Dear Judd:
As you know, I'm a big admirer of your work, in all its many permutations, going back -- way back -- to your TV work ("Freaks and Geeks" still hasn't lost a step) and early film efforts (it being NBA playoff time, my kid and I being true-blue Celtics fans have been wearing out "Celtic Pride"). But I just read the worrisome interview on MTV News in which you say that your upcoming Adam Sandler movie "Funny People" is -- gasp! -- 150 minutes long. I thought MTV might have misquoted you somehow, so I called an exec at Universal Pictures, the studio releasing the film, who confirmed that the film -- as it stands now -- is indeed 150 minutes, though he assured me that you're still tinkering with the cut, so if I was eager to influence your decision making, now would be the time to offer any free advice. (Actually, I suspect he really said: "PLEASE, GOD, GET HIM TO CUT THE MOVIE!" although that could be imagination.)
Since you're a final-cut director and have made lots of moola for the studio, no one on the inside is going to put any undue pressure on you -- studio execs hate to ruin a good relationship by having a fight with a filmmaker that they can't win. But as an outsider, I can be honest with you: 2 1/2 -hour comedies don't work. The form isn't meant to carry that much weight. I'm sure you have your reasons: Having seen your trailer (which is a little long itself), I realize you have a complicated story to tell, a story that's not just for laughs, since it's about a comedian who thinks he's dying but then realizes that he's not and has to figure out how that double-whammy changes his priorities about his life.
I've also gathered from your interviews that you see "Funny People" (and forgive me for oversimplifying a little here) as your Jim Brooks movie, a film that mixes comedy and drama. And yes, if Jim Brooks is your model, you're going to run a little long, since if you averaged out the running time of his best films ("As Good as It Gets," "Broadcast News" and "Terms of Endearment") they'd come out at around 135 minutes.
But I would caution you that Jim Brooks is one-of-a-kind dramatist and comic wizard. And if you're set on emulating him, the bar is awfully high, especially since he was working with Jack Nicholson and William Hurt and Holly Hunter and Debra Winger and Shirley MacLaine and Albert Brooks, and you, my friend, are working with Adam Sandler and Seth Rogen.
