It's Kind of a Funny Story: Blu-ray (2010)

Kind of funny is about right. It's also kind of heartwarming, kind of poignant, kind of insightful, kind of annoying and a lot of mediocre.

When 16 year old Craig Gilner (Keir Gilchrist) checks himself into a mental hospital for being depressed and suicidal, he thinks it's only gonna be for a few hours. Turns out he's stuck there for at least a week and in that time he's probably going to learn a lot about life from the other patients and maybe will come to appreciate the things he has rather than focusing on the things he doesn't.

Writer/directors Anna Bolden and Ryan Fleck (Half Nelson) adapted It's Kind of a Funny Story from the Ned Vizzini novel of the same name and as noted, the results are decidedly mixed. Gilchrist is a likable enough guy and when the movie focuses on lighthearted fun with "crazy" people he's up to the task but he also lacks to dramatic chops to pull off the heavier material that the script requires. The supporting cast is talented (Emma Roberts, Jim Gaffigan, Lauren Graham, Jeremy Davies) but apart from Zach Galifanakis they aren't given too much to do. Even though he's most associated with his wacky character from The Hangover, Galifanakis is a talented dramatic actor and he gives the best performance in the film, he's funny and touching and if the rest of the movie was up to his level it would be fantastic.

The blu-ray is solid but this is not the type of movie that's overly impressive on a technical level. The video transfer fits the film well but apart from some fantasy sequences, there's just nothing visually impressive about a movie that takes place almost entirely in a mental hospital. Likewise the audio track is practically all dialogue. Apart from a few scenes when the soundtrack takes over, there's just not much to do.

It's Kind of a Funny Story is kind of a hard movie to hate. It's heart is in the right place and there are some great moments scattered throughout. Unfortunately those moments never add up into a completely winning film. I'd say it's worth a rental to see Galifanakis' talents on display in a more subtle manner but it's not much more than that.

Ratings:

Movie: 3
Blu-ray: 3.5