It's Kind of a Funny Story - movie review.

 I don't often do movie reviews but most movies don't touch me the way this one did, so I thought I'd share. It's Kind of a Funny Story is a coming of age story about a young man, Craig, under pressure (there's a cool scene in which that song is sung) who is contemplating committing suicide and ends up checking himself into, somewhat accidentally, a mental ward. In broad strokes you know where this film is going, have probably seen others like it but it's in the finer strokes that this film really shines. So yes Craig makes friends in the Ward, one of which is a romantic interest, Noelle, and one is a fellow inmate mentor/guru, played wonderfully by Zack Galifianakis and there's the cast of unusual characters who become part of Craig's life as he faces triumphs and setbacks and eventually break throughs. The finer strokes lends this movie credibility and makes the viewer feel connected to the characters and their trials. I think all of us, at least I know I do, sometimes feel we can't handle the pressures of life, that we are overwhelmed and under prepared for the many and diverse challenges that simple being born brings. There have been times when I wished I could lock myself away from life, either in a mental ward, or a hermitage. I'd hate to admit the number of times I've fantasized of dropping off the grid and buying a small one room cabin and subsistence farm or when I'm not so ambitious in my escapism daydreams I ponder a life of agoraphobia. I don't believe I'm alone in sometimes feeling the squeeze and Craig comes to find this out as well, yes there are problems in every life we just all have to try and find our way to deal with them. Another thing I enjoyed about this film is that it uses some neat visual effects to externalize Craig's internal feelings. Some films need to be 'real' but it's great that a film like this will use different visual styles, film is a visual media, you can do things in a film you could never do in a play or in a book, so I like it when a film shows you something unexpected visually. Just so long as it fits the story and doesn't get overplayed that is and this film did it right. In fact it did most every thing right, striking a good balance of comedy and drama, realism and pie-in-the-sky optimism. It was never over the top, even Galifianakis, and it left you feeling good, feeling that while there will always be pressure there will also always be ways to cope.