"It's Kind of a Funny Story" is a refreshing antidote to the seemingly endless parade of movies and T.V. shows about teen angst.
In it, Keir Gilchrist, in a winning performance, plays a young teen who's vaguely depressed for reasons he can't explain, is overwhelmed by the seriousness of the world in which he lives and even harbors the occasional thought of suicide. Thinking himself seriously messed up, he checks himself into a mental ward for a five-day stint, only to find out once there that he's nowhere nearly as screwed up as he thinks he is -- certainly not as screwed up as the other people on the ward who deserve to be there -- and that he's not suffering from anything that pretty much every other human being on the planet doesn't suffer from from time to time.
The lessons he learns will sound pretty familiar and sound like a summary of lines spoken by Ruth Gordon in "Harold and Maude." They're all about living life instead of being afraid of it, doing what makes you happy, and not letting others life your life for you. But though the moral of the story is as ordinary as morals come, it's delivered in a charming way, and the movie overall is extremely easy to like.
Grade: B+
In it, Keir Gilchrist, in a winning performance, plays a young teen who's vaguely depressed for reasons he can't explain, is overwhelmed by the seriousness of the world in which he lives and even harbors the occasional thought of suicide. Thinking himself seriously messed up, he checks himself into a mental ward for a five-day stint, only to find out once there that he's nowhere nearly as screwed up as he thinks he is -- certainly not as screwed up as the other people on the ward who deserve to be there -- and that he's not suffering from anything that pretty much every other human being on the planet doesn't suffer from from time to time.
The lessons he learns will sound pretty familiar and sound like a summary of lines spoken by Ruth Gordon in "Harold and Maude." They're all about living life instead of being afraid of it, doing what makes you happy, and not letting others life your life for you. But though the moral of the story is as ordinary as morals come, it's delivered in a charming way, and the movie overall is extremely easy to like.
Grade: B+