Rating: 
Summary: Jerry Bruckheimer Production this ain't
Review: A family goes to their remote vacation house and is visited by two seemingly harmless boys. Unfunny games ensue. Haneke likes to provoke, and this movie is no exception to that rule. He has some very interesting ideas about onscreen violence, and how the audience likes to participate and interact with it.
This is definitely a movie to watch with several other people.
I watched it with some friends and there were moments where everyone would applaud or squirm or groan in boredom in unison, but if you're like me, and you like to observe the reactions of your friends to movie scenes, you'll enjoy the effects of Funny Games. Of all of Haneke's films, I like this one the best, because you can atleast identify with someone, even if it's the doomed protagonists. 4 stars doesn't mean you'll want to watch the movie more than once. So perhaps you don't want to buy it, but it's definitely a movie that once you see it once, you'll know whether or not it's one to buy.
Rating: 
Summary: Depraved
Review: Being a devoted fan of independent film and particularly foreign film I was more than willing to give "Funny Games" a chance. I heard many negative rumblings about it but was determined to decide for myself it was as depraved as critics and others have said. Well, it's far worse. I could find no socially redeeming value in its horrific images or pointless narrative. The storyline left me cold and wondering what the director could have possibly thought he was saying to his audience. Was he trying to weave a shocking morality tale? If so, its one-sided take on its subject matter completely negated any moral underpinnings of the story. Was it an attempt to subjectively involve viewers in its carnage, as some reviewers have suggested? Maybe, but such was not the case with me. On the contrary, I found myself feeling so completely disgusted by what I saw that I was compelled to take a long, hot shower. This work was worse than depraved - it provided a glimpse into not only the sick minds of its central antagonists, but also its writer and director.
Rating: 
Summary: pseudo-sophisticated crap
Review: The only "Funny Games" in this movies are those played by director Michael Haneke. He uses old Hitchcock tropes to play the audience like an organ. Unlike the Master's best efforts, however, there is nothing enjoyable about the manipulation; in the end, the film seems tedious and pointless and a waste of good acting talent. The message of this film seems to be "you're all scum for watching my movie, so I am going to do everything in my power to disappoint you." The only good reason to watch a film like this is to watch the psychopaths get their comeuppance; Haneke knows this very well, and so he uses the pretentious device of carefully robbing the audience of any satisfactory result, while teasing us with the possibility that justice just *might* be done. Clever, eh? Maybe, but the fact that he has to go to extreme and improbable lengths to develop some of his set pieces means that his wires are showing. The self-indulgent result is that in the end, the film is more fun for the director than the audience, and watching it is an exercise in masochism. Not the type of message that encourages me to plunk down good money for his next glob of celluloid, though it might be useful as a featurette on "Sprockets."
Rating:
Summary: Nightmarish
Review: I have seen a lot of bizarre cinema in my time, especially within the last year or so, but very few match "Funny Games." An Austrian film from director Michael Haneke, "Funny Games" is sure to leave an indelible mark on your memory long after you watch it. Unfortunately, this film lost a bit of its impact because I have the bad habit of reading reviews about films before I see them. "Funny Games" is the sort of experience best assimilated when you know absolutely nothing about it going in. If I ever watch this film again, and I cannot say I will because it is so grim and depressing, I must bring along a poor soul who knows nothing about what he/she will see. While I cannot recapture the experience of watching Haneke's wicked little film for the first time, I can gain some measure of satisfaction by viewing the expressions of horror and disgust flickering across the mug of an uninitiated victim. Man oh man! Just thinking about this movie again gives me shivers. "Funny Games" is about, well, decidedly unfunny games. You get the impression rather quickly that this movie is going to be a tad different: a family of three--mother Anna, father Georg, and their son--cruise down a highway headed for a nice vacation at their lakeside cabin. The three barely settle in when a strange young man appears at the screen door asking Anna if he can borrow some eggs. Seeing no problem with such a mundane request, mom lets the man in and proceeds to assist him. This guy is