MovieChat Forums > Trainwreck (2015) Discussion > Thing to understand is that Amy's charac...

Thing to understand is that Amy's character is supposed to be unlikable.

posted 9 years ago by racl_101
26 replies | jump to latest

Just like Billy Bob's character in Bad Santa was supposed to be unlikable.

I see a lot of people complaining about how awful Amy's character is and I think they missed the point that it's intentional.

The only problem with these movies is when they don't redeem the unlikable protagonist's bad qualities with sufficient redeeming qualities.

Then you end up with a movie with a protagonist who has no redemption in the eyes of the viewer. I think that's the what's happening in this movie and it tests our patience.

[–] 9 years ago

[deleted]

[–] AfroGeek 9 years ago

No, she's supposed to be a "lovable loser" you root for. But, there's not much redeeming about her and the idea that an award-winning doctor would downgrade from all the A-list tail he could pull for HER is the funniest part of the movie.

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Project Mayhem ID: In life I am ur432978. In death, I have a name. My name is AfroGeek.

[–] MariaMitchell 9 years ago

The best comic characters are annoying and flawed but still likeable. UK sitcoms for example - Partridge, Brent..
If you don't have a affection for them then you just don't care.
Schumer's character had no redeeming features whatsoever - I just wanted her to shut up and go away.

[–] Luke_was_a_terrorist 9 years ago

So her being unlikable but with an arc is supposed to make up for the complete lack of comedy?

"We stayed up all night dry humping, it was awful, I think she gave me poison ivy."

[–] ymsimon 8 years ago

You can make a character a complete jerk and still have them be likable. Take Envy Adams in Scott Pilgrim for example. She was a complete jerk, but Brie Larson's performance, combined with Edgar Wright's direction and an amazing script, made Envy Adams, a complete jerk, a LOVABLE, FAN FAVORITE, who also was a MASSIVE SHOW STEALER. Not the case with Amy Townsend in Trainwreck. Judd Apatow isn't the greatest director (he will NEVER top The 40 Year Old Virgin, only excellent film that he directed), and Schumer's script needed some work.

Speaking of Brie Larson, she was SO UNDERUSED in Trainwreck.