Review of Funny Ha Ha (2003) by Jade K — 04 Jul 2008

I think I appreciated this movie much more than I enjoyed it. I haven't seen any other so-called Mumblecore films but was curious about this movement (whether truly a movement or fabricated by bloggers I'm not sure) so I started with this film.

I loved the low budget, fly-on-the-wall quality to this film. While there is a loose plot that centers around the character of Marnie, there is also a lot of time spent on inane conversations in everyday situations which creates an immediacy that not even the amateur acting completely pulled me away from.

The very looseness of the film is refreshing and I actually loved that most of the scenes feel like cut scenes from a traditional Hollywood movie that would have added character development. It's nice to experience a film that doesn't shove anything into your brain with contrived plot structures and character arcs.

The twenty-something characters trying to find meaning out of life and the naturalistic dialogue ("yeah, like, I mean, that sounds cool.") definitely hit close to home for me and I think that's where I had some issues with the film.

Perhaps some of these situations are just a little too familiar to me because they weren't particularly interesting. The characters are fairly bland across the board which made it hard for me to care much.

I don't need quirkiness, but I do need some emotional depth in a film like this and I didn't completely buy it. Still, I was involved enough to enjoy the film and am definitely curious to check out more "Mumblecore" films.