Funny People is Judd Apatow’s third film as director.  It is a detour from the hilarious “The 40-Year-Old Virgin” and “Knocked Up.”  Although Funny People is a comedy on the surface, this film is very much a drama at its core.  So, let’s call it a ‘dramedy.’  Without giving much of the plot away I will scratch the comedic surface and touch upon the dramatic core.  Funny People starts on a rather depressing note when we find out that Adam Sandler’s character is dying from a rare disease.  The movie follows a young comedian (played by Seth Rogen) who is striving to find success and Sandler’s character, an aging yet still entertaining stand-up comedian.  When the latter character finds out that he is dying, he enters a depressive state, one that follows him throughout almost the entire movie.  His love interest is played by Leslie Mann (Judd Apatow’s real-life wife), who had left him ten years prior and now has a family with a husband (Eric Bana) and two children (who are played by Judd and Leslie’s real-life children).  All of these characters are funny in their own ways, and their interactions with each other bring out the comedy.  However, it will be the dramatic theme of the film that will be remembered when you leave the theatre.  Sandler’s portrayal as an aging, sick, and dying comedian and person is superb, and the way he responds to a certain bit of news about half-way through the movie provides for a lesson to be learned about life.  In the end, Funny People is a movie more about life than comedy.  Still, though, it is very funny.  Go out and enjoy it, and learn that life and the people that care about you should not be taken for granted.