Judd Apatow and the “Sensitive Male Agenda”

A new Double X column examines whether Judd Apatow’s films are just “chick-flicks for dudes.” This is a point I’ve been trying to drive home for a while. I do like Apatow’s films. I enjoy their sense of humor, their nostalgia and pop culture sensibility (very few modern films are sharp enough to acknowledge great pop culture of the past), their appreciation for Westside Los Angeles lifestyle (Rogen and Heigl doing their morning after breakfast at the Swingers on Lincoln), and their embrace of Generation X’s adulthood (basically, every Paul Rudd charcter is an early-90’s Ethan Hawke character who has flashed forward to his late-30’s).

But every one of the films breeds an aura of suspicion around the “sensitive male agenda” it promotes. Follow me if you will. Basically, in every Apatow film, a male character (Seth Rogen in Knocked Up or  Jason Segal in Sarah Marshall) finds vindication in his sensitive side and realizes that a life of productivity, responsibility, and vulnerability with women is the remedy for his angst. The guy stops worrying about getting laid, drops his goofy friends to focus on his vocation, and ends up having the girl crawl back to him now that he has asserted his Manly independence.

There’s nothing wrong with promoting the benefits of being productive, independent, and genuine, but some of Apatow’s characters (I’m looking at you Peter Bretter) just get too soapy and wussy about it. The reason Apatow is able to get away with it is that he punctuates his films with moments of unbridled crassness that let us know that while he may be trying to get us to mature, he appreciates the benefits of douchebaggery. In Sarah Marshall he makes sure to make Russell Brand’s character appealing and appreciable. Had he just made him a douchebag, he might as well have cast Meg Ryan in the lead.

So yes,  Judd Apatow’s films are the apotheosis of Generation X’s transition from video game playing slackers to reluctantly mature adults. It’s about time. Those guys are freakin old.