A kid walks into a hospital and says he's thinking about killing himself. So the doctors have him committed. Okay, that joke wasn't exactly a laugh riot, but neither is It's Kind of a Funny Story. The film was produced by Focus Features, Universal's art house arm and like most pictures with an indie flavor, centers around emotionally damaged characters. With a score by Broken Social Scene, Funny Story is One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest tailored to the MySpace generation.
Craig (Keir Gilchrist) is a 16-year old, New York City kid who seems to have his life in order. He attends a prestigious high school, gets good grades, and comes from a loving family. Yet, he suffers from depression and stress-induced vomiting. He pines for Nia (Zoe Kravitz), the girlfriend of his best friend, Aaron (Thomas Mann). Consumed by thoughts of suicide, Craig checks into a hospital hoping for a quick fix. Instead, he's admitted into the psych ward for an observational period of five days.
Craig finds himself surrounded by an assortment of oddballs and eccentrics. From a schizophrenic who utters seemingly random things to a Hasidic Jew who consumed too much acid and has an aversion to loud noises. He shares a room with an Egyptian man named Muqtada (Bernard White) who is the movie's version of Kesey's silent Chief. He hardly ever gets out of bed and never steps foot outside his room. Craig befriends Noelle (Emma Roberts), committed for self-mutilation, and Bobby (Zach Galifianakis in a dramatic twist on his man-child persona), a big teddy bear with unkempt hair. Bobby swipes doctor's scrubs and takes Craig on wacky adventures around the hospital.
The asylum of Funny Story is hardly the foreboding, soul-crushing institution that served as the setting for Cuckoo's Nest. There's no Nurse Ratched ruling the ward with an iron fist. Here, you have the new age-y named Dr. Eden Minerva (Viola Davis) and Smitty (Jeremy Davies), a hipster volunteer with a pork pie hat.
It's Kind of a Funny Story was based on the semi-autobiographical novel by Ned Vizzini and adapted for the screen by the filmmaking duo of Ryan Fleck and Anna Boden. The pair were responsible for two amazing films in Half-Nelson and Sugar. So it comes as a slight disappointment that Funny Story never reaches those same heights. Half-Nelson featured Ryan Gosling in an incredible performance as an inner city high school teacher struggling with drug addiction. It managed to avoid the cloying sentimentalism of overrated schmaltz like Dead Poets Society. Sugar was about both baseball and the immigrant's experience and not at all what you'd expect from a sports movie. Unlike its predecessors, Funny Story is unable to escape the trappings of familiarity and predictability. Craig forges unlikely bonds with his fellow patients and they all learn valuable life lessons from each other.
Fleck and Boden further hamper the formulaic story with a series of voiceovers and fantasy sequences. On occasion, the action freezes so Craig can narrate his thoughts and feelings. He not only breaks the fourth wall, but breaks a primary screenwriting rule of show, not tell.
Rating: **
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