Funny Ha Ha (2003)

87% of critics liked it
(38 reviews)
60% of users liked it
(2,973 ratings)

American independent filmmaker Andrew Bujalski makes his feature debut as a writer/director with the microbudgeted Funny Ha Ha. Shot on-location in Boston on 16 mm film, the movie is predominately cast with unprofessional actors engaging in realistic discourse. Main character Marnie is played by… More American independent filmmaker Andrew Bujalski makes his feature debut as a writer/director with the microbudgeted Funny Ha Ha. Shot on-location in Boston on 16 mm film, the movie is predominately cast with unprofessional actors engaging in realistic discourse. Main character Marnie is played by first-time actress Kate Dollenmayer, a student at CalArts who previously worked on Richard Linklater's Waking Life. Marnie goes about her everyday life with a conflicted love for her friend Alex (Christian Rudder) and a dispassionate attitude toward her job as a temp office worker. While at work she meets the nervous Mitchell, played by the director. Funny Ha Ha was shown at the 2003 IFP Los Angeles Film Festival. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, Rovi

Rating, Runtime: Unrated, 1 hr. 29 min.
Directed By: Andrew Bujalski
Written By: Andrew Bujalski
Genres: Comedy

In Theaters: Jan 1, 2003 Limited
On DVD: Aug 16, 2005

Critic Reviews

Ann Hornaday, Washington Post
With Marnie, Dollenmayer has managed to transform a sad sack into an indie screen goddess.
Frank Scheck, Hollywood Reporter
While the film has a true lived-in feel, and demonstrates a burgeoning talent on the part of its young auteur, its portrait of young slackers lacks the freshness to overcome its all too vivid malaise.
Carina Chocano, Los Angeles Times
By simply re-creating what he has observed, Bujalski has created a tender, funny and stealthily affecting portrait of youthful powerlessness and frustration.
Robert Koehler, Variety
A beautifully observant and wholly unpretentious film with roots more in Cassavetes than Sundance-style showbiz.
Colin Covert, Minneapolis Star Tribune
It raises so many little questions and offers so many quiet insights that one sitting isn't enough.
Owen Gleiberman, Entertainment Weekly
An ebullient sliver of a movie.
Xan Brooks, Guardian [UK]
Smart, subtle and excruciatingly honest.
Wendy Ide, Times [UK]
Refreshingly unpolished, the film uses pained silences like punctuation.
Jon Fortgang, Film4
Not actually that funny ha ha, but a sensitive and unforced little film about the aimlessness of post-graduate life.
Laura Bushell, BBC
Low budget and intimate, perhaps to the point of belonging on the small screen rather than the cinema, its still an intelligent and unpretentious slice of life true American life.
Doris Toumarkine, Film Journal International
Isn't much more than a promising calling card that should take director, cast and crew to the next level.
Derek Smith, Cinematic Reflections
One of the most accurate portrayals of post-collegiate disillusionment
Nick Schager, Lessons of Darkness
Bujalski's subtly well-constructed film reveals a charmingly idiosyncratic sincerity.
David Jenkins, Time Out
This is an undoubtedly modest yet wholly pleasurable tale about the difficulties that come with letting go of youth.
Scott Weinberg, DVDTalk.com
If Bujalski's goal was to create a "you are there (and eavesdropping)" sort of narrative, he's done a fine job of it.
Tony Whitt, Now Playing Magazine
The unfortunate thing about Funny Ha Ha is that it's not 'funny, ha, ha' - it's barely 'interesting, hmm, hmm'...
Sean Axmaker, Seattle Post-Intelligencer
(Bujalski's) easy naturalism creates an unexpected comic lightness for something so laced with ambiguity.
Eric Campos, Film Threat
There's tons of new talent to be discovered here.
Jeffrey M. Anderson, Combustible Celluloid
The film's acutely composed dialogue is at once disturbingly empty and brutally poignant.
Marrit Ingman, Austin Chronicle
Bujalski has a knack for letting scenes build and then cutting out abruptly, duplicating the flow of a life in flux.

Read all 24 critic reviews

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Featured Audience Ratings

Nicki M

This has been on my to-watch list for a while. Even considered buying it as it has been hard to find as a rental. Have to say, glad I didn't buy it now, but still glad to have seen it. It is quite a nice little story, but kind of pointless. I think a lot of people would feel… More
This has been on my to-watch list for a while. Even considered buying it as it has been hard to find as a rental. Have to say, glad I didn't buy it now, but still glad to have seen it. It is quite a nice little story, but kind of pointless. I think a lot of people would feel very bored with it's pace and lack of plot. The main actress is likeable and I could relate to her, but definitely could have been a little stronger on story. Worth a rental, but not one to keep.
Luke B

Unconventional low-budget offering that goes for reality. The reality is though that this film is just too preoccupied with its realism leaving for a bland and pointless film. It fearlessly represents the awkwardness of that time in ones life where jobs and relationships are hard to… More
Unconventional low-budget offering that goes for reality. The reality is though that this film is just too preoccupied with its realism leaving for a bland and pointless film. It fearlessly represents the awkwardness of that time in ones life where jobs and relationships are hard to come by. The dialogue is real and often engaging, but the funniest thing of Funny Ha Ha is that it certainly isn't chuckle worthy. It's more like a documentary of someones life, but with no interesting hook, just one person and what they do.