Judd Apatow

NEW YORK — Judd Apatow's "The 40-Year-Old Virgin" spawned one of the most vibrant and successful runs in American comedy — a frantic, four-year era capped by and summed up in the writer/director/producer's latest film, "Funny People."

After the success of "Virgin," Apatow and his comedy cohorts were essentially given the keys to studio lots. Finding themselves green-lit at every turn, the veteran comic and his close-knit group of friends dusted off their previously snubbed screenplays and took advantage of their opportunity with a nonstop flow of films.

In just four years, Apatow has either produced or helped write ten movies, among them "Superbad," "Pineapple Express," "Forgetting Sarah Marshall" and "You Don't Mess With the Zohan." He wrote and directed his "Virgin" follow-up, "Knocked Up." He helped make stars out of Seth Rogen, Jonah Hill and Paul Rudd.

Now, like a politician spending accrued political capital, Apatow has used his leverage to make "Funny People," a plainly ambitious 2-1/2 hour film that has Hollywood wondering if he's overestimated his Midas touch.

"People always say that when they become successful that they'll make their passion project," Apatow said in a recent interview. "But they never do."

For "Funny People," Apatow says he fused two ideas: a story about how surviving a near-death experience changes someone, and an abstract analysis of the nature of a comedian. Adam Sandler plays George Simmons, a famous standup comedian who finds out he has a form of cancer. Seth Rogen plays Ira Wright, a young standup taken in by Simmons.

More than anything, "Funny People" is overflowing with a love for comedy and all the wealth of experiences of a comedian, from nervously starting out to playing to a roaring packed house. It revels in the backstage banter between standups, the subtlety of good joke-telling, the competitive scrap for fame.

The entire film is imbued with Apatow's life — he has called it "a culmination of my journey in comedy." Apatow's wife, Leslie Mann, co-stars as the-girl-that-got-away (from Simmons). Their two young girls, 11-year-old Maude and 6-year-old Iris, play Mann's character's children.

"It's fun to see him grow as a creative person and put those life experiences into his movies," Mann said. "He's not sticking to the formula of `40-Year-Old Virgin.' He's trying new things and experimenting."

"In everything — in the songs that I chose, in the comedians that populate it — I just wanted everything to be personal and intimate," Apatow said.

Mann has seen some change in her husband. Of his circle of friends and performers, she says the conversation has turned from bongs to duvet covers: "Everybody's kind of growing up together."

Ultimately, "Funny People" asks if it's possible to be both a comedian and a healthy person — whether the old stereotype of the angry, insecure comic is true.