The Film
It’s Kind of a Funny Story wants to be a funny story. It also would like to be a sad story and an uplifting story at turns, but whatever emotion the film is aiming for at any given moment, it generally falls short. Based on the novel by Ned Vizzini, the film is adapted and directed by Ryan Fleck and Anna Boden, the team behind the gritty and engaging Half Nelson. It’s Kind of a Funny Story is far less successful, never finding its footing despite a likable cast.
Keir Gilchrist stars as Craig Gilner, a depressive high school student who checks himself into a psych ward after suicidal thoughts nearly overwhelm him. Due to hospital renovations, the adult and teen wards have been combined, and Craig finds himself developing a fast friendship with fellow patient Bobby (Zach Galifianakis). He’s unsure if he even needs psychiatric care, but throughout the process, learns that the goals his parents (an almost nonexistent Lauren Graham and Jim Gaffigan) have for him might not line up with his own ambitions.
He also falls for the suicidal Noelle (Emma Roberts), which he has to balance with his longtime crush on high school friend Nia (Zoë Kravitz). A half-hearted attempt at introducing a love triangle midway through the film only dilutes the film’s wishy-washy tonal inconsistencies further.
It’s Kind of a Funny Story works and is even kind of moving during certain moments between Craig and Bobby, who Galifianakis plays with a deep-eyed sadness. When the film allows him to play the character straight — as an emotionally wounded man who has lost contact with his daughter — it achieves some dramatic weight. Unfortunately though, the script keeps bringing Bobby’s character back to the role of whimsical guardian for Craig. It’s an obvious move to keep Galifianakis’s comic sensibilities in play, but it transforms the character from an actual human being to an all-knowing plot device who can help Craig out when he needs it, then conveniently disappear out the door.
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