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Game, set, thud

Perverse, in exceedingly poor taste, brutal, sadistic, bizarre and almost unwatchable are fair descriptions of Michael Haneke's "Funny Games". Despite this, the first half of the film is edge of your seat tense and borderline great. It is excruciating to sit in your seat and look at this, but you cannot look away. It's the same emotion you feel when you happen upon a particularly messy car accident. Haneke is both director and writer here. We last saw him a few years ago when he gave us "Caché", a near great outing from beginning to end. This time Haneke pushes the envelope further and because of it, causes a possible amazing psychological thriller to turn into a pull your hair out annoying outing.

Ann (Naomi Watts) and George (Tim Roth), along with their son Georgie, are going to their summer home in the Hamptons for a week of sailing, golf and relaxation. They are the perfect looking couple living the perfect life, with everything happy and stereotypically successful, even down to the terminally happy Golden Retriever, but early on we sense that something is amiss in paradise, or at least soon will be. The opening credits in blood red, along with some blood curdling music are not so subtle hints.

While George and son set out to set up their sailboat, Ann prepares dinner. A knock at the door brings the young man, Peter (Brady Corbet), clad entirely in tennis whites, and for some reason, white linen gloves. Everything about him screams rich and boarding school upbringing but it doesn't take long to see that the look in his eyes betrays something far more dark and devious. "Funny Games" quickly devolves into a cat and mouse game where we don't know why but we do know that we are heading down a very twisted road. Next at the door appears Paul (Michael Pitt) a near carbon copy of Peter in style, demeanor and dress. Peter and Paul are not very nice young men. There's an understatement.

We never find out what is driving the two young men and that's fine. Where it begins to fall apart is when Peter talks to the viewing audience. That sort of shtick works very well in comedy (see Bob Hope, Marx Brothers, Woody Allen etc.) but takes us out of the tenseness of the moment in a thriller. Haneke is not satisfied with that gimmick. He later goes for beyond absurd with a scene that belongs in a science fiction film. It is at that moment that my great admiration for what I am watching turns into total disgust at Haneke's lack of respect for his audience's brains.

It is hard to imagine Haneke not being disturbed and angry about something. Maybe Haneke wants people to think that. Maybe he just enjoys annoying viewers. Certainly, it is very tough to decipher exactly what he is after, as far as the reactions he is looking to provoke. He has to learn that talent, and he has plenty of that, isn't quite enough to justify people paying money to see what he comes up with. In "Caché" he walks the tightrope like a master acrobat. In "Funny Games" he walks an even more delectable tightrope before wasting it and throwing all of us into a pit of incredibly unsatisfying games.