Freaktana A Major Disappointment

SeeQuant Blending excellent reporting and strong storytelling, this is a disturbing film truly stranger than fiction

Ariella Broughton It is neither dumb nor smart enough to be fun, and spends way too much time with its boring human characters.

Nicole I enjoyed watching this film and would recommend other to give it a try , (as I am) but this movie, although enjoyable to watch due to the better than average acting fails to add anything new to its storyline that is all too familiar to these types of movies.

kateevans-31553 I just...this movie confuses me. It's Kind of a Funny Story tells the story of Craig Gilman, a depressed sixteen year old. Craig decides to check himself into a psychiatric ward because he's suicidal. He realizes that he does not really want to die, but he can't help feeling that suicide is the only way to escape the immense pressure brought on by his parents, prep school, and high-achieving peers.At the hospital, Craig learns to cope with the help of a psychiatrist and some new, relatable friends. He even meets a love interest in the form of a sweet, quirky girl named Noelle. A truly heart-warming story. He stays about a week, and then he feels ready to resume taking anti-depressants and return to home and school. Good for Craig, right?It's a familiar story - a stressed kid struggling with depression during some of the most difficult years of a person's life. I find Craig's character to be authentic and relatable. He's confused, afraid, and initially unwilling to accept the fact that he is no better than any other individual in the psychiatric ward. As a former stressed high schooler (and a current college student in a very competitive environment), Craig makes sense to me. I hope everything worked out for him after he returned to his seemingly suffocating prep school.However, I can't help but feel irritated by the portrayal of the other characters in the psychiatric ward. Aside from Craig's closest friends Bobby and Noelle, the other patients are largely devoid of substance. They serve as mere tropes in Craig's story. Initially, Craig is clearly put off by his fellow residents. Fortunately, he eventually realizes his ignorance and comes to accept them for who they are, but as viewers, we never discover who these people really are beyond their various disabilities.Yes, the movie is a comedy, and the characters are designed to make people laugh. However, the only source of "humor" is in the various manifestations of disability and/or illness. There's something seriously wrong (and very un-funny) about this exploitation of struggles that are very real for an entire population of people, and truthfully, Craig's character is never fully integrated with these other individuals. The viewer always gets the sense that he is being portrayed as superior to them. In other words, the entire movie seems to be saying "Sure, Craig's got problems - he's depressed. But at least he's normal."I see no need to further elaborate on the many issues with this type of representation - it's self-explanatory. Making a clear attempt to hold Craig in a higher regard than his fellow patients is a disservice to the entire disabled community. It somehow suggests that perhaps if you're a teenager, or if you're white, or if you're male, then your mental disability or illness is less alienating than it is for others. I'm sure those involved in this production did not intend to send such a exclusionary message, but the subtext is impossible to miss. Craig is relatable if you come from a similar background, but if you're not like Craig? If you happen to identify more with one of the other characters? This movie has the clear potential to make you feel like your identity is little more than a spectacle for obnoxious ableist audiences.

vaarmen After reading the book, I decided to watch the movie but disliked it very much - I think it quite of a bad adaptation of the book. The Perls of Being a Wallflower adaptation I really liked on the other hand.The book is psychological, and deeper, while they made the movie cheesy. Deep and meaningful parts of the story are taken away and filled with "fun" and "easy to watch" scenes. The beginning of the story is missing in the movie - Craig's life outside. This is covered later, in short bits in the movie, but I think the viewer should know in the beginning.Watching the movie kept realizing again and again that if I had not read the book I would have no clue about whats really happening around.I wanted to be told who Craig is and understand why he did what he did and how he ended up here. I wanted to know what was going on in his head. How thoughts rushed into the attention, spiraling and digging him deeper into a darker place. I wanted to see his struggle with his mind. His determination to kill himself again and again. I wanted to see his struggles with girls, and how it was an unexplored world for him that he explored first with Nia and then with Noelle. I wanted to see how he realized Nia was not right for him and told her so. Wanted to see Noelle's story and her struggles. Alas, I witness none of those and instead the screen time was filled with scenes of people running around, playing basketball, cheesy awkward conversations, puking, bad humor.Overall, I was disappointed.

ICanNeverThinkOfAGoodUsername The first I watched this film I thought it was amazing and I gave it a 10/10. However, when I watched it again I'd give it a 5/6. I think the extent to how much you enjoy this film depends on how you're feeling.When I first watched this film I was quite down, therefore this film really made me realise a lot of stuff. Whereas, now I'm watching this film with a completely different mindset.The main character, Craig... He represents a lot of people and a lot of people can relate to him in a lot of different ways. You can also relate to his friends and family throughout the film as well. It's a good film with a good meaning behind it.I wouldn't rate it higher because after seeing it again... I think it's good but not that good. I get what the film is trying to say and it all makes sense... But that's it. It's not exactly life changing, in saying that the first time I saw it I would have said the film was life changing...I'd recommend this film... It puts your life into perspective to some extent.

rosslord2011 Picked out because it claimed similarity to "Perks of Being a Wallflower". Was thoroughly disappointed. Movie was not original, contained mediocre acting, the comedic inserts were weak and poorly executed, and was not a very believable and/or realistic depiction of a potential real life scenario to highlight a few of its many low points. I started with high expectations (mainly because I quite enjoyed "Perks of Being a Wallflower, and in general I do enjoy this style of movie), however, my interest quickly adopted a downward trend as I got to know... uhh... actually I was so apathetic I don't even remember his name. Regardless, I hoped for the best as I continued on, learning more about character "A" and his excuses for woes only to discover, despite a valiant effort on my part, the movie had very successfully disengaged my attention from the movie to literally anything except what was directly in front of my face. And I mean, correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't that what movies are supposed to not do? (maybe it's just me). This was by far the largest pitfall, the movie generated zero interest. I had no inclination to find out what happened next. I may be a hard marker but this movie depressed me, and I didn't like it. Oh, also the romance was garbage, just saying.