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Funny Games [2007]
from Tartan Video
starring Naomi Watts, Michael Pitt, Tim Roth, Brady Corbet
directed by Michael Haneke

Features:

• PAL

Editorial Review:

Michael Haneke is a modern master, which his spellbinding films Cache and The Piano Teacher proved to an international audience. When it came time for a Hollywood remake of his ultra-disturbing 1997 picture Funny Games, who better than Haneke himself to helm the new version? And indeed, the second Funny Games bears the impeccable sense of control and technique that the Austrian version had: it is a horrifyingly precise account of a family terrorized by two psychopathic young thugs at a vacation home. For anyone who's already seen the '97 film, this new one--a nearly shot-by-shot transcription of the original--will seem superfluous, no matter how impressive the performances of Naomi Watts and Tim Roth are. (Michael Pitt and Brady Corbet are suitably creepy as their menacers, too.) For newbies, the movie might be as infuriating and thought-provoking as Haneke intends it to be. That's because Funny Games is an intellectual game itself, a direct rebuke to the audience that gobbles up gratuitous violence and cynical manipulation. Haneke sets up our expectations, and then refuses to provide the conventional catharsis... or the conventional anything. All of this was pretty bracing in the first go-round, but feels like gamesmanship in the remake. Even if you dig what Haneke's up to, this is a brutal movie-watching experience. --Robert Horton

Customer Reviews:

• Avg. Customer Rating: 3.0 / 5.0

• Well made but unnecessary
  A generally well made but ultimately pointless shot-by-shot Hollywood remake of the 1997 Austrian movie "Funny Games", by its director, Michael Haneke. A wealthy family living in a posh house next to a lake is assaulted, brutalized and eventually killed by two seemingly polite and well groomed young men. The movie's theme is not really about violence - there is nothing here that explains violence or tells you why humans are so prone to violent behavior - this would require an explanation based in great part... more info

• You might feel unimpressed by this film but it holds some great points
  I've seen the original to this film and I love it. The first thing I really enjoyed about this film, was the director's decision to make Ann and George very ordinary and very vulnerable, and because of Roth's and Watts' brilliant performances it was equally terrifying. Before watching this I had assumed I would be cheering for Tim Roth the entire time - being a huge Reservoir Dogs fan and all - since he was one of the reasons I was attracted to this film in the first place. As it turns out, Naomi Watts was... more info

• Just more Schlock horror but posing as art
  Really sad attempt at turning violence into art; sad because the writer director obviously has talent and is so misdirected in thinking he has produced anything more than another one of those horror/porn films.
  We are supposed to believe that we are being taught a lesson about our desensitization to violence in this film; we are not. It is the writer/director that has spent months producing this stuff not the viewer and hence it is the director that has just added to their own repeated desensitization... more info

• Stay Away If You're Allergic To Bad Endings
  Funny Games is about a couple & their son are holidaying in a desolate but tranquil location somewhere in the U.S.
  Going about their daily lives htey are visited by two odd young men, then the boys wind them up & bully them psychologically before holding them captive in their holiday home.
  Funny Games is a good movie it has a number of interesting twists & plot developments that I applaud. Tim Roth is particularly good as the weak husband, his role was both blod & daring, noit... more info

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