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Funny Games, 2007

Funny Games

English

USA, France, UK, Austria, Germany, Italy

Rating:6.3
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Profile of Funny Games

The mood of Funny Games is disturbing, tense, and rough. The plot centers around a murderous pair, a family in danger, and a violence spree. It is an independent, thriller, and horror movie. In approach, Funny Games is serious and realistic. It takes place, at least partly, indoors. It happens in contemporary times. Funny Games is a remake. The movie is known for being controversial. Note that it includes profanity and violent content.

Summary of Funny Games

In 1997, writer-director Michael Haneke (CACHE) made the controversial Austrian thriller, FUNNY GAMES, about two young men who terrorize a family on vacation. A decade later, Haneke was convinced by producer Chris Coen to bring the story to America, filming a nearly word-for-word, shot-for-shot English-language version, even re-creating the locations and sets as obsessively as possible. Shortly after Ann (Naomi Watts), George (Tim Roth), and Georgie (Devon Gearhart) arrive in their country home, Peter (Brady Corbet), an eerily polite young man dressed all in white, including odd white gloves, appears on the doorstep, asking Ann if he can borrow some eggs for their neighbor. Peter is joined by Paul (Michael Pitt), and the Leopold-and-Loeb-like duo are soon doing horrible things to Ann, George, and Georgie, torturing them both physically and psychologically (nearly all the violence occurs off-screen), for no apparent reason other than they can, referring to the whole thing as a game. And the biggest game of all is whether the family will be alive at the end. FUNNY GAMES is an intense experience, driven by Haneke's careful manipulation of both the film itself and the audience. He's trying to shake up the viewer, even having Paul address the audience directly several times, with Paul fully aware of what he is doing and how the audience is most likely responding. And in one unforgettable scene, Haneke pulls the cathartic rug right out from under the viewer, playing with the actual medium of cinema in an infuriating and ingenious way. Roth and Watts give outstanding performances as the victims, matched by Pitt and Corbet's deeply unsettling creepiness. Just as Peter and Paul (who also call themselves Tom and Jerry and Beavis and Butt-Head) alternate between calm and violent, the soundtrack alternates between classical music by Handel, Mozart, and others and hardcore punk from John Zorn and Naked City. Though difficult to watch, FUNNY GAMES is ultimately a rewarding and illuminating film, though not for the squeamish.

Details

Language: English
Country: USA, France, UK, Austria, Germany, Italy
Release date: 19 January 2008
Runtime: 111 min

Cast and Crew

Naomi Watts as Ann in Funny Games
Naomi Watts

as Ann

Michael Pitt as Paul in Funny Games
Michael Pitt

as Paul

Tim Roth as George in Funny Games
Tim Roth

as George

Brady Corbet as Peter in Funny Games
Brady Corbet

as Peter

Photos

Funny Games (2007)
Funny Games (2007)
Funny Games (2007)
Funny Games (2007)
Funny Games (2007)
Funny Games (2007)
Funny Games (2007)
Funny Games (2007)
Funny Games (2007)
Funny Games (2007)
Funny Games (2007)
Funny Games (2007)

Clips

Funny Games
Funny Games: Official Trailer
Funny Games
Funny Games: Home Video
Funny Games
Funny Games: Official Trailer
Funny Games
Funny Games: House wife's choice

Critics Reviews

Philadelphia Inquirer
Watts, who is one of the film's executive producers, brings a taut intelligence to the proceedings, but her character, like Roth's, is more archetype than actual person.
Entertainment Weekly
Can a movie be gripping and repellent at the same time? In Funny Games, a mockingly sadistic and terrifying watch-the-middle-class-writhe-like-stuck-pigs thriller, the director Michael Haneke puts his characters in a vise, and the audience too.

Users Reviews

This was well acted but a terribly boring movie. It was not suspenseful most of the time. The only part was when the boy is trying to hide. The rewinding was ridiculous and stupid. Very unrealistic.
I find it rather amusing how many negative reviews this film has gotten - based on the point of the movie. People have been saying that it is too sadomasochistic and despairing, and that the only point is apparently brutality. Well, the movie is...
Likely to see
Not for me

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