FUNNY HA HA Rating: (out of 5 stars) Director: Andrew Bujalski Producer: Ethan Vogt Writer: Andrew Bujalski Director of Photography: Matthias Grunsky Cast: Kate Dollenmayer, Christian Rudder, Myles Paige, Jennifer L. Schaper, Lissa Patton Rudder Visit the IMDB page for full cast and crew

More 2003 LA Film Festival reviews.

(Read the interview with director Andrew Bujalski)

Review by: Warren Curry
6/24/03

The wonderful Funny Ha Ha is the type of quirky American indie comedy that used to be a bit more commonplace pre- Quentin Tarantino. The film feels familiar, yet it's hard to make any definite comparisons. Woody Allen? No, not as paranoid. Jim Jarmusch? Closer, but this film is more talky and operates with a noticeably quicker pace. How about a post- Tarantino filmmaker like Wes Anderson? In the same ballpark, but Funny Ha Ha isn't as polished, and seems glad to be that way. Writer/director Andrew Bujalski clearly has his influences, but instead of just merely paying homage to them, he uses this inspiration to create something uniquely his own. Funny Ha Ha isn't the sort of movie you simply "like" -- it's the kind of film that you thoroughly embrace, its scenes repeatedly playing over in your head long after it has ended.

There's really no plot per se. Funny Ha Ha follows the life of 23-year-old Marnie (Kate Dollenmayer), a typically unfocused recent college graduate. She hangs out with friends, who are also making the difficult transition into adulthood, works temp jobs, and spends time by herself. She takes a romantic interest in Alex (Christian Rudder), a member of her social circle, whose "on-the-rebound" status makes him unable to reciprocate Marnie's feelings. And then there's Mitchell (played by Bujalski), a young man Marnie meets while temping. Mitchell is the proverbial nerdy "nice guy" and thus Marnie doesn't quite see him as boyfriend material, although they strike up an awkward friendship.

Bujalski's camera drops in and captures Marnie's life in midstream. There's no traditional set-up, body, or resolution to the script, which lends the film a fabulous atmosphere of freedom. The dialogue, some of which is improvised, possesses a naturally conversational tone that could not hit its intended mark any better. It very much feels like you're eavesdropping on the conversation next to you.

Kate Dollenmayer is perfectly understated in the lead role. Marnie is the girl I could never get a date with in college, yet also incredibly easy to relate to. In a world where people adopt all sorts of disguises to impress one another, Marnie is that rare person who would find it impossible to be anyone but herself. She thinks out loud while talking, isn't afraid to show her confusion in certain situations, and genuinely does her best to make sense of the perpetual uncertainty that is immediate post-college life. You want to give her a re-assuring hug to let her know that everything will be okay, until you realize she knew that long before you did.

Much like the main character he has written, Bujalski's film plays with a complete lack of pretension. The comedy doesn't derive from any calculated jokes, but the beautiful small moments (rendered so authentically) that the director captures. The dialogue that transpires in a scene where Marnie is about to snack on some crackers and hummus at her friends Rachel (Jennifer L. Schaper) and Dave's (Myles Paige) place is, so far, the comic highlight of the year for me. As the film displays, people are often most humorous when not especially trying to be.

Funny Ha Ha is shot in 16mm in a day and age when a project like this would almost exclusively wind up on digital video. The movie's visual construction is obviously something that was imagined for film, and it's refreshing to find a filmmaker who doesn't feel that formats are freely interchangeable. DV would not have allowed the observational distance that film does, and the mood would have been sacrificed in the process. The extra money spent was well worth it.

Funny Ha Ha is a completely unexpected gem -- a movie that I was sincerely sad to see end. It doesn't rely on a gimmick or an attitude, but purely on the exceptional talents of those who made the film. In addition, it reminds me why I found independent cinema so exciting in the first place.

(Screened at the 2003 Los Angeles Film Festival)

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