Replicas

On the one hand there is Selma Blair. On the other hand the entire rest of the movie with its dumb plot, insane dialog, and action which does not make much sense nor was it particularly believable. Perhaps not a total waste of time, but nearly so. Tedious and boring. One brief nude mirror scene with Selma Blair showing her awesome itty bittys pretty much sums up all of the good parts. Everything else is entirely forgettable. The version I saw was titled "In Their Skin".

Neither subtle or original but, surprisingly effective and tense until unravelling and going Hollywood.

A less good version of The Strangers (despite superficial similarities, it doesn't even merit comparison to Funny Games). In addition to the telegraphed twist and the core concept that becomes more questionable over the runtime, this film's biggest flaw is that it tries to frame the events as interpersonal drama. The family's dysfunctionality isn't very compelling, especially during the home invasion. The final scene of marital happiness is nowhere near as satisfying as the filmmakers think.

Selma Blair is the main reason I watched this film, and Selma Blair is the main reason I disliked this film. If you're going to try to imitate Funny Games, in any way, at least get people who can act terrified. Even The Strangers was better than this. Also, props to Joshua Close, the only person I enjoyed watching.

Tense for a while, with good performances. That FUNNY GAMES seems to have spawned a veritable sub-genre of copies and homages (beginning with its own remake) should really lead to greater critical questioning of the way Haneke defends the import of his film(s). Here the movie rather runs out of steam and ideas, in part because the premise does not really make sense, winding things up with a disappointingly generic conclusion.

"Class envy leads to Funny Games-ish home invasion in Replicas, a film whose title telegraphs its sole surprise." - Nick Schager

Interesting on the word atmosphere, disappointing on the whole thing.

The whole time I watched this film I was thinking "Oh, this is Funny Games all over again." I was partly right. I didn't figure in that jealousy of Selma Blair's family's money was going to be an issue. Funny games was more about home invasion for sport, where this was more about upgrading your life through murder. I will admit this movie was tense. I probably won't ever watch it again but it did get my heartbeat going in a rapid fashion. If you like thrillers it's not too bad.