According to A. O. Scott's review of Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck’s adaptation of the novel by Ned Vizzini, "It's Kind of a Funny Story" is "disarmingly gentle, sweet and whimsical" (Scott).
Though I've only seen various trailers of the movie thus far, I can say I'm going to have to agree. The movie seems to take on a lighter mood, where the novel takes on a more serious (yet, still funny) mood.
The review also stated that "Mr. Gilchrist (the guy who play's as Craig in the film) is a friendly, somewhat tentative (doubtful) screen presence, but Craig has enough intelligence and humor to be both an agreeable central character and a charming guide to life in the adult psych ward" (Scott).
I gotta agree here too, maybe it's just how the director/producer protrayed Craig as, but it seems as if Craig appears kind of 'awkward' throughout the whole movie (or as Scott said, tentative). (But again, I've only seen the trailers for the film so, what I say may not be true :P).
"There are humor and pathos, but a crucial dimension of intensity is missing. The best I can say is that it’s kind of a good movie" (Scott).
I had high hopes for this guy until this last sentence he ended his review with. I mean, it was kind of witty that he used to novel/movie's title to summarize his overall thoughts of the book, but I find it kind of mocking. With 'intensity missing', I agree. There's no way you can reproduce the original story Vizzini made. The mind of a director and an author are two different things, so I can see why the movie might be 'toned down' a bit.
Work Cited:
Scott, A. O. "A Coming-of-Age Tale, Set Among the Sad." The New York Times, Web. October 7th, 2010. Viewed on January 25th, 2011. http://movies.nytimes.com/2010/10/08/movies/08funny.html?scp=1&sq=it's%20kind%20of%20a%20funny%20story%20movie%20review&st=cse.
(*sorry, I couldn;t get the spacing to work out for the citation D: *)!!
good choice for the review, and the film will be out shortly!
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