Review: Trainwreck - A Different Kind Of Romantic Comedy That Can Be Offensive To Some Viewers

‘TRAINWRECK’ is a very different kind of romantic-comedy introducing Amy Schumer who won an Emmy for her work in Comedy Central. She also wrote the movie’s screenplay and co-produced it. It’s a big hit in the States but was hardly noticed in local theatres. There were just a handful of us when we watched it at Trinoma.

Amy is one of the new breed of comediennes in the U.S. today. Hindi siya kagandahan, but definitely very talented. Another one is Melissa McCarthy, who is overweight and dishes out off-color humor that hits her audience well.

Amy plays a character named Amy and it seems the movie is kinda autobiographical for her. She’s a writer for a men’s mag. She’s a woman who’s difficult to like. She drinks a lot, does drugs, hops to bed easily with all sorts of men and is afraid of committing herself in a relationship.

The movie is directed by Judd Apatow runs for more than two hours since there’s even an unnecessary movie within a movie about a dog walker, Daniel Radcliffe. The first half hour is full of vulgar sexual jokes and situations that those familiar with the raunchy flicks of Apatow (like “Knocked Up”, “40-Year Old Virgin”, both full of strong sexual content) will surely enjoy. But those with finer, more laid back sensibilities might be offended. Muscle packed wrestler John Cena plays one of Amy’s boyfriends and appears totally nude in one scene while humping Amy in bed.




Amy is then assigned by her editor from hell (Tilda Swinton, looking more like Jodie Foster) to interview a sports doctor, Dr. Aaron Connors (Bill Hader of “Saturday Night Live”) and the movie gets an unexpected guest star in Lebron James who pops in at the doctor’s office looking for his sunglasses. He appears in a couple of more scenes and, somehow, he saves the movie the way he saves Cleveland, if you know what we mean. Other sports personalities appear in cameo roles, including NBA star Amare Stoudamire, but they’re all eclipsed by Lebron.

The doctor is a bonafide Mr. Nice Guy and he falls in love with Amy. We really can’t understand why as even Amy asks him: “What’s wrong with you that you want to be with me?” Amy admits to him she’s a mess with all her faults and shortcomings, including her being a slut who prefers casual sex. She’s not even willing to change herself for him as she doesn’t think anything is wrong with her bacchanalian lifestyle. She even has sex with a 16-year old boy who’s into sado-masochism, forcing her to slap and punch him. This is meant to be funny but it leaves a very bad taste in the mouth.


Actually, we can’t blame Amy because she has an asshole of a father (Colin Quinn) who we see at the start of the movie rationalizing his infidelity by brainwashing her and her little sister (Brie Larson, who grew up to be normal) into believing that he is breaking up with their mom because “monogamy is not realistic.” But although Amy projects herself as a not-so-likable character, she gives the movie the usual happy ending, set in Madison Square Garden no less, that offers redemption and is definitely straight of the usual rom-com manual. In all fairness, it’s sweet and hilarious, including the use of the Billy Joel song “Uptown Girl” as the movie’s theme song.