Amy Townsend (Amy Schumer) is a bit of a train wreck in Trainwreck. By day, she works at a men’s magazine (S’nuff) so trashy it would probably make The Sun seem like Pulitzer Prize-winning journalism by comparison. By night, her life revolves around drugs, alcohol and promiscuous relationships with a large number of boyfriends.

The only problem with her lifestyle is that it leaves her unhappy. It all begins when she and her younger sister, as children, get a lecture from their own train wreck of a father, Gordon Townsend (Colin Quinn), on the pitfalls of monogamy. All grown up, Amy’s younger sister, Kim (Brie Larson), has ignored her father’s advice and is in a stable relationship with a boring man Amy regularly mocks. Amy, on the other hand, is dead set on flying off the railway tracks.

Enter Dr. Aaron Conners (Bill Hader), a sports surgeon who Amy is tasked with interviewing for her latest article. Dr. Conners makes for a levelheaded and stable boyfriend, soon leaving Amy reconsidering her philosophy on life.

Picking up the pieces of one’s life is no laughing matter!

As you can tell, Trainwreck is a romantic comedy, which is probably an automatic disqualification for many, but thankfully, this is a good one. For one, it handles its share of tropes such as the customary argument scene followed by the breakup which predictably climaxes in a makeup where the two leads profess their love, with a bit more nuance than your garden variety romcom. What’s more, the messages of the film, such as believing in your self-worth, the value of being in a judgment free relationship, and the like, are delivered with an appreciable subtlety. This is certainly no surprise, considering that director Judd Apatow (Knocked Up) has a penchant for quality romcoms.

Trainwreck offers a few laughs, and most of them are delivered by one of the funniest talents working in America today, Amy Schumer, whose deadpan delivery here is pitch perfect. But where Schumer really surprises, however, is her command of dramatic acting which powers the love hate relationship between her and her father’s character.

Fans of Schumer’s sketch comedy will also appreciate the feminist tones of the film. For example, Amy’s character deals with sexism regularly in her work life, the majority of which is fired at her from her own female coworkers.

Other laughs in the film are delivered courtesy of the film’s long list of amusing cameos. These include WWE superstar John Cena ,‘I look like Mark Wahlberg ate Mark Wahlberg!’, who plays Amy’s gym rat boyfriend, is unaware of his raging homosexuality, and uses motivational phrases for pillow talk; Daniel Radcliffe (The Dog Walker) and Marisa Tomei (The Dog Owner), who are part of a ridiculously pretentious film within Trainwreck about dog walking; Dr. Aron’s best friend NBA superstar LeBron James, who amusingly enough, is quite stingy and offers relationship advise in terms of his career milestones, though always has his best friend’s back.

Although the chemistry between the two leads here is effective, it doesn’t quite sizzle. And, though the amusing sequences are plenty, only a couple of scenes had me laughing out loud. This nitpicking aside, this is a solid film, unlike most romcoms which happen to be train wrecks.  

Rated R for strong sexual content, nudity, language and some drug use

Published in Dawn, Sunday Magazine, August 30th, 2015

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