Anthony Stokes assesses the career of Judd Apatow….
Comedy seems to be like a mechanical bull, with many people holding on for dear life and not quite realizing they’ve fallen off (I’m looking at you Ben Stiller, Jack Black, and especially Eddie Murphy). Few people have had more success producing, writing, and directing comedies than Judd Apatow. At this point he’s the godfather of American comedy cinema, kickstarting the careers of comedic titans such as Seth Rogen and Paul Rudd to name but two. He takes people who are naturally funny and teaches them how to be good actors and make good movies, for the most part.
Judd Apatow is not somebody who gets a whole lot of credit, which is unfortunate. It’s rare for genre directors to get a lot of praise and awards recognition and Apatow is no different. However, his influence on American comedy in not only movies, but also television, is undeniable.
Apatow has a varied career, but I’m only going to critique him based upon the movies he’s directed, so no Undeclared or Freaks and Geeks. I’m also not going to delve into his skills as a writer. This assessment is purely based off his abilities behind the camera on a movie set. I will try to be as unbiased as possible and give each film a fresh look, but if something stands out to me as personally important I’ll mention it as such.
CAMERAWORK
This is grading him purely on his direction, cinematography, and camera work. Apatow is an experienced director to say the least and I think he prefers a laid back style of filming, allowing his actors to perform and letting the scene play out naturally, which works incredibly well. His direction never gets in the way of the story, and it’s comparable to art house or foreign films. You never really notice, but that’s what’s good about it and it’s seamlessly integrated into the movie, making for a more cohesive experience.
GRADE: B
Comments: Simple, precise camera work that never gets in the way of storytelling.
WORKING WITH ACTORS
This is purely judging the performances of cast inside of Apatow’s movies. Comedically, he’s been able to get career defining performances out of his actors. Typically people that start out in a Judd Apatow movie are never quite as funny again (see Leslie Mann and Romany Malco), or they end up playing a variation of the same character for the rest of the careers (see Jane Lynch, Paul Rudd, Seth Rogen, Jason Segel, and an endless number of other examples). Everybody pulls their weight and chances are that if you’re in a Judd Apatow movie you’re going to be funny.
But Apatow usually makes dramadies, so it’s also necessary to critique the performances on a dramatic level. And I’d say he excels just as well, if not better, at getting subtle nuanced performances out of his actors. There’s an underlying sweetness under the raunchiness which doesn’t contradict the comedy, and sometimes a character comes across as funny while having an emotional breakdown. Apatow has to take comedians and make them work dramatically and I can’t think of a case were he hasn’t pull it off. He even managed to fashion an incredible performance out of Adam Sandler in Funny People and if that’s not a testament to his directing ability I don’t know what is.
GRADE: A+
Comments: Can hand pick really funny people and get good, nuanced performances out of them. People tend to want to work with him and keeping a fun set translates into the performances and overall fun of the movie.
SCRIPT TO SCREEN
Judd Apatow has been the sole or co-writer on all of the four films he’s directed. It hard to tell when the writing stops and the directing starts. With a lot of writer-directors there’s a clear distinction of talents between the two. Some are either better directors than screenwriters (Christopher Nolan for example) and some are better writers than directors (David S. Goyer, as a less obvious example). Film is all about creating a cohesive experience for the audience, and when the writing and direction are on the same level it lends itself to a more engaging experience.
GRADE: A-
Comments: Very talented at both writing and directing, resulting in more immersion for the viewer. Also feeds actors dialogue he comes up with on the spot.
FILMOGRAPHY
Apatow’s films have a very specific formula: introduce one dimensional shallow character, give them some personality, have argument/rift/separation, everything gets worked out, leading to a sweet ending. Now this formula works more times than not. We care about the characters and it makes them more realistic to have some friction like in Superbad and Bridesmaids. But those are movies he’s produced. In movies that Apatow has directed, it works better for a number of reasons. Apatow knows how to build to the big break-up and in some cases this makes the movies excruciating to watch.
It’s easy to track Apatow’s films: The 40 Year Old Virgin is his critically lauded debut; Knocked Up is the successful follow-up to the debut that shocked the industry; Funny People is what should have been his Oscar-winner; and This Is 40 is like the passion project that’s a little more indulgent than his other movies.
So far, he’s avoided the contractual sequel and a lot of other traps that directors can fall into. It seems Apatow directs vicariously through producing and cherry picks the best projects to get behind the camera himself. Even his weakest film, This Is 40, is by no stretch a bad movie – it’s just something that he made for himself which happened to make it into theaters. His producing filmography has a few stinkers, but I’d say he more or less has a flawless directing record.
GRADE : A-
Comments: Chooses his projects very wisely and hasn’t directed a bad film yet.
SUMMARY
CAMERAWORK: B
WORKING WITH ACTORS: A+
SCRIPT TO SCREEN: A-
FILMOGRAPHY: A-
OVERALL: A-
Pros: An above average director who understands how to make movies that are sweet, funny and raunchy whilst adding a personal and human touch. Is yet to direct a bad movie.
Cons: Very specific style and formula. Also movies usually run longer than necessary. Can be a little indulgent.
Final Thoughts: Judd Apatow is a criminally under-appreciated talent. It’s fortunate he’s starting to get some awards recognition with Bridesmaids and Girls and his dedication to jump-starting careers for upcoming actors and writers is admirable, making him a very hard guy to dislike.
Do you agree with this assessment of Judd Apatow’s career to date? Let us know in the comments below…
Anthony Stokes is a blogger and independent filmmaker.
Originally published May 23, 2013. Updated April 11, 2018.
