Review of It's Kind of a Funny Story (2010) by Jack G — 14 Jun 2011

It could have been great - Teenage angst and Zach Galifianakis getting to act properly - with Jeremy Davies and Emma Roberts thrown in for good measure. The problem is that the main character is so goddam irritating for so much of the film - and I can see where the script is going with his character but I though Gilchrist was pretty shit. And even the script wasn't great for him - all the teenage problems felt extremely trivial - and as a teenager who has gone through some shit (not this bad but still) I find it kind of insulting to issues that people this age have, and those older who find it harder to relate won't sympathise with him I expect and god forbid, see him as a symbol of teenage issues. Emma Roberts is great in a somewhat limited role, and Galifianakis nails some scenes - and the ones he doesn't are simply where the script wasn't up to scratch.

It wasn't really edgy enough for me - but not emotionally satisfying either. It had moments where I was going to rate this 8/10 but even right at the end they just pull something out that doesn't work at all and feels horribly contrived. The music is 99% perfect though, brought up some old favourites and introduced me to some fantastic new tracks too.