reviewer Dexter Kong
Rated: 15 (UK)
Drector: Anna Boden, Ryan Fleck
Cast:Keir Gilchrist, Zach Galifianakis and Emma Roberts
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It’s Kind of a Funny Story is kind of an aptly title for the movie. It centres around Craig (Kier Gilchrist) a depressive teen who thinks about suicide, possibly because of an over active thought process or possibly because he feels the need to explain everything through exposition (of the “hold up a second, let me stop to explain”, kind). So he checks himself in to a psychiatric clinic where he is put in to the adult ward and invariably has to spend a week there on watch.
Zach Galafinakis, most often thought of and typecast as the funny portly fellow in ‘that comedy movie’, takes a somewhat grounded & more dramatic turn as Bobby. Bobby is the resident sane but actually insane patient who takes Craig under his wing. This is the kind of role I would like to see Galafinakis tackle more as he is able to flex his acting muscle & portrait a maturity of emotional depth, this is his Eternal Sunshine.
The character of Noelle (Emma Roberts) for me felt like a MacGuffin, someone there not really explained at all to lead Craig through the film. She is supposedly an emotionally damaged teen who self harms for an unexplained reason & apparently likes Craig & Vampire Weekend. This much can be garnered from the film
Although it seems these people have real issues they are almost treated as quirks. Eating disorders, self harm… there is never any true resolve as the ending supposedly wants to offer or lead us to believe. Instead we are given what felt like an instantaneous response, problem solved. In the end, it feels like the kind of conclusion Craig comes to could have been dealt with by a slap & some actual advice from his overly quirky parents.
This film does have the makings of what could be a good film but the directing team of Ryan Fleck & Anna Boden fail to impart any type of personal style or uniqueness, leaving it feeling like the illegitimate child of Juno and 500 days of Summer who was raised by One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest.
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