.: Roberts' Reviews - Movie Reviews :.

In an effort to prepare for my screening of the 2008 version of the film Funny Games, I headed down to the Batcave (a.k.a. my basement) and went through countless boxes until I found the 1997 Austrian edition. Re-viewing the Michael Haneke original Funny Games, I was reminded of how plain, how frustrating, how engrossing and how brutal the original film was.

The film was simple in its premise. Two young men inflict physical and psychological torture on a family of three retreating at their cottage house. They are put through various 'games' that result in unpleasant experiences and the film had an ending that was anything but Hollywood.

It was a surprise to see that writer/director Michael Haneke was attempting a North American English remake of the same film. Even more surprising was the that redo was going to be a shot-for-shot retelling of the original story. Listen to almost any director's commentary now standard on the DVD features page and some directors will talk about a scene they wished they could have done differently had they had more money or more time. Given the chance to redo a film and fix some pacing here, some dialogue there. It's a second life.

But Haneke had more confidence in his original film than most and got the financial backing to relive the experience and bring it to an English speaking audience.

The result is Funny Games 2007 staring Naomi Watts, Tim Roth and Devon Gearhart as Ann, George and Georgie - three members of a family that are about to experience the most terrifying and frustrating nights of their lives.

It all starts with the arrival of Peter and Paul - two young adults that show up at the house wearing white shirts and gloves and who talk in circles just long enough to frustrate both the character Ann and the audience that quickly gets absorbed in the queasy feelings of what might occur next.

For those not familiar with the story prior to viewing, you might by confused with the addition of Peter and Paul to the cast. They seem articulate, clean young boys that could not possibly be expected to inflict harm against a defenseless family. Your opinions change immediately with the quieting of the family dog and the shock of the event can only begin to prepare you for the evening ahead.

Funny Games is in part masterpiece and in part a misstep. The masterful strokes come from the methodical approach to building the suspense and terror with the audience. Haneke seems to be in no rush to get to the physical violence and the understanding that the film will surround almost entirely around the five main characters, it is a testament that he doesn't try and go outside the reality box in an effort to simply add additional cast members for the purpose of violent conclusions.

The acting by the small cast is incredibly strong in particular Roth as the tormented George who has to do most of his acting while sitting injured on a couch. It was easy to be reminded of Roth's character in Reservoir Dogs which also pretty much asked him to carry out a complex and central role while being limited to a non-vertical status.

So too should the characters of Peter and Paul be mentioned. Played by Brady Corbet and Michael Pitt respectively, the two portray characters that will get under your skin as they act cold and collectively - like Hannibal Lecter - never allowing their emotions or heartbeats to run wild while inflicting deplorable tortures on another family.

Where Funny Games loses marks is the scenes where the characters act or talk directly into the camera. I understand what Haneke was trying to accomplish in attempting to make the audience interact and believe that they are with the family experiencing their ordeals, however, the device simply doesn't work effectively and takes away from the terror the torturers were inflicting to their victims.

Worse still is a scene involving a remote and the use of the rewind button to redirect one of the films more pivotal scenes. Up to this point, there was the feeling of realism and terror. But the scene resorts to an Adam Sandler Click type device and the scene completely takes you from being involved with the film to feeling like you are just a pawn being manipulated throughout the films' running time.

Take this scene from the film and I think you have one of the better serial killer films probably ever produced. Keep the scene and you drop a couple of stars in overall rating.

It should be noted that for all the violence inflicted in the film, it is all done deliberately off screen. Haneke deliberately wanted to show how we don't need to see the violence to be repulsed by the results and he accomplishes this admirably. This doesn't take away from the emotional impact of the film or the involvement with the audience. During a ten minute one-shot scene, you almost feel like you are in the room - hands and legs bound as you try and think of how you might react in an unfortunate similar circumstance.

Some critics are calling Funny Games 2007 repulsive. Some even cringe inducing garbage. I think it was repulsive and cringe inducing but I will hold back on the garbage. It was a character study where people were asked to do unspeakable things and I bit the hook and was drawn close to the boat in capture. Too bad a few scenes allowed me enough line to get away.