‘Trainwreck’ may be a glorified rom-com, but what it’s lacking in the plot originality, it more than makes up for with it’s side-splitting script, says Jane Casey.

Director: Judd Apatow (Knocked Up, This Is 40, 40 Year Old Virgin)
Starring: Amy Schumer, Vanessa Bayer, Bill Hader, Tilda Swinton, Brie Larson
Writer: Amy Schumer
Running Time: 2 hour, 2 minutes

 
 
Emotionally vacant, sexually promiscuous borderline alcoholic, Amy, works as a journalist in a leading men’s magazine in New York City under the Anna Wintour-esque tyrannical editor-in-chief, Dianna (an almost unrecognisable Tilda Swinton).

When she’s not dodging blows from Dianna, judging her domestic goddess sister (Brie Larson) for settling down with a family, or visiting her elderly father – who’s divorce from her mother she blames for her current lifestyle – she’s nursing a hangover and exchanging last night’s sex anecdotes with co-worker, Nikki (SNL’s Vanessa Bayer).

Her willingness to sleep with pretty much anyone, despite being in a relationship with muscle-bound gym addict, Steven (John Cena), leaves her single and on a path to self-destruction.

Enter the leading man, Aaron Connors (Bill Hader), a big time sports doctor who Amy is sent to profile for an assignment. Pretty soon, her reluctant romantic feelings for Dr. Connors make her question her life choices. Can Amy confront her fear of intimacy and live happily ever after with the man of her dreams?

Amy Schumer’s first foray onto the big screen – as both writer and protagonist – may have the backing of a huge viral marketing campaign and is already congratulating itself on being the new Bridesmaids (Kristen Wiig’s comedic masterpiece, produced by Apatow, which set the high bar for female-centric comedies) – but at it’s core, Trainwreck is as formulaic a rom-com as they come. Albeit, it’s one of the better ones.

The plot is anything but groundbreaking and is littered with the usual rom-com tropes. We have the ball-busting boss, the settled down sister, the charming doctor and a flash mob. Yep, a flash mob.

Tropes aside, Schumer’s script is the film’s saving grace. Jokes delivered by a perfect cast of comedy veterans, some hilariously clever cameos from sports stars LeBron James and John Cena and Schumer’s signature brand of self-deprecating, shock humour saves the film from which could have easily been a Katherine Heigl inspired cheese fest. Expect some laugh-out-loud one liners and cringe inducing awkward “we’ve all been there” moments.

The poster for Trainwreck proudly displays that it’s a movie by “the guy who brought you Bridesmaids“.

It’s not Bridesmaids, it never will be Bridesmaids, but with a huge taking at the US box office already ($91.1 million), Trainwreck will no doubt demolish the Irish box office on it’s release this weekend.

‘Trainwreck’ hits cinemas on August 14.