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Wrecking Ball

Appearances aside, "Trainwreck" is a conventional romantic comedy. Its only real twist is swapping in a female trainwreck for the usual male one. There is never any doubt of its lead character reaching the light at the end of the tunnel (for a darker variation, see Charlize Theron in "Young Adult").

Magazine writer Amy (Amy Schumer) lives a hedonistic lifestyle of boozy banging, having internalized her dad's (Colin Quinn) childhood advice. There's a 1975 flashback of Amy and her sister Kim (Brie Larson) chanting his mantra: "monogamy is unrealistic" (at least he taught them big words). Her casual life gets complicated when she falls for the subject of her next story, sports doctor Aaron Conners (Bill Hader).

Hader is surprisingly good playing it straight, and the chemistry with Schumer seems genuinely affectionate. Tilda Swinton, as Amy's editor Dianna, is the movie's brightest light, which may be why she is used sparingly. Her performance is the fire to Meryl Streep's ice in "The Devil Wears Prada".

LeBron James (as himself, but not quite acting his self) is Aaron's friend and over-protective giver of advice (and big "Downtown Abbey" fan). He proves to be comically as well as athletically gifted, most efficiently in a scene of one-on-one basketball with Hader. Many real-life athletes and sports personalities (and other entertainers) make cameos, with mixed results. The movie would have benefitted by trimming some of the inexplicable scenes from the inspired ones.

As screenwriter, Schumer created herself a versatile role, and she is up to the challenge, building upon her Comedy Central persona. The laughs alternate with more sobering events, sometimes coexisting within the same scene. To say this is one of Judd Apatow's best movies, while true, is misleading. Apatow may be the director of "Trainwreck," but Schumer is the conductor.