It's Kind of a Funny Story - Review

It's Kind of a Funny Story - Review

Where to start with this alleged gem of a film? Technically I am part of the 'teen' demographic. As some say I am wiser beyond my years, this may be why I didn't enjoy it. I was severely disappointed by this film. The synopsis struck quite a cord with me, due to it being a subject close to my heart. Currently, I am in a mental health hospital (as I have been for the past three years, on and off - mostly on) and this is one of the reasons I thought it would be a film that sparks my interest and intrigue, and it would therefore be a film that would mean something to me.

  So, if you have never heard of 'It's Kind of a Funny Story', I'll read you (well, copy and paste) the synopsis:

Stressed by adolescence, 16-year-old Craig Gilner (Keir Gilchrist) checks himself into a mental-health clinic. Unfortunately, the youth wing is closed, so he must spend his mandated five-day stay with adults. One of them, Bobby (Zach Galifianakis), quickly becomes his mentor -- and protege, while Craig finds himself drawn to a fellow teen, Noelle (Emma Roberts), who just may be the cure he needs to forget an unrequited crush.

It quickly became clear as I was watching it, that this film was going to appeal to a teen demographic predominantly on the basis that it was going to be a 'love story'. This was the first disappointment, which I would soon realise would not be the last.

  A positive, I found, was that they decided to handle the subject of mental illness in a rather comedic way. The genre Netflix decided to advertise this film as a ''dramedy', meaning it's a dramatic comedy. While some may find this approach 'offensive', I found that it was more realistic. Applying it to my own experiences, in hospital people use comedy in order to comfort themselves with how they feel and to bring an emotional distance from what they feel and have been through. My problem was that the comedy was reliant on rather immature humour and sex jokes. It could have gone further than this, but how would it have achieved a 12 certificate if they took this approach?

  The majority of the discrepancies I personally have with this film is the choice of protagonist. Of course, both the book from which the film is based (of the same title, written by Ned Vizinni) and the film itself, it was written to please a target audience. In this case, the target is teens. Therefore, it would be sensible to choose a teen protagonist. However, if they chose another it would have brought a different side to a story that I believe had much more potential.

The protagonist, Craig (played by Keir Gilchrist), came across self-absorbed and ignorant to true issues that his peers in hospital went through. He was misunderstanding and it felt like his rather average teenager problems qualified to have mental health problems. They never developed his character to the extent in which we could truly understand his inner turmoil. It seemed that not only his friends from school, but also Craig himself were using mental illness as a fashion statement, something cool and different to show off about. It seemed like Craig would be discharged into a world where he would show off about his journey, when really he didn't have anything to show. He was there for five days, four of which were spent complaining and being self-absorbed in extremely mundane anxieties, ignorant to people with real issues. 

    He forced his way into getting helped, and quickly regretted it when he realised exactly what it was going to be like in this unit.

The supporting character role of Bobby (played by Zach Galifianakis) was a much more interesting character, who clearly had very serious mental health problems that qualified for both treatment and the way he deals with his problems. I found a lot of myself in this character, which allowed me to empathise with him. While I empathised for Bobby, it gave me increasing amounts of resentment for Craig. How Bobby dealt with his issues was with humour and simply trying to forget, when it all comes to a head and he lets his anger, upset and frustration take over and he begins to throw items around the ward's communal area. Bobby's catharsis was genuinely interesting, and it was interesting how helping a young person (who he clearly didn't want to end up like him) helped him within his own journey of recovery.

  Simply, it would have been a better story if Bobby took the lead role.

Overall, I would rate this film 2/5 stars. Disappointing, but with potential and some directorial and character developmental positives.