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Movies / On DVD / Funny Games
Funny Games

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Funny Games (2008)

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Reviews Counted: 139

Fresh: 71

Rotten:68

Average Rating: 5.6/10

Consensus: Though made with great skill, Funny Games is nevertheless a sadistic exercise in chastising the audience.

Rated: R [See Full Rating] for terror, violence and some language.

Runtime: 1 hr 52 mins

Genre: Horror/Suspense

Theatrical Release:Mar 14, 2008 Limited

Box Office: $1,045,279

Synopsis: In 1997, writer-director Michael Haneke (CACHE) made the controversial Austrian thriller, FUNNY GAMES, about two young men who terrorize a family on vacation. A decade later, Haneke was convinced... In 1997, writer-director Michael Haneke (CACHE) made the controversial Austrian thriller, FUNNY GAMES, about two young men who terrorize a family on vacation. A decade later, Haneke was convinced by producer Chris Coen to bring the story to America, filming a nearly word-for-word, shot-for-shot English-language version, even re-creating the locations and sets as obsessively as possible. Shortly after Ann (Naomi Watts), George (Tim Roth), and Georgie (Devon Gearhart) arrive in their country home, Peter (Brady Corbet), an eerily polite young man dressed all in white, including odd white gloves, appears on the doorstep, asking Ann if he can borrow some eggs for their neighbor. Peter is joined by Paul (Michael Pitt), and the Leopold-and-Loeb-like duo are soon doing horrible things to Ann, George, and Georgie, torturing them both physically and psychologically (nearly all the violence occurs off-screen), for no apparent reason other than they can, referring to the whole thing as a game. And the biggest game of all is whether the family will be alive at the end. FUNNY GAMES is an intense experience, driven by Haneke's careful manipulation of both the film itself and the audience. He's trying to shake up the viewer, even having Paul address the audience directly several times, with Paul fully aware of what he is doing and how the audience is most likely responding. And in one unforgettable scene, Haneke pulls the cathartic rug right out from under the viewer, playing with the actual medium of cinema in an infuriating and ingenious way. Roth and Watts give outstanding performances as the victims, matched by Pitt and Corbet's deeply unsettling creepiness. Just as Peter and Paul (who also call themselves Tom and Jerry and Beavis and Butt-Head) alternate between calm and violent, the soundtrack alternates between classical music by Handel, Mozart, and others and hardcore punk from John Zorn and Naked City. Though difficult to watch, FUNNY GAMES is ultimately a rewarding and illuminating film, though not for the squeamish. [More]

Starring: Naomi Watts, Michael Pitt, Tim Roth, Brady Corbet

Starring: Naomi Watts, Michael Pitt, Tim Roth, Brady Corbet, Devon Gearhart

Director: Michael Haneke

Director: Michael Haneke
Screenwriter: Michael Haneke
Producer: Hengameh Panahi, Christian Baute, Andro Steinborn, Chris Coen, Hamish McAlpine
Studio: Warner Independent

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Release:

Jun 10, 2008

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Reviews for Funny Games

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1 - 20 (sorted by date)
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This new version adds nothing novel, but it lacks none of the original's bite.

Full Review Source: Time Out Sydney | comment Comment
09/12/08
Wally Hammond
Time Out Sydney

If you saw the original, the elements of suprise may be missing, but dread and suspense and nastiness are translated perfectly.

Full Review Source: MovieTime, ABC Radio National | comment 1 Comment
09/12/08
Julie Rigg
MovieTime, ABC Radio National

As an experiment in film form, Funny Games is intriguing, but the self-congratulation and post-modern trickery are at once irksome and intellectually and artistically dishonest.

Full Review Source: FILMINK (Australia) | comment Comment
09/12/08
Peter Galvin
FILMINK (Australia)

We're left with the nasty taste of our own bloodlust long after the credits have rolled.

Full Review Source: Daily Telegraph (Australia) | comment Comment
09/12/08
Vicky Roach
Daily Telegraph (Australia)

Registers more strongly than the original as a film about privileged white people...

