November 12, 2015 -- I skipped this movie when it was in the local theaters (too busy at the time) but I'd heard it was good. Turns out it is pretty funny, although it did make me uncomfortable several times. It is a romantic comedy with “Sex in the City” overtones.

This Judd Apatow (“Knocked Up”) romantic comedy written by stand up comic Amy Schumer (“Amy Schumer: Mostly Sex Stuff”) is pretty raunchy with a lot of (non-explicit) sex scenes, hence the “Sex in the City” vibe. Schumer, who also stars in this film as Amy Townsend, an alcoholic, weed-smoking magazine staff writer, seems to be having sex most of the time with a string of disposable men (in one scene she has sex in an alley with her back up against a dumpster). When she's not actually doing it, she is talking about sex the rest of the time (the dialog is rife with obscenities). But then, as the old song goes, she fooled around and fell in love.

On assignment with a surgeon specializing in sports medicine, Dr. Aaron Connors (Bill Hader of “The Skeleton Twins”) is attracted to her, so she immediately has sex with him. Connors continues to pursue her, despite her attempts to dissuade him. Amy considers herself unworthy of a worthy man, who Dr. Connors definitely is. She convinces herself that he will dump her and this becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Connors and Amy go their separate ways. Connors is depressed and Amy goes into a self-destructive spiral of drinking and partying, trying to convince herself that she is free and happy. Deep down, she knows that she blew it. In a spectacular crash and burn, she loses her job after a wild night of partying with an underage magazine intern (Ezra Miller of “The Perks of Being a Wallflower,” who is not really underage, by the way). When she hits bottom, she decides to turn her life around.

The film has a number of famous athletes in it, since Dr. Connors is in the sports medicine business. The one with the biggest role is basketball superstar LeBron James, who appears in the film as himself. He is good enough that he should be able to find plenty of work in Hollywood after he retires from basketball. James is concerned for Dr. Connors emotional well being. He advises Amy not to hurt Dr. Connors, and arranges an emotional intervention with Dr. Connors after the split with Amy. The intervention, narrated by sports announcer Marv Albert, is forced and awkward, to say the least.

Wrestler John Cena, who starred in the action film “Marine,” plays Amy's regular boyfriend Steven early in the film, and has one of the funnier sex scenes with Amy, as well as a forced, awkward comedy scene in a movie theater, where he and Amy bicker aloud while watching a fake black and white art film about a dog walker, starring Marisa Tomei and Daniel Radcliffe.

A more interesting relationship is between Amy and her father, Gordon Townsend (Colin Quinn of “Grown Ups”). Gordon has one of the movie's funniest scenes, rationalizing his womanizing and divorce to his children. At Gordon's funeral, Amy gives a strange, funny, and very emotional speech about her father. Amy's boss (Tilda Swinton of “The Grand Budapest Hotel”) is a study in self-absorbed social awkwardness and irresponsible journalism. She has one of the funniest lines in the movie at Gordon's funeral after Amy's heartfelt speech (“This makes me wish they'd found my father's remains”).

Having Bill Hader as the straight, serious romantic lead in the film seems like strange casting, but he does a fine job with this role. He and Amy make a fine romantic couple. Amy's sister, Kim (Brie Larson of “Short Term 12”) is happily married, pregnant, and a source of constant irritation to Amy, who can't even admit to herself that she wants what her sister has.

This is one of those hit and miss comedies where Apatow and Schumer throw a lot of comic ideas onto the screen. Some work, some don't, but I did laugh a lot in between those awkward scenes that didn't quite seem to work (like those awkward jokes about racism). This film rates a B.

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