Six years after creating Love, a somewhat unhealthy romantic comedy that depicted the amorous states of mind of a clumsy geek, a figure that Judd Apatow is fond of and has never ceased to put at the center of his cinematographic feats of arms and serials, the king of American comedy is back on Netflix with The Bubble, a comedy inspired by the pandemic. Although it is only his seventh feature film as a director, Apatow is on the other hand the one of the most active producers and screenwriters on the American comedy scene. Although his films rarely make headlines in France, he has enabled many talents – Steve Carell, Seth Rogen, Amy Schumer – to become heavyweights of humor and many cult comedies to see the light of day. Adam Sandler is a great actor and Uncut Gems is there to confirm it On the cathode screen side, he is notably the man behind the prodigious teen show Freaks and Geeks, with a cast made up of many future stars such as Seth Rogen, James Franco or Jason Segel, who knew how to capture adolescent torments with subversion. More recently, the producer took his wing Lena Dunham and produced his first series, Girls, which will revolutionize the genre by analyzing this new generation of teenage girls with a very raw tone. to the magnificent losers who refuse to grow up under the cameras of Adam McKay, Greg Mottola or Paul Feig. From Featured Presenter and Brothers Despite Themselves and SuperGrave to the unforgettable Without Sarah, Nothing Goes and My Best Friends, all these politically incorrect comedies have the name of Judd Apatow listed at the top of the credits. Tribute to Paul Rudd, the actor the friendliest in Hollywood On the occasion of the release of La Bulle on Netflix, we ranked all the achievements (excluding documentaries) of the great honcho of American comedy from worst to best.#7. La Bulle (2022) For Netflix, the director rushed into the breach of the Covid by immersing us behind the scenes of the chaotic filming of a blockbuster in times of a pandemic. In this strange period in perpetual evolution, where all information is instantly obsolete, the long time of cinema is not very suitable. But, through the azimuth prism of the director, this meta project could have been a good surprise. Unfortunately, Apatow does not escape the ravages of time and La Bulle is only a succession of dated gags which tell nothing of the Covid nor of a Hollywood industry that looks at its navel feeling invested with an entertainment mission of the utmost importance. The result is just a big failure that struggles to get us a smile and that stains the director’s work.#6. En cloque, mode d’emploi (2007) In his second film, Judd Apatow continued his reflection on men who refuse to grow up and revisited the romantic comedy by officially imposing himself as the third voice of American humor. In Knocked Up, A User’s Manual, he offered his first leading role to the beloved Seth Rogen in a retarded adolescent costume that has stuck with him ever since. Stuck in the friends/smoking/porn triptych, he found his Freaks and Geeks comrade Jason Segel, with Jonah Hill as the third wheel of this shocking trio. Facing him, Katherine Heigl was an ambitious and careerist reporter freshly promoted to presenter, whom he met in favor of an alcoholic night. In romantic comedies, opposites attract. In En cloque, mode d’emploi, they are especially obliged to compose when a night of love results in an unwanted pregnancy. If Judd Apatow persists and signs in this regressive humor where he excels, served by effective and funny secondary roles, En knocked up, mode d’emploi is much more conservative than it seems. Despite her lack of attraction for Ben, Alison will never really consider having an abortion and will decide to keep the child to raise him with this parent whom she hardly esteems.#5. Crazy Amy (2015) After filming male immaturity, Judd Apatow changes course to focus on female characters no longer spared. In 2011, he produced the comedy My best friends by Paul Feig, which brought together the funniest women in America and, in 2012, the series Girls by Lena Dunham. In 2015, he thought up his new comedy tailor-made for Amy Schumer, an actress then still confidential, also author of the screenplay for the autobiographical Crazy Amy. Sort of Hannah Horvath less tormented but just as neurotic, less cash but just as trashy, the disaster ambulant of the title in VO (Trainwreck) connects cocktails and one-night stands, perpetuating the paternal adage according to which “monogamy is a decoy”, before being surprised by a doctor who is well in all respects from which she will fall in love. Amy Schumer and Bill Hader were endearing romantic leads a little off the charts, and all the supporting roles (Tilda Swinton or even LeBron James) are, as always with Apatow, perfectly cared for. But if Amy Schumer acts as an itchy hair in a mini-skirt, Crazy Amy remains a romantic comedy with the most conventional happy ending. #4. 