Official Synopsis:
At their lakeside vacation home, Ann (Naomi Watts), George (Tim Roth) and their son have unexpected visitors: two well-spoken, well-bred young men wearing polite smiles and preppy sportswear. The visitors want to play a game. "You bet that you'll be alive tomorrow at 9:00, and we bet that you'll be dead. Ok?" In this stark thriller based on his acclaimed 1997 film of the same title, director Michael Haneke creates an ever-tightening sense of suspense balanced on a knife's edge between icy fear and shocking surprise. As the terrorized family fights to survive, each plan is thwarted, each option closed, each hour closer to what could be the last. Brutal games. Twisted games. Life-or-death games. Funny Games. Want to play?

  
Our Take:
Everything I’ve heard about Funny Games so far has focused on a few things: the controversial brutality of the film, the fourth-wall breaking character who addresses the audience directly, and the fact that the film is designed by director Michael Haneke to make you think about why you like watching movies in which terrible things happen to good people.

Here’s what I got from the movie: a really intense thriller made with little-to-none of the conventions of a typical Hollywood horror film. And that’s about it.

For all the talk about Michael Pitt’s character breaking the fourth wall and addressing the audience, I was surprised to find out that it happens only twice throughout the film. I expected a much more frank dialogue between character and audience, and instead it almost seems like a throwaway device. As for making me question my feelings about horror/suspense movies, well, it just didn’t happen. Maybe I’m thick, or maybe Haneke failed in his goals, or maybe he just wanted to make a really good movie with a lot less subtext than people are reading into; I’m not really sure. But after I finished watching the film, I found myself reflecting on the cinematography, the editing, and the complete and utter lack of a musical score (which works to brilliant effect) rather than attempting to decipher my own psyche.

Perhaps it’s because of the lack of on-screen brutality that I didn’t have that reaction. Unlike the Hostel or Saw movies, which I have little use for as I don’t revel in gore-filled flicks, there is only one scene of onscreen violence in Funny Games. Everything else happens off screen. Not only is it fantastically refreshing not to have to watch blood splatter endlessly throughout a film, but it really increases the tension and it lessens my need to question myself. I don’t enjoy watching people get tortured. That’s why I liked this film so much; I never had to watch unnecessary bloodletting.

There is one scene in the movie that is clearly designed to make you think; I’ll just say that it has to do with a remote control. It’s a bit of a head-scratcher, and it’s seemingly addressed shortly after in a dialogue between the two villains in the film. Frankly, it’s the kind of thing I could have dissected and spent days or weeks pondering; the metaphysical versus the real vs. the fictional. But I didn’t feel the need to after watching Funny Games. It’s an incredibly intense and exciting (on a filmmaking level) movie; I watched it, I enjoyed it, and now I’m moving on. You can view it however you like, but don’t be surprised if it’s not nearly as introspective as you’re expecting.

Unfortunately, Warner Brothers has turned in a pretty weak effort with the Funny Games DVD, as It has no extra features whatsoever. Maybe the filmmakers didn’t want to address the issues of the film and instead prefer to let you draw your own conclusions, but some sort of extra feature would have been nice. There isn’t even a trailer.

Director Michael Haneke has crafted a minor masterpiece of the suspense genre with Funny Games. Granted, that isn’t saying a lot as the genre is oftentimes filled with crap movies. However, the fact that the movie is so silent and still, yet never dull and not for a moment un-suspenseful, is an indication of real talent at work. Any other deeper meaning is up to you to figure out.

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Overall Picture:
Movie: A-
DVD: C-

- Mike Spring

Editor