Mentally ill people don't fare well in movies. They're threats or objects of ridicule, caricatures or puzzles to be unlocked magically.
If you've ever cared about someone whose emotional problems got bad enough to require inpatient care, the idea of a Hollywood teen comedy/romance set in a psychiatric ward might rightly fill you with dread.
That's all the more reason to celebrate "It's Kind of a Funny Story," which gets right so many of the things Hollywood normally gets wrong - key among them its humane, exploitation-free depiction of mental illness - that it should be shown to screenwriters in seminars on cliché avoidance (ah, if only such classes existed!).
Strictly speaking, the movie isn't about the kind of illness that is debilitating; it's about that everyday messed-uppedness, often endured during adolescence, that can make a kid, say, flirt with the idea that life is too stressful to endure. When we meet Craig (the plain-faced, likable Keir Gilchrist), he is having those feelings strongly enough he fears he might act on them.
So, fearing for his life, he goes to the nearest hospital and begs to be admitted. He hasn't really considered that this means he'll have to miss school, and he's not prepared for the more seriously disturbed grown-ups he'll meet within, like the middle-aged roommate who rarely gets out of bed and never leaves the room. But once he's in, Craig has to stay for a full one-week evaluation.
In that week, things happen to Craig that happen to kids in coming-of-age films. He meets a beautiful girl (Emma Roberts), befriends an older man (Zach Galifianakis, whose restrained performance contains a world of heartbreak) who teaches him a thing or two, discovers a talent and realizes he shouldn't worry so much about others' expectations.
But these encounters and adventures play out with enough finesse to stop eye-rollers in their tracks. Filmmakers Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck made the similarly sensitive "Half Nelson" and the unconventional sports film "Sugar," and though "Funny Story" has a more commercial sheen than the gritty "Half Nelson," it finds numerous ways to drain its tale of the sappiness that might otherwise have come with it.
The musical number, for instance - which enters Craig's head to deliver a rock-star catharsis that would have been phony if it played out in the real world. (A rendition of the Bowie/Queen song "Under Pressure," it's an emotional highlight of the movie.) Or the romantic climax, which interrupts itself (reminiscent, in a way, of the "kissing parts" in "The Princess Bride") without diluting our pleasure.
Listing the sins a movie avoids might be a funny kind of praise. But for moviegoers accustomed to having their enjoyment of a story marred by overfamiliar scenes and insulting simplifications, getting this stuff right counts for a lot.
By its final scenes, "It's Kind of a Funny Story" has earned so much unexpected goodwill it might just give you hope for someone close to you who's struggling.
You might find yourself trying to think of subtle ways of getting them to see it. I know I did.
'It's Kind of a Funny Story'
Our grade: A
Genre: Comedy Drama
Running Time: 101 min
MPAA rating: PG-13
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