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It's Kind of a Funny Story
There are some issues with story elements and characterizations, but the 2010 comedy drama It's Kind of a Funny Story is rich with enough imagination, style, and panache, that I can forgive some minor inconsistencies.
Craig is a severely depressed Brooklyn teenager who thinks he is suicidal. Taking the suggestion of a suicide hotline, Craig goes to the emergency room of a hospital two blocks from his home at 5:00 AM on a Sunday morning, goes up to the front desk and tells the receptionist that he wants to kill himself, at which time he is nonchalantly handed a form on a clipboard to fill out. Due to some remodeling going on another floor where teenage mental patients are housed, Craig learns he has to stay in the adult psych ward, he decides he's not suicidal after all, but it's too late...he's been checked into the psych ward and he must stay for a minimum of five days to be properly evaluated.
We then get a ringside seat as Craig befriends an adult patient named Bobby, who he initially mistakes for a doctor. We see Craig resist the lure of art class and music appreciation, not to mention dealing with a roommate who refuses to leave his bed and a pretty female patient about his age.
Writer/directors Anna Bolden and Ryan Fleck provide us with a real mixed bag for a screenplay, but there is definitely more good than bad. The idea of a suicidal teenage checking himself into a psych ward is an intriguing idea that I suspect had some personal meaning for Bolden and Fleck. My problem was, from my vantage point, this kid Craig did not have a terrible life and I could never get a handle on what made him so unhappy that he wanted to kill himself. I also wondered about the legitimacy of checking a suicidal teen in a psych ward. I have always had my doubts about feeling suicidal being classified as a mental illness and it seemed like Craig felt the same way. I also would have liked to have seen the Bobby character fleshed out a little more, specifically, what brought him to the psych ward, because the script was very vague about that.
Despite my issues with the basic premise, it plays out in a most entertaining and imaginative way, which includes a clever off screen narration by Craig, amusing fantasy sequences, and enough breaking of the 4th wall that we never forget that we're watching a movie and a movie that never takes itself too seriously. These elements blend beautifully thanks to a sharp directorial eye, with the aid of some very sharp editing (also by Bolden). I especially loved music appreciation class and their take on David Bowie's "Under Pressure."
Keir Gilchrist lights up the screen as Craig and Zach Galifianakis does a brassy, Oscar-worthy turn as the very damaged Bobby. Emma Roberts and Zoe Kravitz make the most of their roles as the women in Craig's life, on opposite sides of the hospital doors. Oscar winner Viola Davis also makes the most of her brief role as the head psychiatrist on the ward, but this film really belongs to Anna Bolden and Ryan Fleck, who display a real gift for cinematic razzle dazzle.
There are some issues with story elements and characterizations, but the 2010 comedy drama It's Kind of a Funny Story is rich with enough imagination, style, and panache, that I can forgive some minor inconsistencies.
Craig is a severely depressed Brooklyn teenager who thinks he is suicidal. Taking the suggestion of a suicide hotline, Craig goes to the emergency room of a hospital two blocks from his home at 5:00 AM on a Sunday morning, goes up to the front desk and tells the receptionist that he wants to kill himself, at which time he is nonchalantly handed a form on a clipboard to fill out. Due to some remodeling going on another floor where teenage mental patients are housed, Craig learns he has to stay in the adult psych ward, he decides he's not suicidal after all, but it's too late...he's been checked into the psych ward and he must stay for a minimum of five days to be properly evaluated.
We then get a ringside seat as Craig befriends an adult patient named Bobby, who he initially mistakes for a doctor. We see Craig resist the lure of art class and music appreciation, not to mention dealing with a roommate who refuses to leave his bed and a pretty female patient about his age.
Writer/directors Anna Bolden and Ryan Fleck provide us with a real mixed bag for a screenplay, but there is definitely more good than bad. The idea of a suicidal teenage checking himself into a psych ward is an intriguing idea that I suspect had some personal meaning for Bolden and Fleck. My problem was, from my vantage point, this kid Craig did not have a terrible life and I could never get a handle on what made him so unhappy that he wanted to kill himself. I also wondered about the legitimacy of checking a suicidal teen in a psych ward. I have always had my doubts about feeling suicidal being classified as a mental illness and it seemed like Craig felt the same way. I also would have liked to have seen the Bobby character fleshed out a little more, specifically, what brought him to the psych ward, because the script was very vague about that.
Despite my issues with the basic premise, it plays out in a most entertaining and imaginative way, which includes a clever off screen narration by Craig, amusing fantasy sequences, and enough breaking of the 4th wall that we never forget that we're watching a movie and a movie that never takes itself too seriously. These elements blend beautifully thanks to a sharp directorial eye, with the aid of some very sharp editing (also by Bolden). I especially loved music appreciation class and their take on David Bowie's "Under Pressure."
Keir Gilchrist lights up the screen as Craig and Zach Galifianakis does a brassy, Oscar-worthy turn as the very damaged Bobby. Emma Roberts and Zoe Kravitz make the most of their roles as the women in Craig's life, on opposite sides of the hospital doors. Oscar winner Viola Davis also makes the most of her brief role as the head psychiatrist on the ward, but this film really belongs to Anna Bolden and Ryan Fleck, who display a real gift for cinematic razzle dazzle.