Funny Games

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Information about Funny Games (2008 film)

Funny Games is the 2008 (4 years ago) English-language remake of the 1997 (15 years ago) Austrian horror movie of the same name. Original writer/director Michael Haneke (Cach� and La Pianiste) wrote and directed, and Naomi Watts (6 walls), Tim Roth, and Michael Pitt star. The movie is a shot-for-shot remake of its predecessor, translated into English and set in the United States with different actors. Exterior scenes were filmed on Long Island.

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Plot

The movie begins with a well-to-do family - George, his wife Anna, his son Georgie and their dog - arriving at their lake house. Their next-door neighbor pays a visit, accompanied by two young men, Peter and Paul, whom he introduces as friends. The two men begin imposing themselves on the family's courtesy, and in the process destroy their phone and ruin all their eggs. Eventually a frustrated Anna demands that the men leave, asking George to eject them from the premises. Peter breaks George's leg with George's golf club and the two men take the family hostage. They force the family to participate in a number of sadistic games in order to stay alive. When some of the family's other neighbors arrive for a visit, Anna passes the men off as friends until the visitors leave.

Paul asks if the family wants to bet that they will be alive by 9:00 in the morning, though he doubts that they will win. Between playing their games, the two men keep up a constant patter, and Paul frequently ridicules Peter's weight and lack of intelligence. He describes a number of contradicting stories of Peter's past, though no definitive explanation is ever presented as to the men's origins or motives. Georgie eventually escapes to the house next door, but finds the family dead. He attempts to shoot Paul with a shotgun, but the gun fails to go off. Paul returns him to the house, along with the gun. After a few more games, the men play a counting-out game between the family members on the basis that who ever gets counted out will be shot, but Georgie suddenly panics and makes a run for his life, which results in him getting shot dead, after which they both leave with Paul a little annoyed that Peter didn't follow the rules to the letter.

George and Anna weep for their loss, but eventually resolve to survive. Anna flees the house while George, with a broken leg, tries to get help with the malfunctioning phone. Anna struggles to find help, but eventually Peter and Paul reappear, capture her, and return to the house. While playing their last game, "The loving wife" the gagged and bound Anna reaches to grab the shotgun that is sitting on the table in front of her, as Paul explains the rules of the game. She succeeds, grabs hold of the shotgun, and shoots and kills Peter. After this, Paul is outraged, and confiscates the shotgun. He then begins to curse, and becomes frantic, and starts looking for the remote for the TV. After finding it, he hits the left menu button, which rewinds all the occurrences back to where Anna is about to grab the shotgun. This time, Paul catches her arm, and says that she isn't allowed to break the rules. They then kill George and take Anna out on the family's boat early the next morning. During their time on the boat, Peter speaks of how he heard of how when two universes collide, they create a false universe that is fictional, and one that exists, which Paul excuses as nonsense. Around eight o'clock, they casually throw the bound Anna into the ice-cold water to drown, thus winning their bet. They dock at the house of the neighbors that had previously visited the family, and request some eggs, thereby restarting their cycle of murder.

Cast

Naomi Watts (6 walls) as Ann
Tim Roth as George
Michael Pitt as Paul
Brady Corbet as Peter
Devon Gearhart as Georgie
Boyd Gaines as Fred
Siobhan Fallon as Betsy

Release

The movie had its British premiere at the London movie Festival on Oct. 20, 2007 (5 years ago). Its United States premiere was at the 2008 (4 years ago) Sundance movie Festival on Jan. 19, 2008 (4 years ago). It began a limited release in the United States and Canada on Mar. 14, 2008 (4 years ago), distributed by Warner Independent. A wider release to more theaters came on Apr. 8, 2008 (4 years ago). The movie was shown at the Istanbul movie Festival in Apr. 2008 (4 years ago). It did not receive a wide theatrical release in the United States before coming out on DVD. Funny Games was a box office failure, grossing a little more than half of its $15 million budget. Guardian writer Geoffrey Macnab included Funny Games's lack of success among the reasons for the closure of Tartan Films, which co-produced the movie and released it in the United Kingdom.

Reception

The movie received mixed reviews from critics. As of sep. 6, 2008 (4 years ago), the review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reported that 51 percent of critics gave the movie positive reviews, based on 132 reviews. Metacritic reported the movie had an average score of 41 out of 100, based on 33 reviews.

Todd Gilchrist from IGN called the movie "Unrelenting and brilliant, Funny Games is a truly great movie � an incisive, artistic triumph that doubles as a remarkably thrilling and unique cinematic experience." Conversely, Joshua Rothkopf from Time Out New York called the movie "a sour project that defines anti-imaginative." A.O. Scott of the New York Times wrote: "At least with the remake Funny Games, Mr. Haneke shows a certain kinship with someone like Eli Roth, whose Hostel movies have brought nothing but scorn from responsible critics." The Chicago Sun-Times review of Mar. 14, 2008 (4 years ago) gave the movie a mere half-star out of a possible four.

The Times ranked it No. 25 on its 100 Worst movies of 2008 (4 years ago) list.

Source: en.wikipedia.org

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