incredibly clumsy, constantly dropping eggs and asking for more. Then another chap shows up asking about his friend. The two verbally spar with Anna, quickly reducing her to a flustered mess anxious to see the two men leave. When Georg shows up to see what all the commotion is about, the games begin. One of these guys, in the course of the ensuing conversation, smashes Georg's knee in with a golf club. The unsettling feeling churning in the pit of our stomachs now assumes a greater urgency. Something is definitely wrong here, and the rest of the film proceeds to show us, in sickeningly slow and agonizing detail, exactly what that is. These two guys are definitely sociopaths, a condition that becomes markedly clear as they haul the family upstairs, force them to sit on a couch, and proceed to verbally and physically assault them. The "games" include forcing Anna to disrobe in front of her husband and child, asking numerous questions pregnant with ominous meanings, and continually making subtle threats against the family members. As much as the two thugs torment the family, director Haneke plays a few games with his audience as well. At several points throughout the film, one of the thugs turns to face the camera and makes various comments about what is going on or what the two are about to do. If you have even an iota of sympathy for the victims here, and you will, Haneke's techniques instill a deep sense of dread about what is going on. You want to watch onscreen violence for entertainment? Well, "Funny Games" makes sure you participate to the fullest in the horrors unfolding against Georg, Anna, and their son. Moreover, Haneke insists we know our role here. If we want to watch violence, we are at the complete mercy of those onscreen. Want to see the family pull it out in the end and free themselves from these two goons? O.K., there you go...but wait a minute! Haneke refuses to play by the rules! There are rules in these types of movies, right? Wrong. Remember, we wanted to see some excruciating onscreen violence. We get a taste of cathartic revenge before "Funny Games" decides to mix it up a little in order to carry the game all the way to its nasty conclusion. Yes, the movie cheats in many ways to devastating effect. "Funny Games" is just downright disturbing. The violence is definitely not the over the top type of stuff, but what we do get coldly and boldly breaks taboos. In place of the typical "a few slashes and they are dead" violence seen in nearly every horror film, Haneke's horrific scenes carry deep psychological connotations. At one point in the film the thugs suddenly leave after committing a terrible act of violence against Anna and Georg's son. We find ourselves hoping that this signals the end of the nightmare, but such an easy out is not in the cards. Besides, a sudden conclusion wouldn't give us our dose of violence. Actually, repeated attempts to get out of this mess only create more problems for Anna and Georg. It is at this point, after the two goons leave and Anna attempts to seek help, that I saw a few problems with the movie. I found it difficult to believe that Anna couldn't find help, as there are many people at the lake who know the family. Sure, it is nighttime. Sure, I buy the idea that the cell phone doesn't work properly. But I don't buy all of these coincidences together. Of course, Anna's sense of desperation that she cannot find anyone to help her and Georg is simply another aspect of Haneke's heartless manipulation of the audience, but STILL. Throw us a rope somewhere! The DVD version of "Funny Games" is sparse in the extras department. All the dialogue is in German, obviously, so the subtitles are greatly appreciated. The widescreen picture transfer is nice, but the only other extra we get here is a trailer. Oh well, the movie's downbeat, claustrophobic atmosphere should overcome the lack of any commentaries or behind the scenes stuff. Watch out for "Funny Games." It's got a nasty streak a mile wide.
Rating:
Summary: Love/Hate
Review: This Horror movie is so original in it's dipiction of violence and terror that it makes you feel like you are either watching something real or that it's actually apart of ones dreamscape. No,it's not gory, or bloddy ,it's realistic as it tells a story of a family's tortuous meeting of two young maniacs. And believe me these guys are maniacs. Unlike ridiculous american horror films where the writer tries to make the villian a cult hero or pop icon, these villian are so evil and cunning and manipulative that you TRUELY HATE them. Long after the movie was over I wanted them to die.As a matter of fact I wanted them to die so much I wrote my own screen play with similar villians but have a different fate. Because I'm such a fan of disturbing films I loved this movie. it succussfully made me feel the realistic emotion of hate, that one should have for sadistic murderers.
