Call it a guilty pleasure, but I actually enjoyed this sick, twisted thriller about two preppy psychopaths in white who torture a nice little nuclear family while drawing the audience into the action as voyeuristic accomplices. I'd decided this movie looked too icky even for me after seeing the trailer, but since the cast was strong I gave it a go anyway. "Funny Games" is really not funny in any way, but it is quite a game in which the viewer either decides to play along or might as well walk out of the theater in disgust. If you do buy into this exercise in how to finesse violence, be aware that it's fierce, uncompromising, cold blooded and almost mundane in its depiction of a strangely every day kind of horror. As we watch Tim Roth (husband George), Naomi Watts (wife Ann) and Devon Gearhart (young son Georgie) terrorized, humiliated and physically injured it's almost impossible not to feel slightly squeamish, not only because of the horror of what's happening to these innocent people but for simply continuing to watch. Yet that's part of the movie's effectiveness for me.
We couldn't wish for two more polite, well dressed and appealing psychos as Michael Pitt (Paul) and Brady Corbet (Peter) when we first meet them. All in white (including short white gloves which will, of course, prevent any messy fingerprints from showing up later), Peter appears at the door of the family's beautiful vacation home, innocently asking to borrow some eggs. In a few minutes of screen time, however, the innocuous scene has gone from pleasantness to surreal torment, in the same way that the soundtrack in the movie's opening scene switches from an operatic aria to a noisy, chaotic song by Marilyn Manson. Like the family in the film, the audience is in for a bumpy night as the intruders place a terrible bet that their 3 victims will be dead within 12 hours and proceed to demonstrate how fearsome those 12 hours can be.
The movie is actually a remake by writer/director Michael Haneke, who originally did an Austrian film by the same title in 1997. It's unclear why he wanted to recreate this story a second time, although its themes of unrelenting violence and the growing immunity to it seems particularly relevant in today's world. The acting is excellent, the writing and direction pitch perfect and there are some truly frightening and deeply disturbing images and scenes in this movie. There is also surprising discretion, such as a scene where Ann is forced to strip naked but only shown from the neck up with the director wisely allowing the upsetting part of the scene to be her reactions to this humiliation. I thought about this movie a great deal after seeing it, not only because of its provocative qualities but because of its strengths as a basic horror film.
Things to love about this movie: No heroes, no explanations, no happy endings and no holds barred
Things to hate about this movie: Its terrible violence is uncompromising to the point of discomfort; even the family dog gets done in
Pleasant surprises: The worst violence takes place off screen; one final punch at the end (and the last shot is a chiller)
Unpleasant surprises: I liked it more than I wanted to
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