‘Funny Pages’: A24’s outrageous comedy about the confusion of youth
The company may be known for its consistent production line of prestige drama and hard-hitting genre fare, but A24 is equally adept at acquiring the odd laugh-out-loud comedy or two that isn’t afraid to push things in the direction of bad taste.
One of the most notable is writer and director Owen Kline’s Funny Pages, which applies a very unique perspective to a universal experience. The coming-of-age tale is one of cinema’s most favoured and ubiquitous storytelling methods, which means that it’s only going to get harder to tell it in a completely fresh and inventive way.
Teenage rebellion is another well-worn staple, and while Daniel Zolghadri’s Robert Bleichner definitely follows that path, he does so in a very unusual way. The high school student and aspiring cartoonist is left devastated when his art teacher and erstwhile mentor is suddenly killed after being hit by a car.
Deciding the best way to process any lingering grief or trauma is to break into Mr. Katano’s apartment for anything of sentimental value, Robert gets arrested. When he ends up not only avoiding charges but being allowed to keep the possessions he’d pilfered, he informs his parents that instead of finishing his education, he wants to pursue a career in art. To achieve that end, he moves out of the family home and into a basement apartment in New Jersey, where he encounters Matthew Maher’s eccentric Wallace.
While that makes it sound predictable and formulaic, Funny Pages is anything but. For one thing, it’s heavily intimated that Mr Katano is either planning to sexually abuse Robert during their final encounter or, at the very least, it’s implied that he’s some sort of pervert or predator.
Robert’s roommates are both significantly older than he is, and while it’s not quite designed to set alarm bells ringing in the most obvious sense, there’s something inherently uncomfortable about a teenager sharing a cramped living space with two grown men who don’t always adhere to the notion of boundaries. Of course, it’s supposed to be that way, with the tone veering from uplifting optimism to cringe-inducing hilarity thanks to a world populated with well-rounded, richly-written characters who are all fairly despicable in their own way.
Robert isn’t a particularly likeable protagonist, either, but again, that’s the point. He lashes out at those around him even when they’re trying to help, but it’s hard not to root for somebody seeking out such a relatable goal in trying to manifest their dreams through sheer bull-headed force of will and the refusal to let setbacks get in the way.
There are verbal tirades, flagrant disregard for whether or not keepsakes make for suitable masturbatory material, car crashes, pens being embedded in skulls, and cloying attempts to earn approval and validation. There is also an undercurrent of nihilism that threatens to engulf Robert the further away he gets from achieving the goals he set out to accomplish in the first place.
That being said, Funny Pages can be so against the idea of being inspirational that it becomes inspirational by default, an impressive feat from writer and director Kline. It’s got an unpredictable, increasingly paranoid, and unstable central double act and willingly takes a sledgehammer to cliché but remains utterly endearing throughout. It’s a very tough tightrope to walk, but there’s never any danger of the film falling off.
