Review - "It's Kind of a Funny Story"

Every so often a movie buff such as myself will come across a movie they know little to nothing about but go to see it just because.... well, they are movie buffs and that's what happens. Usually the film isn't anything special or why wouldn't they know more about it? Every once in a while they find a diamond in the ruff as I did this past Saturday morning.

A little gem of a movie has opened with very little fanfare or advertising and what little advertising there has been has been quite mis-leading. This sleeper is called It's Kind of a Funny Story and it can best be described as a teenage version of the classic One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest. I hope that doesn't turn you, the reader, off but that's what it is. And let me say it is a delightful, thought provoking, sometimes very funny and sometimes very touching movie.

Keir Gilchrist, heretofore an unknown to me, plays Craig, a troubled teenager who, as the movie opens, walks into a hospital emergency room one early Sunday morning looking for help. Craig is suffering from depression and has suicidal thoughts and dreams, particularly dreams of jumping off the Brooklyn Bridge that are always interrupted by the sudden appearance of his parents and little sister up on the bridge with him. Craig figures he can get some medication to feel better (he has been seeing a therapist but quit using the medication prescribed) but Craig is a teenager, unwise sometimes to how the world really works and is soon in for a surprise.

While waiting he strikes up a conversation with a man wearing doctor's clothing but soon realizes the man is not what he claims to be. The man is played by Zack Galifianakis (best known as the fat, bearded friend in The Hangover) and his initial appearance leads one to believe this is going to be another slob buddy comedy. But Glaifianakis plays the scene straight while delivering some humorous dialogue and you get the idea that the film is in the hands of capable filmmakers. Later you almost fear he is going to go the other way and try to turn in an Oscar worthy performance but he wisely keeps the dramatic moments quiet instead of overdoing it. It's quite a performance.

Soon Craig is admitted into psych ward for five days of observation. Craig tries to argue he needs to leave by the morning so he can go to school (and when was the last time you heard that from a teenager in a movie?) but the administrator (Oscar nominee Viola Davis) is having none of it. He is then escorted by another employee played by the always nervous Jeremy Davies, best known as Upham, the cowardly soldier in Saving Private Ryan. Davies has been so typecast as a loner or loser that I half expected him to, at some point, yell out, "Fooled ya," so it is revealed he is one of the patients. Again the filmmakers don't go for the obvious.

During the tour Craig runs into Bobby (Galifianakis) who turns out to be another patient. He explains he was down in the e/r because they have the best coffee. How he got there is explained later. Craig then settles into his room with a roommate who spends almost all of every day in bed. How is it that a sixteen year old would be in with a group of adults in the same ward? It turns out that the child's ward is conveniently being remodeled so they have all been put together. It's a conceit to the script you either accept or you don't. At first I didn't but the film won me over so quickly I forgot about it and just went with it.

We discover that Craig's problems could stem from his father's pressures to be successful in life. Or they can be because he has had a hopeless crush on his best friend's girlfriend for as long as they have been seeing each other. Oh, also, Craig is also a stress vomiter, something the filmmakers illustrate one or two times too many for me. Bobby takes Craig under his wing and urges him to live his life to the fullest and never waste a day, something Bobby seems to be doing every day.

Craig then meets Noell (Emma Roberts), a troubled girl his age with scratches on her face and wrists. We wait for the obligatory moment when Craig asks her why but it never comes. In a sweet rooftop scene she asks him why he has never asked her about it to which Craig replies, "I figured you would tell me when you were ready." Sometimes kids truly are wiser. Of course they have an attraction for one another but how far can one go in five days? There is the obligatory scene where Craig accidentally hurts Noell's feelings but it is handled with such warmth you get caught up in it.

Craig narrates the film and it sounds as if he is narrating it some years down the line because of the wise comments he makes. He has learned a lot. To escape his world Craig draws and the filmmakers sometime take us into this world and it is a sight to behold. Finally there comes a scene that in the hands of lesser filmmakers would have been ridiculous. Craig attends a class where everyone plays a musical instrument. When the instructor asks if anyone is without an instrument Noelle is quick to raise Craig's hand. He is volunteered to be the singer. The song? The David Bowie/Queen hit "Under Pressure." But instead of showing what would have to be an awkward rendition by the class, the filmmakers take us into Craig's head where the entire group is on stage wearing outlandish outfits while lip synching the song. It's the single best scene in the movie.

I have mentioned the filmmakers a lot without naming them. They are the writing/directing team of Ryan Fleck and Anna Boden whose two previous films, Half Nelson and Sugar were both critically acclaimed but unseen by me. I will be searching those titles out immediately and look forward to their future work. So many opportunities come for them to go into ridiculous territory and they always veer their film one way or the other, unexpectedly, into moments moving without being maudlin or dramatic without being over the top. One moment comes when Bobby is visited by his wife and daughter. It's a medium shot so we never see the daughter up close nor do we get a look at the wife. But through glass doors we get the gist of something very powerful happening. Many directors would have placed the camera in the room with a close-up of the wife screaming her head off. Even Bobby's gesture of reaching out to touch his daughter's hand is touching and subtle. You just don't see enough moments like that in movies.

It's Kind of a Funny Story is a thoughtful, lovely little movie that will make you laugh hard but also touch you, perhaps, to tears that will likely be out of theaters in two weeks. It's not a perfect film. Some of the characters in the ward seem cliched and is it realistic to believe that anyone can be healed in just five days and not need a longer stay?

It will be a real shame if an audience doesn't find this movie which I fear will be the outcome. Only four other people braved the movie with me Saturday morning. The time to see this movie is now. If you don't you are asking Hollywood to stop making movies like it and after a summer full of explosions and chases we need all the good little movies we can get.

This is the sleeper film of 2010.