‘Trainwreck’ Review: Still old-fashioned

Judd Apatow’s Trainwreck opens with a recently divorced dad (Colin Quinn) telling his two young daughters about the fallacy of monogamy. The introduction’s obviously meant for laughs. There’s strange but effective humor abound in the cleverly written scene of a grown disgruntled man explaining the indisputable logic of infidelity to two convinced toddlers by using dolls and other playthings.

The two little girls eventually grow up. Kim (Brie Larson), the younger of the two sisters, becomes this perfectly normal woman who is all about building a perfect family with her husband and stepson. Amy (Amy Schumer), the other sister, grows up to be a writer for a sexy rag who is terminally allergic to love and long term relationships.

 

Despite that, Amy’s more than all right with one night stands. She has an undefined relationship with Steven (John Cena), a protein-obsessed gym rat whose goal to be the Crossfit king mistakenly involves a vision of Amy as his Crossfit queen. Amy’s adventures, however, have her crossing paths with Aaron (Bill Hader), a sports doctor whose being surrounded by sports stars emphasizes how completely bland and uninteresting he is.

Seemingly progressive

The comedy, written by Schumer, seems unlike all of Apatow’s previous films. Trainwreck instead has a woman in the spotlight. Trainwreck’s woman thinks, talks, jokes, and sleeps around like a stereotypical male, but by virtue of anatomy, the film’s protagonist is entirely female.

It all seems progressive. Given the sore lack of films that portray women beyond what society dictates, Trainwreck feels like a revelation, a rare female-driven film that appeals to a wider audience. In fact, the film does not feel all that different from Knocked Up (2005) or 40-Year Old Virgin (2007), where the main characters, whose mix of both regular and exaggerated traits make them relatable to their mostly male viewers, are placed in awkward situations all for humor’s sake.

 

In Trainwreck’s case, Amy’s ways are tested when she finally falls in love. The film puts all the supposed progressiveness on the line. It is pitted against tradition, of compromising for that chance at a happy ending, which in this case seems to be rooted on typical notions of ending up with someone in a perfectly acceptable monogamous relationship.

But truly conventional

Trainwreck, in truth, is as typical as they come. Its trappings of quick wit bursting out of its peculiar female protagonist is betrayed by its insistence on not straying too far from formula. The film follows far too religiously the processes of a standard rom-com, where girl meets boy, girl loses boy, and girl embarrasses herself to win back the boy, all for the sake of a fairy tale conclusion.

The film is not as progressive as it thinks. Its bait is Schumer, who performs quite amiably as the lead whose sweet-and-sour charm makes her wildly entertaining. She is the shroud that hides the film’s convention.

In the end, she still has to abandon her choices and beliefs, all for the sake of a man. In what feels like a total surrender to the premises of a standard chick flick, Amy does it donned as a symbol of male fantasy.

It all feels cute and fuzzy, until it strikes you that the film does absolutely nothing to push the envelope forward. Schumer’s antics are all bells and whistles, ornaments to make it seem that the film has its heart for female empowerment in an arena of love stories where men are prizes for women who are good and chaste.

Sheep in wolf’s clothing

The film is a sheep in wolf’s clothing. Sure, it is entertaining. It bamboozles with its ensemble of actors and comedians who gamely portray various characters to install a make-believe world where fairy tales exist even in an environment of acerbic sarcasm and blunt cynicism. It is absolutely funny, with a lot of its jokes centering on the idea of a woman airing out thoughts and ideas that the real world has unfairly deemed too inappropriate for wider consumption.

However, that is all the surprise Trainwreck has to offer. It is still crafted from the same mold that has seen romance evolve from screwballs to the sterile charmers that they are today.

The film holds your attention for as long as it allows its illusion of being something bold and adventurous to hold true. After it exposes its old-fashioned heart, it ends up as flighty as the rest, satisfied with the smiles and chuckles it has produced along the way to being just another disappointment in the innovation department. – Rappler.com

Francis Joseph Cruz litigates for a living and writes about cinema for fun. The first Filipino movie he saw in the theaters was Carlo J. Caparas’ ‘Tirad Pass.’ Since then, he’s been on a mission to find better memories with Philippine cinema. Profile photo by Fatcat Studios.