Review: Amy Schumer pushes boundaries in Trainwreck

REVIEW: Hardline fans of Amy Schumer might be slightly disappointed by the relatively conservative tack taken here. But it wil gain her a huge following.

Amy Schumer in a scene from film Trainwreck

Trainwreck (MA15+)

Director : Judd Apatow (This is 40)

Starring : Amy Schumer, Bill Hader, Brie Larson, Colin Quinn, Tilda Swinton, LeBron James.

Rating : ***

Carefully stays on track

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Over the past few years, American comedy superstar Amy Schumer has made quite a name for herself, pushing a hyper-provocative brand of humour that erases boundaries as it crosses them.

If you have encountered Schumer either as a superb stand-up practitioner or via her brilliant TV series Inside Amy Schumer, you will already know it was just a matter of time before a transition to movies beckoned.

While Trainwreck stands as a perfectly acceptable, entry-level assignment for the big-screen debutante, it surprisingly does not play up to Schumer’s acknowledged strengths as one of mainstream comedy’s most incendiary innovators.

Relationship ... Amy Schumer and LeBron James in Trainwreck.

If anything, this moderately amusing affair plays down its star’s best assets.

Hardline fans of Schumer might be slightly disappointed by the relatively conservative tack taken here. However, the conscious compromise that has been made will definitely secure a following among those experiencing her comedy for the first time.

Schumer applies a controlled variation of her stand-up/TV persona to play Amy, a journalist for a proudly sexist men’s magazine called S’Nuff.

Initially, it is how Amy fills her non-working hours that is the principal pre-occupation of Trainwreck.

Screen prescence ... Amy Schumer and Vanessa Bayer.

A committed commitment-phobe since her father (Colin Quinn) abandoned the family decades prior, Amy parties too hard, picks up one-night-stands too easily, and puts it all behind her the morning after (the occasional humiliating “walk of shame” notwithstanding).

The first act of Trainwreck establishes Amy’s ability to disconnect without any damaging consequences in a compelling and often very funny fashion. After all, men in this type of raunchy rom-com movie have had this character trait all to themselves for too long.

Opposites attract ... Amy Schumer’s character ends up having feelings for Bill Hader’s sports medico.

However, after putting its gender-reversal credentials on the table, Trainwreck gently sets about removing them one by one, becoming a more conventional comedy of sexual manners as it does.

The turning point for Amy comes very early and (largely because Trainwreck is directed by serial storytelling slow-coach Judd Apatow) then takes ages to be resolved.

Amy’s bizarrely aggressive editor (a near-unrecognisable and very funny Tilda Swinton) puts her on a story where she must do a hatchet job on a leading sports medico named Aaron (Bill Hader).

Somewhat predictably, the laws of opposite-attraction kick in very quickly, forcing Amy to confront and process an emotional side to her being she has suppressed for far too long.

She’s great ... Amy Schumer keeps the laughs coming.

It must be said that Schumer (who also wrote the screenplay) comes across a very assured screen presence for a first-timer with the pressure on.

Once Apatow’s sluggish pacing turns the mid-section of Trainwreck into a bit of a grind, it is Schumer’s chemistry with Hader that keeps the right amount of laughs coming.

Interestingly, the movie is actually saved from a very average outcome due to its large and unconventional supporting cast.

The aforementioned Swinton and Quinn are definite standouts, but they have plenty of company with the likes of NBA legend LeBron James (as Aaron’s overly protective and insanely frugal BFF), wrestling icon John Cena (as Amy’s self-obsessed part-time toyboy) and Brie Larson (Amy’s conservative sister) all pulling their weight when it really counts.