3/5
(12) US. Keir Gilchrist, Zach Galifianakis, Emma Roberts
Set over a single week in a surprisingly charming, clean and hospitable New York psychiatric ward, It’s Kind of a Funny Story monitors the mildly volatile mental health of preppy weed Craig Gilner (Gilchrist) as he trades indie-lyric platitudes with shouty nutbag Bobby (Galifianakis) and nervously woos self-harmer Noelle (Roberts). It’s a light comedy of teen dysfunction that soft-peddles complex insight in favour of breezy sentiment, simple plotting and musical interludes.
There are a few traces of old writer-director team Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck to saviour, such as the dreamy Broken Social Scene soundtrack and the laid-back performances from the cast. But this feels like a more anonymous work, one for which Boden and Fleck have opted to test out the neat new toys their inflated budget has afforded them.
