Ira (Seth Rogen) is trying to be a professional comic. But until that day, Ira does local stand-up, works in a deli and lives with his roommates Leo (Jonah Hill) and Mark (Jason Schwartzman). Schwarzman is the successful one starring in a sitcom that feels very “Welcome Back Kotter.” He also always gets the girls. But when famous comedian George Simmons (Adam Sandler) discovers he has a rare and cancerous blood disease, he decides to test out some dark, new, stand-up material on his old crowd. It’s there that he meets and bonds with Ira and asks him to become his assistant. The job, of course, turns out to be an emotional roller coaster ride that was a little more than Ira had bargained for. The movie focuses on facing your own mortality and making the best of every day of your life – kind of a bucket list of regrets. Sandler’s biggest regret…the girl who got away named Laura (Leslie Mann) who’s now married to Clarke (Eric Bana.) Unlike Judd Apatow’s past written/directed efforts like “Knocked Up,” this time Rogen takes a backseat to his lead to Sandler. One of the funnier scenes involves a cameo/shouting match between Eminem and Ray Romano where Rogen says to Ray, “I thought everybody loved you?” Twenty minutes into the film one thinks “this movie is close to perfect” as Apatow navigates through a fine line of toilet humor and cancer. But then like most Sandler flicks, this one derails about twenty minutes too long in the third act bringing the movie into over two hours, and leaving it one tiara short of perfection. Three tiaras