Full Review Source: The Age (Australia) | comment 2 Comments
09/12/08
Jake Wilson
The Age (Australia)

An actors' showcase and a hefty serving of director Michael Haneke's self indulgence

Full Review Source: Urban Cinefile | comment Comment
09/07/08
Andrew L. Urban
Urban Cinefile

There is something far uglier and dirtier below the surface: voyeuristic sadism in which Haneke implicitly involves his audience

Full Review Source: Urban Cinefile | comment 1 Comment
09/07/08
Louise Keller
Urban Cinefile

It's a tawdry kind of horror movie plot, given new meaning by Haneke's considerable intellect.

Full Review Source: Sydney Morning Herald | comment Comment
09/05/08
Paul Byrnes
Sydney Morning Herald

I'm not at all sure that, in manipulating the audience to make his points, Haneke isn't as guilty of exploitation as the filmmakers and the films he's attacking here.

Full Review Source: At the Movies (Australia) | comment 1 Comment
09/05/08
David Stratton
At the Movies (Australia)

The movie is unforgettable and will cause a reaction from you, whether you like it or not. Me? I liked it's sick, twisted sense of manipulating the audience

Full Review Source: Sin Magazine | comment Comment
06/18/08
Austin Kennedy
Sin Magazine

Flogging the audience is one thing, but to deny them free will in their role - thus responsibility - is something else.

Full Review Source: Projection Booth | comment 2 Comments
06/12/08
Rob Humanick
Projection Booth

After several years of "torture porn" horror flicks, Funny Games sets the counter back to zero, reminding us that torture isn't fun, isn't stimulating, and isn't something we should be getting off on.

Full Review Source: Aisle Seat | comment 2 Comments
06/09/08
Mike McGranaghan
Aisle Seat

In Funny Games, Haneke seems content to ram his thumbs into our eyes and then ask us why we were foolish enough to get within arm's length of his gray, grizzled visage.

Full Review Source: Paste Magazine | comment Comment
06/09/08
Robert Davis
Paste Magazine

...a lurid piece of business, made all the more offensive for its apparent higher aspirations.

Full Review Source: DVDTown.com | comment 1 Comment
06/09/08
John J. Puccio
DVDTown.com

toso idio me to prototypo, poy aksizei na to deis mono an den to%u0384hes dei, i an theleis na to ksanadeis

Full Review Source: Movies for the Masses | comment 1 Comment
05/06/08
Joseph Proimakis
Movies for the Masses

What's terrible and irritating about the film is that Haneke isn't doing it to tell a story. He just wants to punish us for wanting to see this movie in the first place.

Full Review Source: MSNBC | comment 3 Comments
05/01/08
Alonso Duralde
MSNBC

This is a piece of art. The direction is amazing, the performances are top-notch, and the pot-boiling pace is pitch-perfect.

Full Review Source: Moviehole | comment 2 Comments
04/19/08
Clint Morris
Moviehole

We want retribution, we want reparations, we want revenge, but Haneke refuses to submit to our pleas, because he's the storyteller, and he's the one playing the games. Magnefique...

Full Review Source: Cinema Crazed | comment 1 Comment
04/14/08
Felix Vasquez Jr.
Cinema Crazed

It's hard to imagine why anyone would want to subject themselves to the harrowing brutality of 'Funny Games,' but give German-born filmmaker Michael Haneke his due - his movie is shockingly effective.

Full Review Source: San Francisco Examiner | comment Comment
04/09/08
Rossiter Drake
San Francisco Examiner

It’s not a reassuring vision but that’s not the name of Haneke’s particular game.

Full Review Source: Time Out | comment Comment
04/06/08
Wally Hammond
Time Out
 
 
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Latest News for Funny Games

June 09, 2008: RT on DVD: Bosomy Boleyn Girls, Jumper, John Adams
As the latest wave of Obamamania sweeps the country, look forward to HBO's Recount...or peek into the past with HBO's John Adams. Also clear your calendar for high-def Top... More...

May 06, 2008: Funny Games (2008): Guide to Home Invasion Opens in new window
More...

March 28, 2008: Naomi Watts wasted in English language remake of German snuff flick. Opens in new window
More...

March 16, 2008: With the cult of cruelty wallpapering the media more than ever, and murders, wars and celebrity breakdowns as spectator sport, it was inevitable that the cinema of sadism would grab the untapped egghead arthouse crowd market. And the stampede is on. Opens in new window
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