Stephen King labeled it one of his favorite films of the year in his Entertainment Weekly column but I don’t see the appeal of writer/director Michael Haneke’s U.S. remake of his own film FUNNY GAMES (2007). Having never seen the original and going only by rumors that the remake is an exact copy of the original with some small differences (ala THE OMEN remake) I was expecting something in line with the French film ILS (aka THEM), which has a similar story line. What I got was something far inferior.
FUNNY GAMES is the story of Ann and George (Naomi Watts and Tim Roth, respectively) who are on their way to their vacation home with their son Georgia (Devon Gearhart). No long after they arrive they are greeted by two strangers (played by Michael Pitt & Brady Corbet) claiming to be friends of their neighbors. When Ann has a slight altercation with one of the two strangers she soon come to the realization that this is all a game the strangers are playing on them to determine if they will survive the night or not. If you’ve seen the previously mentions ILS or the more recent THE STRANGERS then you generally know the whole story of what will happen next, but unlike those two films this film is neither a horror film nor a suspense-thriller; it is more a comedy of errors if nothing else.
The film has an impressive cast in Watts and Roth and Pitt I’ll admit but with the exception of Pitt the entire cast is underused. With an unknown cast this might have faired well but with such accomplished actors as Roth and Watts, who both do almost nothing of interest in the entire film, it just comes off as bland and uninteresting. Another fault with the film is to diffuse all the violence in the film with comedic moments (SPOILER ALERT – Do not read anymore if you don’t want to know more details of the film’s plot, but if you don’t really care then read on.), such as when Georgia is killed. When little Georgia is killed you’re watching Paul (Pitt) making a sandwich in the kitchen. It should be a tense moment, especially when it’s a child being killed, but instead the scene comes off as being comedic. Both George and Ann’s death’s are unaffecting as by the end of the end you want them to die since they keep making stupid mistakes while crying every moment they get. I was happy to see them die when they did because I was at my whit’s end. Let’s not even get into the whole killer talking back to the audience thing or the fact that the killers can rewind back time when ever things don’t go their way.
The most violent scene in the film is when Ann gets the upper hand and kills Peter (Corbet), but then Paul rewinds the film in order to prevent his accomplice from dying. An interesting plot device which is sort of set up when the killers are the only ones that can talk back to the audience but this comes off as a “cheat” that as soon as it happens you realize that you should just through in the towel because all logic in the film has just been thrown out the window (ala the twist ending to HIGH TENSION).
The film had the potential to be an art house classic (as I’m sure the original comes closer to being) but this big budget remake that’s too clean for its own good just comes off as Hollywood trash with a great looking cast. Nothing in the film is striking or even original and was better done in both ILS and THE STRANGERS.
FUNNY GAMES is the story of Ann and George (Naomi Watts and Tim Roth, respectively) who are on their way to their vacation home with their son Georgia (Devon Gearhart). No long after they arrive they are greeted by two strangers (played by Michael Pitt & Brady Corbet) claiming to be friends of their neighbors. When Ann has a slight altercation with one of the two strangers she soon come to the realization that this is all a game the strangers are playing on them to determine if they will survive the night or not. If you’ve seen the previously mentions ILS or the more recent THE STRANGERS then you generally know the whole story of what will happen next, but unlike those two films this film is neither a horror film nor a suspense-thriller; it is more a comedy of errors if nothing else.
The film has an impressive cast in Watts and Roth and Pitt I’ll admit but with the exception of Pitt the entire cast is underused. With an unknown cast this might have faired well but with such accomplished actors as Roth and Watts, who both do almost nothing of interest in the entire film, it just comes off as bland and uninteresting. Another fault with the film is to diffuse all the violence in the film with comedic moments (SPOILER ALERT – Do not read anymore if you don’t want to know more details of the film’s plot, but if you don’t really care then read on.), such as when Georgia is killed. When little Georgia is killed you’re watching Paul (Pitt) making a sandwich in the kitchen. It should be a tense moment, especially when it’s a child being killed, but instead the scene comes off as being comedic. Both George and Ann’s death’s are unaffecting as by the end of the end you want them to die since they keep making stupid mistakes while crying every moment they get. I was happy to see them die when they did because I was at my whit’s end. Let’s not even get into the whole killer talking back to the audience thing or the fact that the killers can rewind back time when ever things don’t go their way.
The most violent scene in the film is when Ann gets the upper hand and kills Peter (Corbet), but then Paul rewinds the film in order to prevent his accomplice from dying. An interesting plot device which is sort of set up when the killers are the only ones that can talk back to the audience but this comes off as a “cheat” that as soon as it happens you realize that you should just through in the towel because all logic in the film has just been thrown out the window (ala the twist ending to HIGH TENSION).
The film had the potential to be an art house classic (as I’m sure the original comes closer to being) but this big budget remake that’s too clean for its own good just comes off as Hollywood trash with a great looking cast. Nothing in the film is striking or even original and was better done in both ILS and THE STRANGERS.
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