‘Games’ plays with convention

The American remake of the 1997 German film “Funny Games” is aptly titled, as the film melds dark humor with torture scenes to evoke a strong reaction from audiences. Unfortunately, director Michael Haneke literally maintains his vision by fashioning the remake to be little more than an English translation.

Ann (Naomi Watts), George (Tim Roth) and their son Georgie (Devon Gearhart) go through a normal afternoon as a family until they are interrupted by two young men clad in white polo shirts and shorts. Making their way into the family’s house, Paul (Michael Pitt) and Peter (Brady Corbet) bet the family’s demise in a matter of hours.

The locations, scenes, shots and dialogue all make their way to the American version with few noticeable changes. Haneke’s decision to bother to remake the film is puzzling. For those that have seen the original, the sole reason for watching is seeing how the American cast interprets the material.

Pitt steals the show with his charismatic performance, perhaps even tempting the audience to side with the villains. Every joke hits the mark with Pitt’s enthusiastic delivery. The overt politeness of the two intruders is a running gag in the film, but it never falls flat because of Pitt’s bombastic speech.

Taking the film as a cohesive whole, one major problem centers on screen time. While Pitt had the standout performance, he was only in the film for little over half its duration. Watts and Roth shouldered much of the acting, which proved problematic. The dialogue seemed lost in translation to Watts, whose delivery was awkwardly flat and stilted. Amid the ghastly horrors of the day, she also lacked the emotion of the original’s female lead. Roth was adequate, but again, he sometimes lacked the fiery reactions that a patriarch should emote when his family is threatened.

The film also has an unnecessary and extremely long middle act, which badly required further editing. The act could have easily moved the plot in less than half the time it took. Its extended length only serves to take the audience out of the action.

The film is worth the watch particularly because of the unique devices it uses. In the world of “Funny Games,” cast and crew don’t seem to care about playing by the standard rules. Paul feels free to break the fourth wall, talking to the audience from time to time. A strange development in the film’s ending further questions the nature of the movie’s world.

“Funny Games” should not fall in line with other horrors or torture films. It has plenty of dramatic moments, but its dark humor, dripping with irony, is the strength of the film. If one has not seen the original, the American remake of “Funny Games” is unique enough to deserve a viewing.