Funny Games U.S. 2008

A.O. Scott, New York Times: Funny Games, Michael Haneke's first English-language film -- and a compulsively faithful replica of his notorious 1997 German-language feature of the same title -- subjects its viewers to a long spectacle of wanton and gratuitous brutality. Read more

David Edelstein, New York Magazine/Vulture: Haneke's assault on our fantasy lives is shallow, unimaginative, and glacially unengaged -- a sucker punch without the redeeming passion of punk. Read more

J. R. Jones, Chicago Reader: The earlier release helped make him a critics' darling with its meta-movie touches and baldly articulated strategy of implicating the audience in the violence; replayed a decade later, those stunts feel both rhetorical and redundant. Read more

Joe Morgenstern, Wall Street Journal: In addition to being borderline unendurable, Funny Games is inexplicable, and I don't mean in any philosophical sense. Who thought the world needed a shot-for-shot English-language version of Mr. Haneke's 1997 German-language film? Read more

Mark Rahner, Seattle Times: Are you complicit for watching the stuff? Would you be less of a jerk if you walked out? Is [Haneke] wallowing in the thing he's critiquing and consequently a bigger jerk? Read more

Scott Tobias, AV Club: A chilly and extraordinarily controlled treatise on film violence, Funny Games punishes the audience for its casual bloodlust by giving it all the sickening torture and mayhem it could possibly desire. Neat trick, that. Read more

Ty Burr, Boston Globe: Director Michael Haneke abhors mindless cinematic violence as much as you do. He just has a different approach: high-minded shock therapy. Read more

Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune: Both versions of Funny Games force the audience to eat it, really eat it, and while they're eating it, to think about the mechanics and the narrative tropes of a typical revenge drama. Read more

Amy Biancolli, Houston Chronicle: The worst of the violence occurs off-screen, but Funny Games is still a vicious, vicious movie. Read more

Lisa Kennedy, Denver Post: All the things we hope from in a fright film with characters we recognize as very much like ourselves are toyed with. Read more

Tom Long, Detroit News: It's one big ball of icky attitude, violence and nihilism. Read more

Owen Gleiberman, Entertainment Weekly: Can a movie be gripping and repellent at the same time? Read more

Rene Rodriguez, Miami Herald: The experience of watching Funny Games, be it the original or this version, is never forgotten, whatever your ultimate impression of the film. Read more

Jan Stuart, Newsday: Funny Games is about as hostile a jest as has ever been aimed at American audiences by a foreign director. The joke wouldn't be half as galling were it not so expertly written and executed. Read more

David Ansen, Newsweek: That this relentless barrage of psychological and physical torture is extremely well made and powerfully performed -- Watts hurls herself into her physically demanding role with heroic conviction -- somehow makes it worse. Read more

Anthony Lane, New Yorker: I would absolutely defend Haneke's right to relaunch his broadside on our voyeuristic vices, but he's not keeping up with the times; he's behind them. Read more

Stephen Whitty, Newark Star-Ledger: Michael Haneke hates you. Read more

Elizabeth Weitzman, New York Daily News: If you're interested in intellectual abstraction, you might find Haneke's games intriguing. Just be warned: When the movie ends, you'll definitely feel like you've been played. Read more

Lou Lumenick, New York Post: Basically torture porn every bit as manipulative and reprehensible as Hostel, even if it's tricked out with intellectual pretension. Read more

Rex Reed, New York Observer: You know what garbage is, but until you see Funny Games, a bucket of swill by Austrian wacko Michael Haneke, you have no idea how bad it can smell. Read more

Roger Moore, Orlando Sentinel: It's a pity the movie is so smug, gimmicky and heartless. Read more

Steven Rea, Philadelphia Inquirer: [Director Haneke is] an adept manipulator who goes one better by calling attention to his manipulations, questioning them, and then, still, managing to freak us out in the coldest, cruelest ways. Read more

James Berardinelli, ReelViews: While I would stop short of calling Funny Games brilliant, I think it's forceful, unforgettable, and thought-provoking. Read more

Jim Emerson, Chicago Sun-Times: This isn't a movie, it's a thesis. Read more

Andrew O'Hehir, Salon.com: Not what it appears to be on the surface. Read more

Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle: There's no denying Austrian director Michael Haneke's skill as a filmmaker, but Funny Games is just a vile cinematic exercise. Read more

Dana Stevens, Slate: Haneke's been quoted as saying he wants his movies to make people think, but Funny Games is 110 minutes of pure reptile-brain jolts (fear, mostly), with a couple of meta-narrative finger wags thrown in. Read more

Colin Covert, Minneapolis Star Tribune: Even if you're already aware that violence is sickening, thank you very much, Haneke's confrontational film stirs up distressing emotions and leaves you to resolve them as best you can. Good luck. You'll need it. Read more

Rick Groen, Globe and Mail: You will be deeply disturbed, but you will watch obsessively. You will be haunted, and manipulated, and angered, and you will suffer pangs of guilt, too. Read more

Peter Howell, Toronto Star: The performances are outstanding across the board. The direction and writing are masterful. Read more

Joshua Rothkopf, Time Out: A sour project that defines anti-imaginative. Read more

Wally Hammond, Time Out: It's not a reassuring vision but that's not the name of Haneke's particular game. Read more

Claudia Puig, USA Today: While Haneke is attacking our culture for being drawn to violent fare, he is also relishing in presenting it to us, in prolonged and detailed fashion. Read more

Derek Elley, Variety: As the film progresses, it becomes painfully clear there's no real point to the story; what we're witnessing is a cool, intellectual exercise, as devoid of character and motivation as the two psychos themselves. Read more

J. Hoberman, Village Voice: Without ever acknowledging his own sadism, Haneke self-righteously lays his aesthetic and moral cards on the table. Read more

John Anderson, Washington Post: While the movie's star -- and ruler, and ship's captain, and grand poobah -- is Haneke himself, his actors are sublime. Read more