Funny Games (2008)
Warner Independent Pictures (WIP) | Release Date: March 14, 2008 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
44
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 33 Critic Reviews
Positive:
14
Mixed:
6
Negative:
13
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
38
USA TodayClaudia Puig
So sadistic and disturbing, Games is easily the toughest movie to sit through since 1994's "Natural Born Killers." Read full review
30
New York Daily NewsElizabeth Weitzman
A patronizing, self-satisfied piece of work, Funny Games is Michael Haneke's way of chastising us for blindly following the traditional rules of entertainment. Read full review
30
The New YorkerAnthony Lane
The new movie wears an air of old hat. I would absolutely defend Haneke’s right to relaunch his broadside on our voyeuristic vices, but he’s not keeping up with the times; he’s behind them. Read full review
30
VarietyDerek Elley
As shocking and deliberately manipulative as the original movie and -- some may reckon -- even more pointless. Read full review
30
Los Angeles TimesPeter Rainer
In the end, the difference between "Funny Games" and Hollywood schlock horror may only be a matter of breeding. Funny Games is "Saw IV" with a PhD. Read full review
25
New York PostLou Lumenick
The joke is on arthouse audiences who show up for Funny Games, which is basically torture porn every bit as manipulative and reprehensible as "Hostel," even if it's tricked out with intellectual pretension. Read full review
25
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalle
Just because it's a conscious commentary on other vile, useless, pointless cinematic exercises doesn't make it any less vile, useless and pointless. Read full review
20
NewsweekDavid Ansen
That this relentless barrage of psychological and physical torture is extremely well made and powerfully performed--Watts hurls herself into her physically demanding role with heroic conviction--somehow makes it worse. Read full review
20
The New York TimesA.O. Scott
The film calls attention to its own artificial status. It actually knows it’s a movie! What a clever, tricky game! What fun! What a fraud. Read full review
20
Village VoiceJ. Hoberman
Professional obligations required that I endure it, but there's no reason why you should. Read full review
12
Chicago Sun-TimesJim Emerson
Funny Games represents the laborious execution of an abstract notion. The concept is the movie, kind of like Andy Warhol's ''Empire'' (1964), an eight-hour stationary shot of the Empire State Building. You don't have to sit through the whole thing to get the point, unless you really want to. Read full review
0
New York Magazine (Vulture)David Edelstein
Haneke’s assault on our fantasy lives is shallow, unimaginative, and glacially unengaged--a sucker punch without the redeeming passion of punk. Read full review
0
Wall Street JournalJoe Morgenstern
In addition to being borderline unendurable, Funny Games is inexplicable, and I don't mean in any philosophical sense. Read full review
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