Rating summary

Movie		2.5
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		3.0
Overall		4.0

Funny Ha Ha Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Brian Orndorf June 30, 2023

2002’s “Funny Ha Ha” is a movie about the wandering ways of youth confronted by the troubling demands of adulthood. It’s largely credited as the introduction to the “mumblecore” movement, where a small group of indie filmmakers elected to forgo scripted dialogue and refined performances to deliver observations of human behavior, supported by the lowest emotional stakes imaginable. The “mumblecore” label has never made sense, as mumbling isn’t even a feature of these productions, with stammering more prominent, especially in “Funny Ha Ha,” with writer/director Andrew Bujalski primarily turning on his camera and letting amateur actors feel around scenes, looking to achieve a sense of life while focusing on nothing in particular. There’s ennui and there’s inertia, with Bujalski’s helming debut trying to study love and listlessness, making for a dry viewing experience with little dramatic reward.

Marnie (Kate Dollenmayer) is 23 years old and doesn’t have a clue what to do with her life. She’s out of college and trying to figure out employment, struggling to make sense of jobs and the demands on her time. More pressing than making a living is her love life, with Marnie unable to find a functional relationship, remaining focused on Alex (Christian Rudder), an elusive object of desire, while dealing with advances from friends like Dave (Myles Paige) and Wyatt (Marshall Lewy). Marnie is confused and unmotivated, but she’s hunting for real love in a world she’s forced to figure out, wandering through her days in a haze as she waits for inspiration to strike.

We meet Marnie inside a tattoo shop, with the young women figuring out if she wants to go through with her vision for ink, sitting down with the tattoo artist to discuss her plans. Trouble is, she has no plans, arriving in a drunken state without any clue what type of design she wants to put on her body. The moment is representative of the character, who wants to achieve something in her mind, but has no idea how to go about doing it, preferring to blindly put herself in potentially harmful situations, perhaps out of habit. “Funny Ha Ha” makes a semi-clear choice about this personality in the opening five minutes of the movie, with Bujalski soon following Marnie into the rest of her life, which is basically one big tattoo shop filled with possibilities and bad ideas.

Dialogue isn’t the point of “Funny Ha Ha,” with the picture conversational in nature. Bujalski arranges social and workplace situations for the characters and lets the actors have at it, working with a loose sense of narrative direction to go from one end of the movie to the other. Marnie is the main character, but she’s hazily defined, offered to viewers as a twentysomething who doesn’t really know what to do with her days now that school is over, facing a weird sense of aimlessness as others begin to deal with employment and loved ones – two things she doesn’t have. Relatability is the gas that powers “Funny Ha Ha,” with Bujalski offering a situation of constant doubt meant to reach viewers. While such a mission is appreciable, it doesn’t transform the endeavor into a riveting study of maturity and all of its painful discoveries.

“Funny Ha Ha” is played as slowly as possible, with Bujalski looking to generate moments of interpersonal communication among bland characters, aiming to replicate “the hang” as a way to define Marnie’s situation. She’s pining for Alex, but the view is blocked by her own insecurities and unwillingness to deal with her feelings. Marnie’s a figure of irresistibility in “Funny Ha Ha,” as Dave, a pal with a girlfriend, makes it clear he would rather be with her. Wyatt is a partygoer happy to kiss Marnie, but pulls back on anything more. And there’s Mitchell (played by Bujalski), a co- worker at a tech company who’s looking to catch the new hire’s attention. There’s structure in the journey, but the helmer ignores a plot, preferring to wander from scene to scene, asking his limited cast to articulate a smattering of feelings and create a believable sense of camaraderie, which never happens, with most of the picture coming across as filmed rehearsals.

Funny Ha Ha Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

The AVC encoded image (1.32:1 aspect ratio) presentation is listed as a "2023 restoration." Not much information is there, but the viewing experience is nicely film-like, with heavy grain throughout. Colors are appealing, exploring deep primaries, finding clothing most vivid. Greenery is distinct. Interior decoration also deliver big hues, and skin tones are natural. Detail reaches as far as possible with 16mm cinematography, supplying general sense of bodily particulars and locations, which remain decently dimensional. Delineation is satisfactory. Source is in good condition, with brief blips of debris and age.

Funny Ha Ha Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The 2.0 Dolby Digital mix isn't working with much, as "Funny Ha Ha" primarily focuses on dialogue exchanges, which remain clear throughout the listening event. There's barely any music used in the feature, and atmospherics are appreciable but not remarkable.

Funny Ha Ha Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Booklet (18 pages) contains essays by Tao Lin and Chuck Klosterman, and notes from writer/director Andrew Bujalski.

• Interview (19:46, HD) is a 2022 chat with writer/director Andrew Bujalski, who was tasked with revisiting the feature as a middle-aged man, finding new perspective with the work. The genesis of the production is recalled, tracking his career ambition as the helmer tried to get something going in the world of filmmaking. Shaping a small-scale project with some autobiographical touches, Andrew Bujalski set out to work on this "funny stew." Casting is analyzed, with the talent going on to do wildly differing things after the shoot. The whole situation with the "mumblecore" label is dissected, which has come to haunt Bujalski. Interviewer Kit Zauhar doesn't arrive with a lot of preparation, and the conversation stumbles around a bit too much, failing to get to the heart of the "Funny Ha Ha" creative experience.

• "Creature Feature" (2:16, SD) is an intro from Andrew Bujalski and Alex Karpovsky. While meant to be silly, the clip also reinforces just how dull "Funny Ha Ha" is, with the guys jokingly trying to make the premise and characters sound exciting.

• Experimental Title Sequence (2:36, SD) is presented.

• And a Trailer (2:28, HD) is included.

Funny Ha Ha Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Marnie's adventures in life and love isn't sold in any compelling way in "Funny Ha Ha," with Bujalski using the picture to figure out how to detail human concerns without including any animated human behavior. It's not a stylish effort, created on a shoestring budget, and it's not an urgent one either, with the cast enunciating just fine, but they lack any sort of screen presence, even personality, which seems critical for a movie so utterly dependent on character. Marnie's quest for identity and partnership is valuable and a very real thing, but "Funny Ha Ha" doesn't go far enough to really understand it. Bujalski is trying to keep things natural and casual, but it certainly wouldn't hurt the viewing experience if there was some sort of spiritedness to the endeavor, making Marnie's odyssey more than just a 90-minute-long shoulder shrug.