Trainwreck (Rialto and Readings) is the sort of movie that gets people speculating about the decline of Western civilisation.
TRAINWRECK
Director: Judd Apatow
Cast: Amy Schumer, Bill Hader, Vanessa Bayer, Tilda Swinton, Randall Park, LeBron James, Colin Quinn, John Cena, Brie Larson, Evan Brinkman, Mike Birbiglia, Ezra Miller, Daniel Radcliffe, Marisa Tomei
Rating: (R16)
Four and a half stars (out of five)
Amy Schumer, who wrote the script, plays Amy, a successful magazine writer with a flair for one night stands.
The film's joke concept is that Amy acts exactly like all those carefree bachelors we are used to seeing in romantic comedies.
So when Amy meets a bloke she likes and starts to get serious about, he slots right into the traditional female role.
If Amy is abrasive and selfish, Bill Hader, as Aaron, a sports medicine physician who also volunteers for Doctors Without Borders, is sweet and wholesome.
Trainwreck is extremely funny but it is the sort of raunchy humour that sharply divides people into horrified or convulsing with laughter.
It is also as conflicted about Amy's promiscuous ways as most of the people watching it.
It starts by saying Amy is as entitled to behave this way as any man and you should not judge her, but then it calls itself Trainwreck and I am hardly giving away a secret to confirm that by the happy-ever-after ending Amy has pretty much reformed.
So this is not a flawless movie, yet I found it the most entertaining thing I have seen in a while.
While I had the best time watching it I am conflicted about recommending it.
The acid test is can you stand hearing a woman tell a dirty joke?
If the answer is no, then stay well away.
• Christine Powley