40: A User’s Manual (2012)In Knocked Up, A User’s Manual, the most interesting characters are those played by Leslie Mann and Paul Rudd, Alison’s sister and her husband, entangled in their routine as a couple. forties and who will be the unfortunate heroes of a spin-off in 2012. In 40 years: Instructions, not Alison or Ben. Only Debbie, anguished by quarantine, Pete, her cynical and disillusioned husband, and their two infuriating pre-teens in the most autobiographical of Apatow’s films. As usual, the director was busy telling the intimate in this he has the least glorious but pushed the vice so far as to offer the main roles to his wife and their two daughters, by granting himself the most sympathetic alter ego in the person of Paul Rudd. So far, With the exception of Ben in Knocked Up, Mode d’emploi, all the male characters imagined by Apatow had reached that fateful quarantine. After Steve Carrel in 40 years, still a virgin and Adam Sandler in Funny People, the director once again put his keen sense of observation at the service of these two quadra stuck between two ages. Ten years later, the now 54-year-old director years announced worked on This Is 50, the third part of his exploration of the fictional couple Rudd-Mann.#3. The King of Staten Island (2020) If the “King of Comedy” has proven the extent of his talent when it comes to making fun of his neuroses, he does not sulk his pleasure to tell those of others. In The King of Staten Island, Apatow has returned to the recipe with which he has proven himself, namely revealing a future star of humor through a semi-autobiographical role of adulescent. For his sixth feature film, he has set his sights on Pete Davidson, one of Saturday Night Live’s youngest comedians, and imagines “the life he would have had if he hadn’t discovered stand-up” through an anti- unflattering hero. So Pete is Scott, an aspiring tattoo artist living with his mother on Staten Island, who sees the trauma of his father’s death, a firefighter who died in the line of duty, rekindled when the latter begins a new relationship with a firefighter. A more accomplished realization, a neat soundtrack and excellent secondary actors who, for the first time, try to pull our hero to the top (Marisa Tomei, Bill Burr and Bel Powley, perfect) make The King of Staten Island a film apart in the director’s filmography. Above all, we loved being truly moved by this apatow-esque comedy.#2. Funny People (2009) With this third feature film, Judd Apatow broke with his sympathetic misfit losers who ended up falling into line, losing their virginity or getting into a relationship with the woman they got pregnant. In Funny People, Adam Sandler, Apatow’s former roommate, takes on the non-compositional role of George Simmons, an egocentric and unsympathetic Nanardesque actor who suddenly suffers from leukemia. For the first time, the director will tackle the subject of illness and death, with, in hollow, a fascinating reflection on the profession of actor that he knows well. Here, no happy ending but a question that runs through the entire film: what remains of a comedian when personal trials prevent him from being funny? Funny People is a real bittersweet achievement from the #1 comedy guru. 40 years old, still a virgin (2005) First attempt and masterstroke: it is at 40 years old, still a virgin, that the first place in this laborious classification returns. Judd Apatow’s first feature film – the only truly known in France – laid the foundation stone for his fascinating and very personal reflection on the difficulty of growing up, which will cross his very coherent cinematographic corpus. In 40 years, still a virgin, he revealed to the general public his adored freaks and geeks, those who will form his faithful band of collaborators. Above all, he popularized the immense Steve Carrell before he became the unforgettable Michael Scott of The Office, proving, as he has never stopped doing since, that he is above all a true catalyst for talent. With this shy household appliance salesman who has not yet tasted the pleasures of the flesh and his oppressive colleagues with absurd advice, Apatow made fun of the imbecility of virile injunctions in scenes that will remain the most cult of his entire filmography. .
