IT’S KIND OF A FUNNY STORY
Written & Directed by Ryan Fleck and Anna Boden
Produced by Kevin Misher & Ben Browning
Released by Focus Features
USA. 101 min. Rated PG-13
With Keir Gilchrist, Zach Galifianakis, Emma Roberts, Lauren Graham, Jim Gaffigan, Dana De Vestern, Aasif Mandvi, Zoë Kravitz, Thomas Mann, Viola Davis & Bernard White
 

Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck have an energy that doesn’t go unnoticed. Lately, the term “indie” too often means that nothing much happens, so when a pair of directors continually excites and confounds us with their work, something feels different. That said, It’s Kind of a Funny Story has far too little “indie” in it. What it has instead are the usual trappings associated with films that are still embraced by a fringe audience yet tolerated by a wider one.

There’s an element of satire with the constant mention of bullet points like Iran and the Patriot Act as well as stylized flashbacks that range in their resemblances from Wes Anderson films to MTV’s Cribs. The cultural references remain on the surface, though, and attest more to the filmmakers’ social awareness than to any desire to subvert the form, let alone to deconstruct it. What we have is neither a Wes Anderson film nor a parody of one, yet we can’t help but feel like either might have been more fulfilling. This is an example of unconventional directors tackling a more conventional project and landing somewhere in the middle.

Zach Galifianakis is the main draw as Bobby, a committed psychiatric patient and jokester with something of a Cuckoo’s Nest complex. It’s the first of hopefully more dramatic roles for him, a departure from the perpetual play-dumb persona that seems to accompany not only his work but his off-screen antics as well. The silly Galifianakis we’ve come to know distracts us momentarily here, until we realize there’s actually a sensitive man under an obnoxious exterior.

Newcomer Keir Gilchrist puts in a fine effort as high-schooler Craig, an unlikely in-patient reassigned to the adult floor during hospital renovations. There’s a required five-day minimum stay, especially for those who check themselves in during moments of personal crisis after mentioning suicide. Five days in the nuthatch? Let the mayhem ensue. However many jokes there are in this script, there is a very real and scary specter hanging over everyone, but the dark themes just don’t jive. Whereas One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest works well as a serious drama with a dark sense of humor, Funny Story is a funny story with bi-polar disorder.

Formula is overused and under-examined in this film, pitting the straight man against a host of goofballs and gags, with a predictable friendship blossoming between a pair of lonely, mismatched souls. There’s also an unsettlingly lopsided (and unfortunately far too familiar) romance between Craig and Noelle (Emma Roberts), where the insecure boy miraculously gets the girl with nary an obstacle. Insert pretty love interest here. “What I would do to be you for just a day,” Bobby admits to the younger Craig in a moment of catharsis. Agreed. Additionally, I’ve noticed these comedies always seem to have some left-field criteria for a climax. In this case, everything comes together for Craig when he coughs up the dough for a floor-wide pizza party, realizes his life is actually better than he thought, and… convinces his Egyptian roommate to dance? Now the circle is complete.

So the directing team that brought us the pivotal Half Nelson (2006) and the bold, if not envelope-pushing Sugar (2008) has lost a little cred on this one. Conventional film or not, there are lots of fun details here at least, and for Galifianakis alone, it’s worth a watch. Other than that, I’m sorry to report a poor diagnosis. Michael Lee
October 10, 2010