Classic Review: Trainwreck (2015)

Since I’ve started this site, I’ve written a lot of reviews. In case you missed some of my earlier ones, I would like to share an older review of “Trainwreck” which originally appeared here.

Trailer (NSFW)

After her parents divorced at a young age, magazine writer Amy Townsend’s (Amy Schumer) father tells her and her sister that monogamy just isn’t realistic. Since then, she has adopted promiscuity as her credo. Despite living a uninhibited life void of commitment, she gets into a rut. When she is unwillingly assigned to write a profile about a charming sports doctor Aaron Connors (Bill Hader), she starts to fall in love with him, which would be a first for her, and he starts to fall in love with her. With this, she starts to wonder if it’s time for her to change.

While this film isn’t the raunch-fest I expected, it still had its moments and I still enjoyed it. This film is original in that it reverses typical gender roles in romantic comedies where the woman is the pursuer and the man is the pursuee. The script, written by Amy Schumer, is what really puts this film over the top. The two leads are both complex and have some depth to them. Amy’s character is smart, funny, outgoing but can also get emotional and dark at times. The dramatic and more emotional parts revolve around the relationship between Amy’s sister (Brie Larson) and her father (Colin Quinn). Their chemistry is what sold me and it all works well. Quinn also gets the chance to deliver some of the film’s best one liners as well as a speech at the opening which set the tone for the rest of the film. Hader’s Aaron is the normal guy among all the outrageousness but he holds his own. The film was also able to get some great, funny performances by those who you may not expect, mostly from some well-known athletes. The film does get a little formulaic at times but it chooses to approach this in a way that is smart, real, and non-cliche in the way that it handles relationships. This is because the characters are real and that’s what makes them more relatable. There were many moments in this film that made me laugh out loud including a scene with John Cena in a movie theater which I won’t spoil. This brings me to another thing I liked about this film, the ensemble, the other actors in this film, Amy’s family and also Tilda Swinton as Diana and Ezra Miller as Donald, also hold their own and are really funny and they take advantage of the great material they have to work with. Just to be clear, this not a family film. There are instances of strong language and adult content but I did not agree with the rating it received (at least here in Canada). The film is a touch too long but you won’t notice because you’ll be busy coming back down after having laughed so much. Trainwreck is definitely one of the best films of the year and is the best comedy of the year.

Score: 9/10

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Keith Noakes

The EIC of the coincidentally-named keithlovesmovies.com. A Canadian who prefers to get out of the cold and into the warmth of a movie theatre.