FUNNY PEOPLE
Showtime: 6:30 p.m.
Venue: Vista Theatre (Los Feliz, CA)
76 butts / 638 seats (12% full)
Snacks: Medium Root Beer, Ghiradelli Milk Chocolate with Almonds
Trailers: Inglourious Basterds, District 9 (gotta love a place with only two trailers)
Box Office Potential: That's OK attendance, I guess, but definitely doesn't look as good as the big crowd at the box-office in Burbank this morning. By comparison, Zack and Miri Make a Porno did about half this number at its opening day show around 5 p.m. If one doubled that and got $20m, it wouldn't be out of Apatow range at all. I hope the number is higher for the film's sake--6:30 is a bit early for a prime show, and maybe 9:45 sounded more attractive to people in the area--but $20m is definitely in play.
My Take: More brilliant filmmaking from Apatow, this time even more personal than before. Sprawling in scope and emotion, but the 145-minute length is really necessary here and harkens back to older comedies. Sandler is good, but Rogen is the most complex and Bana is the funniest. Loved every moment, but it might not gel with the mainstream in the ways the prior Apatows have. For shame.
Will post a video to my YouTube channel (user "bucketreviews") tomorrow morning, plus a print review as soon as my site is all updated within the next two weeks.