‘It’s Kind of a Funny Story’

 

2/5 Popcorns

 

In keeping with its title, ‘It’s Kind of a Funny Story’ is kind of an odd production. Married directing duo Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck adopt an uninteresting premise and infuse it with just enough humor to keep it engaging.

 

The characters are walking clichés, but they’re soulful enough to merit the audience’s attention. The subject matter is banal, to say the least. However, Boden and Fleck are skilled-enough filmmakers who enrapture their audience in stretches that any other director would have turned into bumbling messes.

 

While the picture cannot be written off as a failure, it certainly constitutes a step back for the talented young filmmakers. Boden and Fleck directed Ryan Gosling to an Oscar nomination in ‘Half Nelson’ (2006) and eloquently portrayed the manipulation of immigrants in American sport in their acclaimed drama, ‘Sugar’ (2009). While gripping in stretches, ‘It’s Kind of a Funny Story’ is not nearly as incisive or mature as their prior works, lacking the gritty grace that made them so compelling in their previous film adventures.

 

Recognizing the depth of his inexplicable depression, 16-year-old Craig (Keir Gilchrist) independently checks himself into a psychiatric ward at the hospital. Craig finds the psychiatric hospital actually provides a unique solace from his home life, where he is overwhelmed with depressing current events and an important summer school application. He immediately befriends Bobby (Zack Galifianakis), one of the longest-tenured and wisest patients, and takes a liking to the unstable Noelle (Emma Roberts), whose boldness he finds irresistible.

 

In becoming comfortable as a somewhat stable mental patient, Craig becomes the Randle McMurphy (from ‘One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest’) of the ward. He interacts with his peers in an exceptionally mature, if passive, manner and gains their respect as he gets back in touch with reality.

 

For a film in which nearly every character is deeply disturbed, the picture has very little drama to speak of. Even though the film might position itself as a comedy, there is hardly any conflict churning the action, with lighthearted moments following one another in a seemingly endless procession. The filmmakers, who are usually so eager to subject their antiheroes to great gobs of torment, do not care to dig deep to reveal some degree of depth in each character in this movie.

 

Gilchrist is decent in his first major screen role, but it’s Galifianakis who owns the picture. In a slightly less comedic turn, Galifianakis is alternately sweet, distressed and upsettingly angry. Few actors are more watchable than Galifianakis, whose serious nature allows him to ease comfortably into heart-wrenching drama. Unfortunately, the filmmakers offer just one heart-wrenching scene, and it occurs in the middle of the picture.

 

A slew of diverting animation sequences and an eclectic musical number are enjoyable and unpretentious, though they’re not indicative of the filmmakers’ talents. In past works, Boden and Fleck did not need to rely on any sorts of glitzy cinematic flourishes. ‘It’s Kind of a Funny Story’ is not a film one would expect from Boden and Fleck. The situations the principal characters are embroiled in are not sufficiently engrossing, and they have nothing meaningful to communicate.

 

Boden and Fleck may have regressed as filmmakers, but the film is not lacking in entertainment value. The writing is rather sharp, and the characters, despite being underdeveloped, are highly likable. Had Boden and Fleck cared to amplify the drama in many of their interesting, secondary storylines, rather than bother with unneeded indulgences, they could have avoided being chastised for betraying their own style.

 

smlittma@syr.edu