When I graduated college 10 years ago, it took me another 7 or so to formulate any kind of long-term (ie, beyond the next few weeks) plan for my life. The fact that this plan turned out to be wrong does not mean it was any less useful in giving my life more structure.
Funny Ha Ha precisely encapsulates the indefinite malaise of the extended adolescence lived by thousands, maybe even millions of post-college adults. No comedic fantasy, (last I checked, the Owen Wilson & Vince Vaughns of movieland are pushing 40, not in their mid-20's; the middle-aged skirt-chaser is a pathetic, not comic, figure), Funny Ha Ha manages to be funny without being infantile. Its characters, situations, and dilemmas are nearly universal. And the actors don't just talk like real, normal people, they even look like real, normal people probably because they are.
The movie just seems real. Eat your heart out, David Gordon Green: Bujalski achieves the amiable, apologetic rhythms of conversation, and the tentative, ruthless territory of social negotiation, without the furtive anguish of an All The Real Girls. It's natural, not natural-ism. Neither, however, is it as self-enamored as the films of Cassavates, to which Funny Ha Ha has been favorably compared. The characters' inarticulateness and the seeming randomness of the plot actually belie the film's careful construction.
This movie is not interested in spelling itself out for you. It's not rocket science, but it's not paint-by-numbers, either. Don't mistake its thrift for carelessness as any amateur filmmaker knows, you can't just put a camera in one place and end up with something intelligible; that's not how this movie, much less any movie, is made. Watch closely, think keenly.
And laugh! The more I think about Funny Ha Ha, the funnier it gets check out the DVD commentary, it actually appears to be what it says it is, and only proves that Andrew Bujalski has a terrific sense of humor.
(But did anyone else find it a little hard to believe that nobody had cell phones? Then again, the one character who does is the one who most certainly would.
Also, the lead actress looks a whole lot like a good friend of mine, and my sister really is a Margaret who's called Marnie. So it has that going for it too.)
Funny Ha Ha precisely encapsulates the indefinite malaise of the extended adolescence lived by thousands, maybe even millions of post-college adults. No comedic fantasy, (last I checked, the Owen Wilson & Vince Vaughns of movieland are pushing 40, not in their mid-20's; the middle-aged skirt-chaser is a pathetic, not comic, figure), Funny Ha Ha manages to be funny without being infantile. Its characters, situations, and dilemmas are nearly universal. And the actors don't just talk like real, normal people, they even look like real, normal people probably because they are.
The movie just seems real. Eat your heart out, David Gordon Green: Bujalski achieves the amiable, apologetic rhythms of conversation, and the tentative, ruthless territory of social negotiation, without the furtive anguish of an All The Real Girls. It's natural, not natural-ism. Neither, however, is it as self-enamored as the films of Cassavates, to which Funny Ha Ha has been favorably compared. The characters' inarticulateness and the seeming randomness of the plot actually belie the film's careful construction.
This movie is not interested in spelling itself out for you. It's not rocket science, but it's not paint-by-numbers, either. Don't mistake its thrift for carelessness as any amateur filmmaker knows, you can't just put a camera in one place and end up with something intelligible; that's not how this movie, much less any movie, is made. Watch closely, think keenly.
And laugh! The more I think about Funny Ha Ha, the funnier it gets check out the DVD commentary, it actually appears to be what it says it is, and only proves that Andrew Bujalski has a terrific sense of humor.
(But did anyone else find it a little hard to believe that nobody had cell phones? Then again, the one character who does is the one who most certainly would.
Also, the lead actress looks a whole lot like a good friend of mine, and my sister really is a Margaret who's called Marnie. So it has that going for it too.)