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--You have to start with Adam Sandler, who gives the best performance of his career, and perhaps the best of the year so far, as George Simmons. Simmons is an Adam Sandler-type guy, who started out as a stand up comedian then made it big as a movie star. He lives in a huge mansion, has every toy money can buy, and has legions of people who do whatever he asks. On the surface, he's what every young boy wants to be when they grow up. Once small difference: George Simmons is completely miserable, and is miserable to others. What makes Sandler so good is that his George is both despicable and sympathetic: he hates what his life has become, hates himself, but doesn't know how to do anything about it. He's too accustomed to living alone in his huge house with maids and revolving sexual conquests and lackeys who kneel before him. Sandler still makes goofy noises and funny faces, but there's a pathos beneath it, and an edge we've never seen before. He is the sad clown. If you're used to neutered Sandler starring in family-friendly comedies like "Big Daddy" and "Bedtime Stories," this is a whole different ballgame. Simmons is mean, ornery, and can be nasty. What makes it worse is that is nastiness comes with a smile. Let's just say my brain is still fried with the image of Sandler/Simmons having sex with a girl who doing an impression of a character from one of his movies: "Mer Man." Sandler's typical character is a man/boy who refuses to grow up, whereas in this movie he plays a man who's forgotten the wonder and happiness he had as a boy.

--The movie offers what feels like a pretty authentic look at the stand up comedy scene. Lots of young people performing for free hoping to get noticed, working crappy jobs in the interim and sleeping on friends' couches. They're hyper competitive (even though they pretend not to be), and aren't above trying to get closer to stars through ways other than their talent.

--The acting is solid, but I think Apatow needs to start casting other people in his movies. We've seen so much of Seth Rogen recently that it's hard to believe him as 'Ira Wright.' To me he's still Seth Rogen, acting in a Judd Apatow movie. Rogen is very funny, but I also think his role (as a struggling comedian who takes a job as Simmons's assistant/joke writer in the hopes that Simmons's fame will rub off on him) could have used a little more gravitas. Rogen is all wide-eyes and fart/sex jokes, which is fine, but there are scenes toward the end that needed a little more. They do smartly give Rogen's Ira something of a sweet love story, as he is smitten with a droll comedienne named Daisy (the very funny Aubrey Plaza). Their unusual courtship is far more organic than anything Rogen had with Katherine Heigl in "Knocked Up."

--My wife mentioned this last night, and she's totally on the money. Apatow's real life wife, Leslie Mann, should not have played George's love interest, aka 'The One Who Got Away'. Mann is terrific in small roles (i.e. "Knocked Up), but she just doesn't pull off a relatively complicated role that, in many ways, the film's success hinges on. Plus most people know she's Apatow's wife, and so it makes the casting decision seem inauthentic. Apatow's kids are also in the movie (as they were in "Knocked Up"), and while they're cute as buttons between them and the casting of Mann there are portions of the movie that seem remarkably self-indulgent.

--Sandler and Apatow do a great job of conveying the loneliness of celebrity, and how it can steal part of your soul. The movie opens with home videos of the real Sandler playing telephone pranks as a teenager. They're warm, funny, and joyful. Contrasting that with the sullen person George has become is a pretty remarkable transformation. George has everything and yet has nothing--he even has to pay musicians to jam with him because he has no real friends.

--There are some great cameos, including a scene with a hostile Eminem and defensive Ray Romano that had me cracking up. Yes, a scene with Eminem and Ray Romano. Together. That's the comedy equivalent of crossing the streams.

--Eric Bana, whom I normally don't care for, was actually quite good. As Mann's husband, he conveys real charisma and earthiness, perhaps because for the first time in a mainstream movie he uses his real Australian accent and can concentrate on other things. He has a real chemistry with Mann, which makes their scenes work because the audience isn't supposed to be quite sure whether they want them to end up together. Bana comes off as likable, a feat considering his character probably shouldn't be.

--As always, some of the best scenes are the supporting characters just sitting around shooting the breeze (a la the 'You know how you know you're gay' scene in "The 40-Year Old Virgin"). There's a great Thanksgiving dinner scene, some funny scenes with Rogen and Jonah Hill, and Jason Schwartzmann (another actor I haven't cared for in the past) does a funny turn as a young comedian who's found a modicum of fame on a terrible sitcom, and is more than happy to shove it in his friends' faces while using his 'celebrity' to his advantage.

--In the end, this movie is worth seeing for several reasons. Yes, it is too long by half an hour. Yes, the second half feels as much like an Apatow family reunion. But Sandler's performance is truly wonderful, and he deserves to be an early candidate for awards consideration. Though the movie is very long, it does make you laugh constantly and consistently, and even though we've seen Jonah Hill and Seth Rogen in seemingly every movie for the past two years, they're prolific for a reason: They're both darn funny. This is Apatow's most mature, heartfelt and personal movie ever, and thankfully he has a foil in Adam Sandler who gives a heartbeat to it. His character has a mean streak, a nasty edge, that I've never seen Sandler possess before. I can't imagine this movie being half as good without him.