IESB Presents - FilmGeekz.com - Funny Games

Funny Games - Review

DVD Reviews

Studio: Warner Bros.
Genre: Horror • Thriller
Street Date: June 10, 2008
Director: Michael Haneke
Number of Discs: 1
MPAA Rating: R
Cast: • Naomi Watts
• Tim Roth
• Michael Pitt
• Brady Corbet
• Devon Gearhart
Running Time: 107 minutes
Format: Standard

DVD Specs: Video: Widescreen 2.40:1 Color (Anamorphic), Standard 1.33:1 Color

Audio: ENGLISH: Dolby Digital 5.1 [CC], SPANISH: Dolby Digital 5.1, FRENCH: Dolby Digital 5.1

Subtitles: English, Spanish, French
Special Features: N/A
Version: Standard
Store Exclusives: Free Comic Book Featuring "Jet Girl"..or not I could be making that up...you figure out the meaning.
Review: Was this a horror movie or some social commentary about country club kids gone crazy?

Oh I get what they were going for in this one, setting out to make some artsy blood fable set in what should be a perfect rich stark white world. A movie where you are suppose to be frightened how creepy calm and polite these two killers are and how it’s all just some silly little game to them. Like some sterile version of The Devils Rejects with some Donnie Darko sprinkled on top just for fun (and zero effect).

Like I said I get what they were going for but what I don’t get is just how something so simple with clearly some talented people in front and behind the camera could go so far wrong.

Oh let me count the ways….

First and foremost it’s not thrilling or scary it’s just plain mind numbingly boring. Even at it’s quickest pace this thing is like watching a couple of ninety year olds in an aluminum walker race. To make it worse are dozens upon dozens of far wide camera shots where you cannot see or hear a damn thing, which would be ok if they served a purpose…nope sorry.

Secondly the villains in this plot are two weasel faced little country club douche bags with delusions of eloquence. Eloquent bullshit aside both these guys look like they’d get their asses handed to them by a mime with a wooden leg. While the leader of the two had some moments where you could see that scary little something behind the eyes, the second stringer just reminded me of the tool that everyone knows from high school…you know the one I mean, the guy people humor because he can sometimes pull off and interesting conversation but otherwise walks around with a toothbrush in his mouth all day long in one of his many attempts to seem remotely interesting.

Thirdly the victims (I mean the characters in the film not you people watching it) have so many chances to just grab something….anything as a weapon and just end this charade. It keeps anyone from getting invested in the film and give cause to begin wondering if these people just don’t deserve their fates for being so lame.

I really enjoy Naomi Watts and Tim Roth and in this they did what they could and you can see they gave it their all and believed in this script but not even their combined talents could pull this one off.

Now thrown into all this mix Paul (the lead killer) starts talking to the camera, and then when things don’t go his way grabs the TV remote and rewinds the film for a different outcome. The only explanation I could find is a conversation about fictional realities a scene or two later. I’d dive into this a bit deeper but the whole thing felt so forced into the events just for the sake of being trippy and give people on the internet something to debate. Good luck with that.

Sadly this is one of those movies that frustrate me not because they are bad but because it’s like reaching for something on your tip toes and it’s just a fraction of an inch out of reach.

I’ll give this an A+ for effort but a serious F- for the result. With any luck as I said these talented people can learn from this and come back swinging.
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