Review of Funny Games

I'd just watched Haneke's "The Seventh Continent" and was excited at the thought that I'd found another great director whose work I could trust. [You see... I have this big thing about not wasting time on lousy films; when I walk out of a stinker, I never feel like I want my money back... I want the two hours of my life back.] I'm still in shock over "Funny Games." How could Haneke have made these two films? One of them must be a fluke. Either he was momentarily touched with genius in making "The Seventh Continent" and is, in reality, an incompetent idiot or "Funny Games" was the nadir of a great auteur's career. Was he forced to shoot this turd by a demanding studio? Was it a lame attempt to sell out? And, no, it does not work on any level... not as satire, not as thriller/horror flick, not as kitsch, not as "the joke's on you"... niente. The games are neither funny, nor elaborate, nor believable, nor gripping, nor horrifying, nor interesting. Aside from the opening credits, when the classical music is suddenly replaced by death metal (a truly brilliant moment), this film has nothing going for it. The industry has been churning out this kind of junk since "Lady in a Cage" (which does it far better, as a note.) I have a feeling that Haneke would (dubiously attempt to) claim that this movie was, indeed, farcical and not genuinely "in genre." As Brecht pointed out, knowingly-conceived kitsch is not art; to that, I would add this: "When you 'spoof', you must not only outdo the original but must display a high level of creativity, as you have a template off of which to work." In that sense, even "Scary Movie" does a better job at spoofing the horror/suspense genre, and that's saying a lot about the low quality of "Funny Games."

A big, fat 0/10. Hang your head in shame, Michael Haneke. Not Bergman, nor Kurosawa, nor Truffaut... not even the overly prolific Godard ever put out a turd like this. You've ruined your legacy. You coulda been a contenda...