Funny Games (1997)

After the painful episode of having to watch and review Fanny and Alexander, it's time I reviewed something funny. How about Funny Games? The word "funny" is right there in the title! This should be awesome.

And it was! What a fantastic example of a dark comedy. The only bits I did not care for were the long drawn out bouts of tension where nothing really happens. It was like watching one of those cooking reality shows right before the winning dish is revealed.

The story is about a rich family who go to their vacation home and are attacked and manipulated by a pair of sadistic creeps. I did not like how one of them took to beating people with the golf club. That is a $400 driver, why would you destroy such a beautiful piece of equipment?

Why don't I feel sorry for the family? They had so many opportunities to get away or ask for help and they didn't take it. They have no idea how to defend themselves. I will not hesitate to beat someone with my cane should the need arise. Seriously, even my sister takes krav maga classes. True story: she bet her son, my nephew, $0.50 that he could not kick her in the head. He is now a proud owner of 50 cents. But at least she's trying. The father tells them to take their money and leave, but they don't want money. He asks why don't they just hurry up and kill them. I was like, "for real, I want to go to bed already." The boys answer that they can't because the movie hasn't reached feature film length yet. 

The best part was the breaking of the fourth wall moments, as if the boys were asking my permission to carry out their mayhem. I wondered if they could see me too, and answered thusly:

Near the end, the mother grabs the gun and shoots one of the boys! Hooray she finally was able to save herself. Then the other boy frantically searches for the remote control. I wondered, "Why? Is he going to smack her with it?" But no. He uses it to rewind the entire scene to before his partner was shot. I was like "Oh my god, that was priceless".  Now that both boys are alive again, they can continue their killing spree. Then they go on this existential tangent about reality, and how some realities differ from others. Yes, that's why I shouldn't feel bad about these people dying; they're not real. And to them, I'm not real. That blew my mind so much I had to go take a hot shower. This movie gets a 7/10.