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.

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.

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.

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.

Funny Pages is the feature film directorial debut of Owen Kline, son of Hollywood royalty, Kevin Kline and Phoebe Cates. The film is somewhat unique for sure, though I definitely don't see it appealing to nearly everyone. Nonetheless, at the very least, this debut does really show signs of great potential for this young director with talented roots. There really are some great things about this film. I'm already looking forward to his next projects. I certainly encourage all true film lovers to at least check this out.

I'm not sure I feel that this is a coming of age story really, as many seem to say it is. Only slightly. To me, it was basically a dark comedy all the way, and as such, it actually finally ends up working quite well by the end. Though I'd say it does take a while before the film has enough, to really say that it's a good film. I found some of the film fairly dull, definitely, as much of the more intricate aspects of the main character I found pretty uninteresting. Yet at the same time, this aspect and depth actually sets the character and film up for what to me really was a pretty hilarious ending, or the climax just before the ending, anyhow. All in all, I have to say the film is somewhat brilliant, but also extremely off beat and darkly comedic for certain. But laugh out loud dark comedy in at least a couple spots. Near the very end of the film, I literally had a hard time stopping my laughter.

This will divide audiences, but most critics appreciated it, and quite a few loved it. This is certainly not for overly sensitive viewers. I couldn't watch this film many times, but I could see myself enjoying it again in a few years for sure, and I think that it's the kind of film I may appreciate even a little more the 2nd time. However, as said, it's not the kind of film I'd watch many times, or again anytime too soon. I think a good rest, and then a re-watch will do it best. That's just the kind of film it is to me.

I must say I really don't fully agree with the plot summary here on IMDb. For me the plot is more like this...

A somewhat confused, young and creative comic book fan and amateur artist, decides to get close to an odd and overreactive man, that once worked for a comic book production company.

From this point of view, the film is a pretty good dark comedy. From the point of view of the main character coming of age and finding or searching for soul, is really not what I see here. Nor does the film work all that well in this regard. There really isn't much soul in the film at all, other than to laugh at the ridiculousness that life can throw at people, and/or to laugh at the oddness of human life.

Although it took a while before I appreciated the film much, it really did leave me smiling, and acknowledging that it certainly has its own unique charm. That charm however is not exactly warm, but rather a somewhat darkly funny, but also quite relatable to real life kind of charm. The characters here do feel quite real, as funny as they sometimes are. To me, that really helped the film come together and work in the end.

7.5/10.