At least, it does right up until the ending.
Throughout the film Schumer’s character has no intention of apologising for her ‘trainwreck’ lifestyle… right up until the moment that the film decides it’s time for her to apologise for it, by initiating events that don’t logically follow on from one another. High-functioning alcoholics, binge drinkers and alcohol dependents often hold down steady, well-paid jobs, and Amy has clearly been doing so fairly successfully for a long time.
After that, it’s just the icing on the cake to have her stage a climactic Drew Barrymore style gauche but appealing stunt with a pro cheerleading routine, making a numpty out of herself in public and thereby winning back the guy she likes.
It’s cute and awkward, ending the film with - unbelievably - a mutual declaration of love, a kiss, applause from the virtual strangers all around them, and a pan-away-and-pull-back crane shot to reveal that their kiss is being displayed on all the big screens at courtside
It’s as though Apatow realised how many established Hollywood tropes he was slapping in the kisser, and panicked, asserting the Tinseltown motifs at the last minute to prove that he was a team player after all.