The 16-year-old Craig Gilner tells the story. Craig tries to live as a teenager, but he is a normal teenager but he may be in a violent confrontation with the requirements of an exotic teenager, realizing he is in a suicidal state. After a while, Craig himself threw himself into a psychiatric clinic for psychological treatment immediately after it happened to return to a new beginning.
The journey is aided immeasurably by the casting of Keir Gilchrist as young Craig. He has dark, sensitive eyes and a probity about him that wins you to his side.
It's also a kind of two-dimensional romance, a kind of flippant look at life on a mental ward, and (...) kind of made me want to give Zach Galifianakis a hug.
Galifianakis [is] able to turn on a dime; balancing his disarming humour with moments of anguished outbreaks. His is one of the best supporting performances of recent memory; equally funny and heartbreaking. If only I could say the same of the movie.
The film's central element -- its sensitive exploration of a young teen's emotional confusion -- creates strong audience empathy, however, and gives Fleck and Boden a fertile focus for their signature light-hearted humanist storytelling.
It's Kind of a Funny Story lacks substance, but after you've spent a short time in this ward, you have to agree with Craig: These crazies aren't so bad.
