Funny Ha Ha

My favorite "mumblecore" movie. The aimless Marnie is one of my favorite low-concept movie protagonists ever, and when this movie gets awkward, it gets really fucking awkward. You squirm, you avert your eyes from the screen, and you eventually shoot yourself. Kudos to Andrew Bujalski for having the balls to cast himself as Mitchell, the most awkward character in the history of cinema.

Top badass moment? Stopping myself from trying to punch just about every character in the face. They were SO annoying. If I want to experience acutely embarrassing, social awkwardness, I just need to look in a mirror, or try and talk to a stranger. But what really frustrated me most was that I’ve just bought a massive new TV, but this is a mono, 16mm, full-frame ratio film. It felt like I was driving an Aston Martin in the rush hour in London, (I imagine). No cats, chainsaws or decapitations.

A fantastic film that gets better on repeated viewings. Bujalski illustrates an understanding for the voices that populate the young, aimless, and college-educated. With so many choices and so little direction, their uncertainty has spread even into their relationships with friends and significant others. Bujalski never condescends in his view of these characters, imbuing them with dignity in spite of their faults. And the editing of that final sequence is simply magnificent.

I like what Bujalski was trying to do here with the intimate low budget DIY Indie filmmaking. Kate Dollenmayer is a surprisingly great lead reminiscent of some of the work Greta Gerwig would go on to do. IMO this could have been a great post college figuring out your life hangout movie a la Kicking and Screaming, but the screenplay is simply too raw and unpolished. There are just one too many pointless conversations that go nowhere, and only serve to make the short runtime feel bloated.

I very much respect its commitment to capital-R Realism, and there is some real good cringe here, but it frequently serves as a good reminder of why dramatisation exists y’know

godDAMN is this movie exasperating. And I love it. All hail mumblecore, or whatever, you know I mean I really think highly of it and all, but yeah. So... ok.

I came upon this movie after being surprised by Results. And unfortunately, nothing interesting to see here. The awful audio quality had me immediately questioning what I got myself in to. But I tried to keep an open mind. After all, I have seen good things from this filmmaker before. And then... nothing happened ever to insufferable characters. The end. I like an independent spirit in movies, and i have even liked some "mumblecore" movies before, but this is a bore with nothing to say.

This one is still stuck in my brain. The way people talk, a sort of infantilized defensive talkiness while things unsaid float around but very much present.

Probably the best film I fought and struggled to pay attention to.

While the direction has a avant garde, almost improv style to it that I appreciate, it lacks structure. With overall terrible performances, a lack luster plot, and disappointing technical aspects, it's a film trying to be for the art house crowd but not able to get there.

The summary is wrong. It would be funny if it weren't so sad and uncomfortably awkward. Very resonant and authentic. I feel like this would be hard to appreciate if you haven't experienced the 21st century while also in your twenties.

Over-exaggerated, but rings a bell. Usually American youth indies feels outlandish to me, but Bujalski's mumblecore works.

Kate Dollenmayer gives a strong, nuanced performance, and there are a few cute scenes, but Funny Ha Ha takes far too long getting to the punchline. Unlike me...with that punchline.

the characters are completely uninteresting

Conversations overlap, the way they do in a crowded room where more than one conversation is going on at once. You often don't hear certain words because of the slamming of a door, or the passing of a loud truck outside. You hear what you would be hearing if you were standing right where the camera happens to be, and this seems very deliberate. It takes getting used to, and while I can't say I'd like to see it in every picture I watch, I did like it in this film.

nope. nopely nope. not for paul.

Annie Hall made with nerdy, socially-inept characters. Bujalski really captures and creates this milieu in a way that other directors haven't.

It's um um um well, if you could, uh uh, you know, [nervous laughter], sheesh, yeah, okay, i'm sorry, no, no, no, well sure, sure -- in trying to emulate every-day real life, Bujalski has failed by creating characters who have conversations and live through situations that are, ironically, entirely unrealistic in that they are MUCH more boring and mundane than a typical 23-year old's life. This is not life and it's also not really a movie, either.

Bujalski's second, Mutual Appreciation, is more mature, more refined than this, but Funny Ha Ha is already pretty damn great for an indie debut movie. It's easy to get lost in the muddled first act, especially if you're unprepared for a no-budget, no-fi, naturalistic depiction of incredibly lost twenty-somethings (later to become a trend and be dubbed "mumblecore"), but bear with it. It gradually gets better and clearer. The comparisons to Cassavetes are merited.

I wasn't intrigued with much in the film, although movies of this kind aren't really up my alley. It just feels kind of dull, I didn't feel anything towards most of the characters. It was under 90 minutes but felt much longer, there weren't very many memorable moments. Visually it wasn't bad, although not nearly good enough to make it worthwhile.

Oh god, this movie sucked. Incredibly annoying dialogue and unlikeable characters. A poor imitation of Cassavetes.