Funny Games

Naomi Watts stars as Ann – a well-to-do mother and wife heading to a fancy lakeside cottage with her husband, George (Tim Roth), and son, Georgie (Devon Gearhart). It promises to be the kind of sun-drenched activity-filled vacation all families aspire to, but dark storm clouds are rolling in.

Two strange boys, Paul (Michael Pitt) and Peter (Brady Corbet), have come over to the house looking to borrow eggs, and proceed to become major annoyances. When Ann and George finally have had enough, they tell Peter and Paul to leave, but the boys are just getting started.

When Peter and Paul hold Ann and the family hostage, who will live and who will die?

Funny Games is a scary and tense movie that tries to be different, but the attempt is best described as giving the middle finger to the audience. Writer/director Michael Haneke, who made the original Austrian version in 1997 and delivers a shot by shot American remake here, fashions Funny Games into a traditional, chilling thriller as the audience is shocked at the boys’ evil plot, the twisted and sadistic games they force the family to play and the horrifying possibilities the family faces. Haneke does a great job drawing in the audience and forcing us to look for ways out for the family, and allows us to get angered as escapes are thwarted and opportunities to change what feels like the inevitable horror fall short or the characters on the screen don’t see it. Those are the hallmarks of a movie like this, and the ability to elicit feelings of anger and fear from the audience make for a very good scary movie.

You’ll also enjoy the acting performances, especially Watts and Pitt. Watts is a strong heroine, and not so much a woman in peril. Meanwhile, Pitt makes Paul into a cold, calculating and chilling villain frightening for his calm demeanor and self-assurance. However, Haneke ruins a good thing about half way through.

First, Haneke provides a strange interlude in the middle of Funny Games that doesn’t serve any purpose and doesn’t help raise the tension levels in the movie. Second, and most appalling, he stops playing fair with the audience.

While the audience is almost always asked to suspend a bit of disbelief in any movie, a writer and director has a duty not to abuse it, which is what happens in Funny Games. Haneke betrays the audience, its emotions and expectations by making everyone on screen act as if a major turning point has been wiped away. It ruins a possibly thrilling moment with a tactic that is silly and so disruptive, the movie is ruined.

Funny Games is half of a good movie, so it gets half a grade.

Funny Games is rated R for terror, violence and some language.