Funny Pages

Funny Pages is a movie about repulsive losers by first time writer director Owen Kline. A tourist in the world of comics collectors and trash ephemera enthusiasts, Kline noticeably cribs the template for his cast of characters from Terry Zwigoff's films Crumb (1994) and Art School Confidential (2006). This wouldn't be a problem if it weren't for the fact that Kline possesses none of Zwigoff's affinity for societal misfits. Zwigoff knows his subjects intimately and empathizes with their struggles and their sadness, where Kline can only identify what is weird and disgusting about them.

Owen Kline is the son of actors Kevin Kline and Phoebe Cates, two of the most beautiful people alive, and with his background of extraordinary privilege and wealth it seems a strange choice to make a film about poor struggling outcasts, the likes of which he would be unlikely to cross paths with in his world. Funny Pages' inhabitants are never allowed to be anything other than nauseating caricatures of their specific class, which is unfortunate because there isn't a bad performance in the movie, this being especially true in the case of Matthew Maher who is fantastic in his role.

In the early 2000's when I was the same age as the protagonist in the film, the world of underground comic books was a universe I loved dipping my toes into. The grot, the beauty and the ugliness of Weirdo magazine and Bagge, Clowes, Pekar and Crumb. It's an enchanting scene, full of strange curmudgeons, men who smell and collect jazz records. I used to love going to a now defunct "comic-mart" convention, marvelling at the stench of body odour, the lack of civility and obsessed desperation of the men that permeated these events, despite being the privileged youth who went back home afterwards to a clean, household of love and affection. To say this film resonated with me is an understatement.

At times hilarious and ridiculously niche, a really interesting little film that makes me excited to see what Owen will create next.

I know there's some romantic / magic deep meaning with the ending, but I think if they made another type of ending, this movie would be much better.

For me that's just what lacked, a proper ending, more development between the characters, a next chapter, a continuation... A moral ending, or not, but we needed to get something in the end. But unfortunately, nothing really happens... And with that I just can't give a higher rating... But I really enjoyed the rest of the movie, amazing acting, great writing. I love the 90s vibe, very well done. And yeah, I love comics too.

The scenes with Barry are hilarious by the way.

Look, I can appreciate a bizarre movie. It's weirdness is why I give it the initial 4 stars, but there's not much else I enjoyed about it.

I'm not sure how this movie is considered a comedy, unless you describe it as "less funny haha, more funny peculiar". I'm not sure what anyone could have laughed at here, as it felt like no jokes were made.

We meet a cast of strange characters (or caricatures), but no one seems to make any sense at all. And that's fine, some of the characters are intended to be "unhinged", but even the main character, his parents, and his friend's decisions seem devoid of logic. It's like a slice of life story, except with a boy constantly finding himself in weird situations that he just kind of loafs around in.

The "climax" felt unsurprising (though visually disconcerting). The ending felt like they just got bored filming. Ultimately I don't feel like I gained anything besides a sense of "huh, that was weird and made me a little uncomfortable".

I guess I should have known what to expect after the first 10 minutes.

Daniel Zolghadri ("Robert") is really quite good in this short drama. He is a budding cartoonist who is arrested breaking into the home of his recently deceased and inspirational art teacher. That all goes away, but the public defender who represented him takes a bit of a shine to his refreshingly candid style of drawing, and that is where he is introduced to another of her clients "Wallace" (Matthew Maher). Here is an interesting fellow. Eccentric to say the least, it transpires that he once worked on comic-book illustrations and so the young man determines to befriend and learn from this man. To be honest, some of the scenarios are a bit far fetched - especially the ones in the pharmacy and in his parents bathroom at Christmas, but for the most part this is an engagingly entertaining mix of the eclectic and the aspirational as seen through the eyes of a seventeen year old man. The production is pretty basic, but at times it is funny. Not laugh out loud, no - but in an observational way that might resonate with many a parent dealing with a teenage child who has all of the answers (but few of the questions). His basement flatmates "Barry" (Michael Townsend Wright) and his rather curious pal "Steven" (Cleveland Thomas Jr) add a quirky element to the already rather surreal plot that meanders all over the place before an ending that is both horrific and funny at the same time as his acne-ridden best mate "Miles" (Miles Emanuel) discovers a new use for a pen-nib! Will he find his soul? Well I'd recommend you watch and find out - it's well worth ninety minutes of your time.