Film Review: ‘It’s Kind of a Funny Story’ Coasts on the Charm of its Cast

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CHICAGO – Though “It’s Kind of a Funny Story” is the third feature film from Ryan Fleck and Anna Boden, it’s the duo’s first picture that feels like it was made by first-time filmmakers. While their previous two features, “Half Nelson” and “Sugar,’ were entrenched in documentary realism and exuded the assurance and nuance of master filmmakers, this latest effort feels oddly programmed for mainstream consumption.

Rating: 3.5/5.0

The ingredients are all here for a typical Sundance smash: relatable angst, quirky mental hospitals, outlandish fantasy sequences, and teenage characters with self-consciously sophisticated vocabularies (the 16-year-old protagonist says that he used to think art was little more than “bourgeoise decadence”). Many young filmmakers have utilized these formulaic elements as a sort of artistic crutch, but Fleck and Boden seem to be experimenting within them, injecting the worn cliches with newfound freshness. It’s a bit of a letdown to see these major talents tread commercial waters, but “Story” succeeds in its simple yet tricky goal to make the audience feel genuinely uplifted, as opposed to manipulated.

Read Matt Fagerholm’s full review of “It’s Kind of a Funny Story” in our reviews section.

Best known as Toni Collette’s smart-mouthed son on “The United States of Tara,” Keir Gilchrist proves to be a thoroughly charming leading man in the role of Craig, a troubled teen crumbling under the anxiety of an increasingly overwhelming world. After contemplating suicide, he decides to check himself into a mental health clinic, seeking a quick prescription for his problems. Instead, he’s ordered by the head psychiatrist (the perpetually underused Viola Davis) to stay for a minimum of five days. And since the youth ward is closed, Craig is ushered into the adult ward, where he befriends a series of eccentric patients, including a scruffy oddball named Bobby. Craig first meets Bobby in the waiting room. The stranger’s white coat and inquisitive questions lead Craig to believe that he’s talking to a doctor. And since Bobby is played by Zach Galifianakis, the audience expects the scene to take a left turn into creepy, awkward humor on the level of “Between Two Ferns” (the hilarious web series of staged interviews conducted by Galifianakis).

Continue reading for Matt Fagerholm’s full “It’s Kind of a Funny Story” review.

Ryan Fleck and Anna Boden on the set of their new film, It’s Kind of a Funny Story.
Photo credit: Focus Features