Funny Games (2007) || A Cinematic Disappointment

I have never been so tortured by a movie as I was with this one. I was also utterly disappointed. I think the writer is probably one of those who think it's okay for evil to prevail even when it makes no sense as to why it should.

Synopsis (Spoilers)

After George, his wife Ann, and their son Georgie arrive at their lakeside home, George and his son are on the boat trying to fix it while Ann is in the kitchen preparing food. Two young men, Peter and Paul, arrive at their house, claiming to have come to help put their boat in the lake because they had asked for help on their way into the house.

Strangely, Peter walks to the door while Ann is cooking, and when she lets him inside, he asks for some eggs, claiming he was sent by his aunt.

Ann has a hunch about him but brushes it off and gets him the eggs. When she's out of sight, he breaks them and asks for more. She reluctantly gives him four more after a brief argument, but he returns, claiming that when he stepped outside, their dog, Lucky, jumped on him, causing the eggs to break.

His brother Paul arrives too and asks Anna’s permission to use one of the golf clubs outside. She lets him take it, but he uses it instead to kill Lucky, who had been barking furiously since the boys’ arrival.

When George no longer hears Lucky’s bark, he leaves the boat and comes inside to see what happened. He finds the two boys in the house, and Ann asks them to leave, having had enough of their antics. George also asks them to leave and even slaps Peter in the face. In retaliation, Peter hits George’s leg with the golf club, almost crippling him.

Little Georgie later walks into the house too, and the family is held hostage by the two psychopaths, who play “funny games” with them.

Paul murders Georgie after he tries to escape, and they later kill George. They then take Ann with them to the next house, still using the same strategy by asking for eggs from the next neighbor.

My Review and Rating

Funny Games, directed and written by Michael Haneke, only stands out in my opinion because of its casting. The actors definitely seemed fit for the roles assigned to them. Peter and Paul played the psycho role well. The family, on the other hand, expressed real vulnerability, and I think that’s the only thing about this film that stood out.

I didn’t find the action intriguing. It sucked that as big as George was, he couldn’t throw a good punch. The slap he gave Peter in the face was more like “gentle parenting.” When the boys started torturing them, I expected George or Anna to get an adrenaline rush, grab the golf clubs in the living room, and use them on the young men who were, of course, unarmed. But nope, it didn’t cross their minds for a second. They just went wobbly, succumbing to the threats of the psychopaths.

I honestly felt like screaming the house down after waiting for the family to get justice in the end but finding none. My voice was caught in my dry throat, and my mouth hung open while my heart raged. I've seen films with tragic endings, but none hurt as much as this one did. A plot twist in the last five minutes would have helped with the rage that swelled inside of me.

The producers are selfish. They didn’t consider the audience’s thoughts or feelings before putting this piece of trash out there for viewers’ consumption.

I know psychopaths exist, and some of them happen to get away with their crimes, but dang, I would rather predict a good ending and have it happen than end up with one where the killers win.

Another thing that pissed me off the most was how Georgie moved noisily about the house during his escape. I know he’s a child, but judging from his physique, he was probably nine or ten. A ten-year-old should know how to take cover when danger lurks. This is something that’s innate in every human, but of course, the scriptwriter decided to be unrealistic for a second.

Georgie had me struggling to keep him alive. I wanted to hide him myself. I wanted to help him cock the gun and pull the trigger when he had one is his possession. I wanted to help him move his feet slowly so he wouldn’t make the floorboards creak. I even wanted to help him climb over the gate when he had the chance. The actions were palpable, and they made my fragile heart bleed. My heart just couldn’t contain the horror anymore when one of the boys blew Georgie’s brains out. It was at this point that the movie went sour.

I don't know what the director's intent was but honestly, this film is tasteless, and irritating. The soundtrack is also one that’ll make you turn down the volume of your device completely. It is not even worth rating at all. The story sucks. I do not recommend it.