When I entered the movie theater to see It’s Kind of a Funny Story, I was worried. I’d read the book it’s based off of and loved it, but I wondered whether the mixture of education about mental illness and teen-marketed comedy would mistakenly mix to form a movie with an over-encompassing moral, corny end and stupid humor. The book had been able to pull off the story with remarkable believability (aided by the fact that the author, Ned Vizzini, wrote this fictional story following his own experience in a mental ward for five days), but I wasn’t sure the movie would develop the story with the same credibility. As it turns out, something amazing happened: the movie followed the plot of the book almost exactly and, I felt, did it justice, making a film that stands alone as a feel-good movie and yet leaves the viewer with something serious to think about.
Early in the story, the main character, Craig Gilner (Keir Gilchrist), admits himself into the local hospital after he seriously contemplates suicide, but then finds out that he has to stay for five days… or until his condition has “stabilized.” Throughout his period of recuperation, Craig discovers more about himself and decides that he should start listening to himself, as opposed to the wants of others—including a dad more concerned with getting his son to Harvard than letting him find his inner self, a best friend, Aaron, who is amazing at everything, and Aaron’s girlfriend Nia, who Craig has been “in love with” for years. Craig’s journey is aided by fellow mental patients Bobby (Zach Galifianakis), with whom Craig discusses everything from how to ask a girl on a date to why one should go on living, and Noelle (Emma Roberts), who teaches Craig that beautiful girls can be funny, cool, thoughtful, and mentally insecure. Keir Gilchrist does a great job understating his role and making Craig easy to relate to, while Zack Galifianakis contributes serious as well as humorous scenes to the movie.
It’s Kind of a Funny Story includes some interesting and unusual cinematic elements, including monologues by Craig with interesting visuals, such as Craig projectile-vomiting at dinner or the full-grown Gilchrist acting as Craig when he was age five in a flashback. One of the highlights of the movie was Craig, along with the other mental patients, singing and playing along to the song “Under Pressure” with a musical hospital volunteer, an act that is transformed in Craig’s mind to a superstar performance, complete with a full stage, ridiculous, eighties-style costumes, and crazy hair.
The plot of It’s Kind of a Funny Story is understated, without many dynamic changes or surprising and shocking elements; the message seems to be simply that “crazy” people aren’t as crazy as we think. While the movie shows sympathy for people with depression and reaches out to viewers who may have had similar experiences, I feel like in order to get this point across, some realism had to be lost—the patients couldn’t be made as insane as they would be in real life. Though there is one scene where Bobby explodes violently (yet harmlessly), the rest of the patients seemed to only be endearing, like Jimmy, the schizophrenic man who cries cheerfully “it’ll come to ya!” incessantly, or Noelle who, though she carries evidence of her depression on the cuts on her arms and face, never acts as anything but a mentally stable girl on screen. I can understand the difficulty with these portrayals in a comedy movie, however, and I like the overall message that is expressed.
My biggest problem is with Craig’s family life; while his mother (Lauren Graham) seems to be caring, if overly sensitive, his father (Jim Gaffigan) is stereotypically difficult, putting pressure on Craig to finish a summer school application even while he’s in the hospital. I think the movie could’ve been made more educational and surprisingly poignant if it had shown, as the book did, that depression is an illness caused by a chemical imbalance and can happen to anyone, even someone with a faultless home life.
All in all, this movie was definitely worth the ten dollars I paid for my ticket, partly for its wit, partly for its unexpected original charm, partly for its all-accepting attitude towards people with any mental condition, and partly for the character of Craig, who Keir Gilchrist portrays as a normal person who can’t handle the high school worries and dramas that we deal with every day.