69
Metascore
10 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 100The A.V. ClubScott TobiasThe A.V. ClubScott TobiasThe audience is indicted for its bloodlust. There's perversity in paying admission to get harshly scolded, and Funny Games is not for the squeamish, but this may be one time to step up and take the licking you deserve.
- 100Miami HeraldRene RodriguezMiami HeraldRene RodriguezThe movie gives you what you think you want, and then gives you some more, and just when you think things can't get any worse, Haneke swoops in and smashes the wall between fiction and reality, turning the viewer into a direct accomplice to what's transpiring onscreen. It is an astonishing film, sure to be controversial, and quite simply unforgettable. [30 Jan. 1998, p.6G]
- 88Chicago TribuneMichael WilmingtonChicago TribuneMichael WilmingtonFunny Games is an intellectual's suspense film, which ultimately tries to critique and demystify violence. But, since our responses are never all cerebral, that's not entirely possible.
- 80EmpireKim NewmanEmpireKim NewmanIt's a film you might argue with, but its sparing use of on-screen violence, some extraordinarily protracted scenes and sensitive handling of thorny subject matter make it also a film you ought to see.
- 78Austin ChronicleMarc SavlovAustin ChronicleMarc SavlovIt's an uncomfortable, distressing, and altogether provocative take on the global culture of media violence that not only draws in hapless viewers, but also forces them into fait-accompli acceptance, like it or not.
- 70The New York TimesStephen HoldenThe New York TimesStephen HoldenFunny Games observes the family's excruciating terror and suffering with the patient delight of a cat luxuriantly toying with a mouse that it is in the process of slowly killing. Posing as a morally challenging work of art, the movie is a really a sophisticated act of cinematic sadism. You go to it at your own risk.
- 50Slant MagazineEd GonzalezSlant MagazineEd GonzalezHaneke's admonishments are disturbing only in the sense that they're never self-critical, and while watching one of his films, there's always a sense that he thinks he's above his characters, his audience, and scrutiny.
- 50VarietyDavid RooneyVarietyDavid RooneyThe film is shocking and upsetting, but never truly gets under the skin the way this kind of material often can. Whatever reservations are prompted by Haneke's approach, his direction is controlled and edgy. [20 May 1997, p.52]
- 40New York Daily NewsDave KehrNew York Daily NewsDave KehrDenying us any catharsis, Haneke becomes a stern, finger-wagging lecturer; he seems to mean his movie as punishment, conveniently forgetting his own role in the crime. [11 March 1998, p.38]
- 25Baltimore SunAnn HornadayBaltimore SunAnn HornadayFunny Games condescends to its audience like a pretentious, preachifying graduate student in post-modernism. It would help us out of the cultural quagmire we're drowning in, if only we could understand its highly convoluted and exclusive language. [29 May 1998, p.1E]