Rating: 
Summary: Its all funny games until someone gets hurt
Review: If this isn't horror, then I don't want to know. Although I've seen a lot of effectively disturbing films, Funny Games has got to be the most uncomfortable of the lot. It is an unrelentingly cold film, just as it is equally clever to the point where I cannot help but smile at what I'm being subjected to. Yes, you could say I'm in on the "joke", so to speak, in the sense that I think that the director wants us to feel as though we're being laughed at. It is a shockingly honest film in that it deliberately plays to the viewer's desire for violence as entertainment and then brilliantly turns it around on us as if we are responsible for what is perpetrated on the unfortunate familly. How so? Take for instance the times that one of the psychopaths addresses us directly, daring us to succumb to our thirst for this "entertainment" by continuing to watch the sickening events unfold. By electing to show just a portion of the harrowing violence, Funny Games deliberately frustrates our expectations while at the same time forcing the viewer to imagine the horror in one's mind as the sounds of pain assault the ears. I wanted to see more, yet this movie deprived me of the heretofor unrecognized comfort I've had in at least seeing the main particulars of what is happening in other horror films. We are not given that satisfaction here. This is no doubt the best example of a movie that leaves one's mind to ponder and conjure the hell that is taking place by simply saying to us that we can't have it. It being the fullfillment of contentment of seeing the bad, thereby making it a manageable thing, by satisfying our morbid curiousity/fascination. Good Horror films are typically effective in that they provide scares(thrills)that ultimately have us feeling empowered("better them than me")and just isolated enough from the action by showing it to us. Its as if the more we see, the more we're numbed, the less impact we potentially feel. The less shown, if done in a certain, slow burn build-up way, the more tense the movie feels and the more uncomfortable one may become. Funny Games is this way, and waaay uncomfortable, because its akin to a high rollercoaster that takes awhile to get to the top, and proves that anticipation is worse than the outcome. But see, that's the "joke" in a way, the bad doesn't all erupt at once. I felt relieved in a sense that the ugliness was underway and quaking me, but the point I've been making is just as we start the rollercoaster descent into madness, instead of being entertained by being on the ride, we're thrown a loop and find ourselves at the controls, with the riders(actors)at our mercy. AND, if the movie hits you the right way, you'll feel almost guilty for not stopping the ride because of, as I said, morbid curiousity/fascination. This is the genious at work here. For example, one of the psychos "rewinds" a certain scene that any other film would deploy as a plot device to fullfill our contentment of seeing the bad done in a good, viewer "empowering" way(revenge, that motif that we expect at least in SOME point of a film consciously or not). This is perhaps Funny Games most cleverly innovative moment in that we are denied OUR fun, and its as if we're in no more control than the poor victims. That's what we, at least I, certainly get for sticking around, succumbing to morbid curiousity. Of course this movie is a love it or hate it type. Think about it if you didn't like it. You weren't expected to. As a movie, its superlative in its goal to have us feeling like unsuspecting voyeurs to heinous acts. Having a single disturbing scene shot by one camera for what feels like an eternity is bringing us into the scene itself, undistracted by multiple cuts/angles/edits. Its a cold atmosphere that refuses to shift, forcing us to stare unblinkingly in the face of a cruel aftermath. This is forced upon us, lingering in the reality that suffering isn't entertainment. I still managed a smile or two(and even more grimaces)at the laudably brave audacity of the plot(s) and total believability of the acting. There aren't any funny games. It isn't fun and games. Essential viewing because we all need the rug pulled out from us to make us think about why there can be a fine line between violence as entertainment and entertainment as violence.
Rating:
Summary: A Failed Pulp Fiction-Clockwork Orange Wannabe
Review: Funny Games tries to capture that shocking, gratuitous violence creativity of Pulp Fiction or A Clockwork Orange - but it just doesn't work. It is disturbing, yes, but devoid of artistic merit or cathartic value - you might as well save the money and just watch a hamster eat its young. The real mental torture in Funny Games is its shallow and unengaging characters, slow pace and utter lack of direction and meaning - trite, predictable ending too. Funny Games proves that a violent movie without creativity is not art, it's just violent. Don't bother.
Rating:
Summary: Chilling...Numbing...
Review: Very good movie if you like "this type of thing"! Not bloody gory at all but, not for the faint hearted. Psychologically compelling, yet grim...very very grim! Subtitles kinda suck but, you get used to it.
Rating:
Summary: Brilliant though polarizing
Review: You're either going to love this movie or hate it. Personally, I love it though my twin brother loathes it. If you're a fan of the sort of grim movies like The Virgin Spring, Last House On The Left or The House At The Edge Of The Park you'll like this though unlike those fine flicks there can be no "happy ending" here...and that sets it apart from them. Not a feel-good, movie of the week but a memorable experience for the jaded.
Rating:
Summary: My worst nightmare has been put on film!
Review: What could be worse than two sadists invading your home not to rob you but to simply subject you and your family to extreme humiliation and torture? Unfortunately, this is exactly what happens to the unsuspecting vacationing couple of Funny Games. Two neatly dressed normal-looking young men intrude into the family home and subjugate the family by killing the dog and disabling the father, leaving wife and a kid await in horror for what happens next. From this point on the whole movie becomes a torment for the audience rather than home entertainment. We become viewers of extreme cruelty and sadism frivolously delivered by the two gloating maniacs. As the film progresses it becomes a challenging exercise in patience and emotional endurance. The movie is not actually scary per see but overly frustrating. Half into a movie I loathed the intruders so much that the scene where one of them gets hurt gave me more satisfaction then any violent act against a villain in any movie I can remember. The message of violence is highlighted strongly by Henke's treatment of the material.
Overall, I never thought that I could see a more disturbing film than Event Horizon. But Funny Games showed me not just that Even Horizon could be outdone but that the greatest horrors do not reside with mysteriously evil aliens, ghosts or monsters but could simply be found in our seemingly friendly neighbors.
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