JUDD APATOW DIRECTS AMY SCHUMER IN TRAINWRECK

2015 rating: **1/2

Actress Amy Schumer, while scoring at the Box Office, has somewhat misled her target audience, being that her titular TRAINWRECK remains, for the most part, right on track…

From the very SHALLOW HAL like opening, as a father implants bad advice into his child’s vulnerable mind, the raucous stage is set, and Schumer’s free-spirited Amy is far from being uptight, picky, fickle, or mainstream-attractive. The latter makes our flawed ingenue more realistic than most comedy starlets: a young lady who would usually play the main girl's brutally honest best friend is given the lead. And that alone makes up about twenty minutes of an otherwise sweet-natured and surprisingly gentle romance that's not just about an average yet sexy wildcard, but the nice guy she winds up reluctantly falling for after an extremely progressive first date.

As the romantic lead, Bill Hader, playing a sports surgeon, turns in a good performance, but his input often derails the mainline. One intentionally cliche feel-good montage... inspired by Woody Allen's MANHATTAN, Gershwin music included... works as a witty satire embracing New York. Yet the entire prologue of Amy's slutty nightlife ultimately feels like a montage in itself, and continuously so: Right when getting down and dirty, like promised in the trailers, we're cleaned up again.  

Amy Schumer the actress is often outshined by other characters, and this could be intentional... For some credit should be given to Schumer the screenwriter: She’s definitely not selfish, allowing others to shine including her cantankerous father (veteran comic and REMOTE CONTROL co-host Colin Quinn); her blunt British female boss; and a scene-stealing muscle-head boyfriend. Meanwhile, basketball whiz LeBron James, as a touchy/feely version of himself, is given way too much screen time, especially in scenes with Hader, making us forget who (and what) this vehicle's really about. 

While reveling in observational relationship-based humor and with genuine performances intact, TRAINWRECK doesn’t always know where it’s going. Right when we begin to enjoy our lusty starlet breaking conventional rules, she gets stuck in a way too familiar opposites attract Rom-Com template combined with a family troubles melodrama. And while there is enough chemistry between Hader to provide a genuine love song, it's too bad the bad girl party anthem had to end so soon.