Who's afraid of Judd Apatow?

“Once I spent my time playing tough guy scenes
But I was living in a world of childish dreams
Someday these childish dreams must end
To become a man and grow up to dream again”
-- Bruce Springsteen, “Two Hearts” (1980)

Judd Apatow makes movies about what good people do with a second chance. He may not be our best filmmaker, but he’s certainly the most humane. I’m with The Boss in believing that that counts for something.

APKatherine Heigl

Since 2005, Apatow has written and directed two movies — “The 40-Year-Old Virgin” and “Knocked Up” — and facilitated countless others including, “Step Brothers,” “Superbad,” “Forgetting Sarah Marshall,” “The TV Set” and “Anchorman.” On television, he created the brilliant but short-lived “Freaks and Geeks” and “Undeclared.” Prior to that, he produced “The Larry Sanders Show,” still the best program in television history.

Apatow is, by all accounts, a warm and gregarious individual, but success in Hollywood breeds untold resentments. Over the past two years, he’s been called out by Katherine Heigl, who called “Knocked Up” sexist, and by former “Freaks and Geeks” scribe Mike White, who objected to Apatow’s portrayal of gay characters. In 2007, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Science turned down his membership application. (He was subsequently admitted in 2008 and produced a short film for the Academy Awards last March.) His protégés have struggled at the box office in recent months, as pictures like “Year One” and “Observe and Report” sank without a trace. Apatow’s newest movie, “Funny People,” opens Friday and stars Adam Sandler, but it seems even the presence of one of America’s top box-office draws hasn’t been enough to stop the Apatow backlash. Earlier this week, Sharon Waxman of TheWrap reported that Universal wants Apatow to cut a half hour from the film’s 150-minute running time.

APBilly Wilder

I’m not exactly sure what people like Heigl and White expect from their former collaborator. Like his spiritual forefathers Billy Wilder and James L. Brooks, Apatow’s focus is on how men are changed by women. The women aren’t central; the change is. Heigl is right to say her character in “Knocked Up” is underdeveloped, but the criticism is irrelevant. The movie isn’t about her, the same way “The Apartment” isn’t about Shirley MacLaine, and “As Good As It Gets” isn’t about Helen Hunt. These are coming-of-age stories, set in middle-age. Apatow’s movies aren’t making fun of women and gays; they’re making fun of how little the characters know about women and gays.

That somebody out there considers us capable of redemption is reason enough to keep hope alive. Lonely hearts find takers every day. Judd Apatow is living proof.

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