It’s Kind of a Funny Story (2010)

It’s Kind of a Funny Story (2010)
Directed by: Anna Boden, Ryan Fleck
Starring: Kier Gilchrist, Emma Roberts, Zach Galifianakis

“For the first time in a while, I can look forward to the things I want to do in my life…I feel like I can handle it. Bike. Eat. Drink. Talk. Ride the subway. Read. Read maps. Make maps. Make art. Finish the Gates application. Tell my dad not to stress about it. Hug my mom. Kiss my little sister. Kiss my dad. Make out with Noelle. Make out with her more. Take her on a picnic. See a movie with her. See a movie with Aaron. See a movie with Nia. Have a party. Tell people my story. Volunteer at 3 North. Help people like Bobby, like Muqtada, like me. Draw more. Draw a person. Draw a naked person. Draw Noelle naked. Run. Travel. Swim. Skip—yeah, I know it’s lame, but whatever. Skip anyway.

Breathe.

Live.”

 

It’s weird watching your own life unfolding right on the screen in front of you. It’s Kind of a Funny Story was that movie for me, the movie that seems to have been taken right out of my own life. Granted, I’m not attracted to my best friend’s girlfriend, and my roommate is not an Egyptian hermit. Oh, I also have not checked myself into a mental institution after dreaming of suicide.

But aside from those differences, Craig Gilner (portrayed by Keir Gilchrist) is surprisingly similar to me in so many ways. Pressure from attending an elite preparatory school, summer program/college application-related stress, friends who can seemingly do everything, parents who never say the right thing at the right time, and of course, toying with the idea of suicide because of all this… stuff. 

‘Stuff’ is the only word that can accurately capture the seemingly mundane yet so overwhelming details of everyday life. And it’s this stuff that makes this a kind of a funny story: Charlie Chaplin put it best when he said that life is a tragedy when seen in close-up, but a comedy in long shot. Craig’s week in 3 North gives him the leisure to observe life from a distance—“It’s kind of a funny story, but I was going to jump off a bridge. Funny, now that I think about it…” Now who can say that’s not a good conversation-starter? Feeling overwhelmed by life is an essential part of the growing-up process, and in retrospect it makes for quite a lot of funny stories. I remember contemplating suicide when I was 5 because I had lied to my mom about brushing my teeth and was afraid of her finding out (she never did)—back then, the situation was quite serious for me; now, it’s just a kind of a funny story.

One thing I found meh about the film was the rushed and overly idealized portrayal of Craig’s self-discovery while he was at 3 North. He thinks he’s no good at drawing, but bam! He turns out to be a genius artist. He’s never sung before, but after a (quite funny and endearing) fantasy rock concert sequence he’s surrounded by the other patients with their mouths agape. I have to say that it does fit nicely with the overall feel of the film, but to me it felt a little cliché.

Other than this, there really wasn’t anything else I disliked about this film. And even this was a minor complaint, so overall it was 100 minutes well spent. Kier Gilchrist (Craig), Emma Roberts (Noelle), and the GREAT Zach Galifianakis (Bobby), as well as all of the supporting characters had great chemistry with each other and managed the ‘psychiatric ward’ comedy without being cliché. I also really liked the subtle nod to Wes Anderson’s Rushmore, a stylistic choice that drew attention to the parallel between the two stories. (And of course because we’ve been studying his films in class for the past semester.)

To me, this is a very personal film because I’m going through so many of the same things Craig did—‘depression’ (although that seems too overbearing a word), ‘sometimes wishing I had an easy answer for why I’m depressed,’ discovering art, even the interest in maps—but it’s an interesting growing-up film that manages to deliver a cliché message in a not-so clichéd way. 

 Trailer: