When Ann, husband George, and son Georgie arrive at their holiday home they are visited by a pair of polite and seemingly pleasant young men. Armed with deceptively sweet smiles and some golf clubs, they proceed to terrorize and torture the tight-knit clan, giving them until the next day to survive.
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?
– Joe Morgenstern,
Wall Street Journal,
14 Mar 2008
rotten:
Haneke's assault on our fantasy lives is shallow, unimaginative, and glacially unengaged -- a sucker punch without the redeeming passion of punk.
– David Edelstein,
New York Magazine/Vulture,
17 Mar 2008
rotten:
The fact that it features fine performances, talented direction and some moments of genuine suspense only makes the end product that much more grotesque and appalling.
– Richard Roeper,
Ebert & Roeper,
17 Mar 2008
rotten:
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.
– David Ansen,
Newsweek,
20 Mar 2008
fresh:
It's not a reassuring vision but that's not the name of Haneke's particular game.