Amy Schumer’s Trainwreck is a comedy about a woman who has slept with too many people and now has to decide whether she wants to stop. That is a simple pitch, and it works. The film follows Amy Townsend, a magazine writer played by Schumer, as she falls for a sports doctor named Aaron Conners, played by Bill Hader. Schumer wrote the script, and she plays the lead with a restless energy that carries the whole picture.
The film opens with Amy’s father, Gordon Townsend, played by Colin Quinn, telling his daughters that divorce is inevitable because monogamy is not realistic. That idea shapes Amy’s entire life. She sleeps with anyone she wants, drinks heavily, and avoids commitment. When she meets Aaron, a man who has not dated in six years, the setup is obvious: the man who never dates and the woman who never commits are going to have to change something.
Trailer, via Universal Pictures.
The Setup
Amy writes for a men’s magazine in New York City, and her boss, Dianna, played by Tilda Swinton, assigns her to profile Aaron, a sports doctor. During the interview, Amy gets a text from her sister Kim, played by Brie Larson, asking to move their father into a cheaper assisted-living facility. Amy panics, and Aaron calms her down. They have dinner, he compliments her writing, and she suggests they go to his place. She breaks her own rule about never sleeping over after sex, and she stays the night.
The next morning, Aaron calls to ask if they can see each other again. Amy panics and tells him to wait until the interview. She and her friend Nikki, played by Vanessa Bayer, decide the relationship has to end. Aaron’s friend LeBron James, played by LeBron James himself, is excited because Aaron has not dated in six years.
The Chemistry
The film’s success rests on the pairing of Schumer and Hader. Schumer plays Amy as loud, messy, and funny, and she commits fully to the character’s contradictions. She is a party girl who is also a professional, a woman who is confident in bed and terrified of love. Hader plays Aaron as a calm, gentle presence who genuinely likes Amy. Their scenes together are the best in the film, and the tension between their approaches to love feels genuine.
The film does not ask you to believe that Amy and Aaron are perfect for each other. It asks you to watch them learn to be. That is a smaller ambition than most romantic comedies attempt, and it is also a smarter one.
The Supporting Cast
The rest of the cast fills out the world around Amy. Colin Quinn plays her father, a man who believes his own philosophy about marriage even as he lives through its collapse. Brie Larson plays Kim, Amy’s sister, who shares her father’s outlook on relationships. Mike Birbiglia plays Tom, and Ezra Miller plays Donald, and Randall Park plays Bryson. None of them get much screen time, but they populate the background without demanding attention.
LeBron James shows up as Aaron’s friend, and his performance is exactly what you would expect: quiet, competent, and slightly awkward. It is a small role, but it works. John Cena appears as Steven, the gym-addict boyfriend Amy is dating when she meets Aaron. He is a minor annoyance, the kind of guy Amy has slept with before and will sleep with again.
The Father’s Death
The film’s central conflict is not Amy’s fear of commitment. It is her father’s death. Gordon dies from heart failure due to hoarding his medication, and his funeral brings Amy and Kim together. They have a falling out there, with Amy accusing Kim of not caring about their father. Kim responds that Amy is just doing what is normal, which is a sharp moment in a film that spends most of its runtime being silly.
The funeral scene shifts the tone from light to heavy, and the film handles the shift well. It does not stay heavy for long, but it gives the comedy some weight.
The Writing
Schumer wrote the screenplay, and her jokes land more often than they miss. The film is built around her voice, and that voice is sharp, profane, and specific. Amy’s internal monologue about why she sleeps with everyone is the film’s thesis statement, delivered with a mix of humor and honesty. The film also leans on physical comedy, and Schumer’s timing in those scenes is excellent.
The film is not subtle, and it knows it is not subtle. That is part of the appeal. Schumer is not trying to win an Oscar. She is trying to make a movie that makes people laugh, and she mostly succeeds.
The Running Time
At 125 minutes, Trainwreck is a standard comedy length, and it holds its pace well. The film moves quickly, and it does not waste time. The runtime is a strength, not a weakness.
Ranking the Performances
If you had to rank the performances in the film, here is how they stack up:
- Amy Schumer — the lead, and the engine of the movie.
- Bill Hader — the calm center opposite Schumer’s chaos.
- Tilda Swinton — a small role, but a memorable one.
- Brie Larson — a larger role than her screen time suggests.
- LeBron James — a cameo that works because he plays it straight.
The Verdict
Trainwreck is not a great film, but it is a good one. It is a comedy that respects its audience enough to be honest about its subject matter, and it is a romance that respects its characters enough to let them fail. Schumer’s performance carries the film, and Hader’s opposite her makes it work.
The film’s message is simple: you can be promiscuous and still want a partner, and you can be committed and still be afraid. That is not a new idea, but it is a useful one. The film does not preach, it observes, and that observation is sharper than most romantic comedies manage.
Trainwreck is a solid entry in the genre, a film that knows what it wants to be and delivers on it. It is not a masterpiece, but it is a pleasure.
Get the Notebook.
The day's best stories and every fresh verdict, in plain English, in your inbox by seven. One email a day, no more.
