The name is synonymous with vulgar, sexist and raunchy humor. The producer of such films as "The 40 Year Old Virgin", "Knocked Up" and "Superbad" as well as the upcoming films "The Pineapple Express" and "Forgetting Sarah Marshall". These films were funny, but I thought that they were just vulgar, "idiot" humor that appealed to the lowest common comedic denominator. Suffice it to say that I wasn't a fan before, but the planets re-aligned or I drank some kind of mystery potion and now I am. Here's why.
My wife was interested in this television show that aired for a single season back in 2000 called "Freaks and Geeks". She added the show to our Blockbuster Online cue and told me we'd be getting it soon. She mentioned the Apatow connection to me and I was immediately skeptical. Now, don;t get me wrong, I am a male in my early thirties. I grew up with Kevin Smith films that I would watch over and over to the point where I had "Mallrats" memorized. THere was something about the Apatow films that seemed to push me away as opposed to drawing me in. I figured I'd give my wife the benefit of the doubt and trust her judgement. Besides, she would be more likely to put the kibosh on the viewing based on content before I would.
When the DVDs arrived in the mail and we sat down to watch them, I was immediately drawn into the lives of these teenagers and felt their struggles through high school. Their stories were strikingly similar to my own and the main character and his friends were like a carbon copy of my group of friends in school. Watching these characters stumble their way around dating, friends, classes and even fighting endeared them to me. I was sad to see the series end.
After that series, we looked up the actors on IMDB to see what some of them were doing now, eight years later. Some of them ended up on another Apatow show (again, only lasting one season) called "Undeclared" about a bunch of college students finding their way through the college experience. This show was definitely more laugh out loud funny than "Freaks" was but not as endearing.
The point of all of this is that after seeing how Apatow deals with the juxtaposition of real life humor and situations (albeit a bit over dramatized and spruced up for tv's sake) and the real heart for relational unity has made me a fan. I don't necessarily love all of the graphic sex jokes, but I am willing to look past some of that to see the redemptive qualities of his stories.
Thanks, Judd
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