She's Funny That Way (2014)

Owen Wilson brings the nuts to the squirrels in this Allen-esque screwball comedy…

Directed by: Peter Bogdanovich Starring: Owen Wilson, Imogen Poots, Rhys Ifans, Jennifer Aniston, Will Forte, Kathryn Hahn, Austin Pendleton

Do you ever get the feeling that you are watching a film directed by one director only to realise that it’s been directed by another director entirely? That was the feeling I had when I was watching the 2014 screwball comedy She’s Funny That Way. For most of the film’s 94 minute running time, I thought I was watching a Woody Allen movie. It was when watching the credits that I realised that I had actually been watching a film directed by Peter Bogdanovich, the man behind The Last Picture Show, What’s Up, Doc?, Paper Moon and Mask. When watching this film, I had yet to dive into Bogdanovich’s previous films. However, even now, I still see She’s Funny That Way as Peter Bogdanovich trying to his best Woody Allen. Any comedy that features a writer as the main character is more than likely to the films of Woody Allen. However, I believe that there is a reason why this film feels more like Annie Hall and Manhattan than other films do.

She’s Funny That Way is a 2014 screwball comedy film directed by Peter Bogdanovich. Holly Wiersma, Logan Levy, Louise Stratton and George Drakoulias produced the film, with fellow directors Wes Anderson and Noah Baumbach serving as executive producers. Louise Stratton would also co-write the film’s screenplay alongside Peter Bogdanovich. Lagniappe Films, Lailaps Pictures and Venture Forth would produce the film. The film’s distribution rights went to Lionsgate Premiere, the division of Lionsgate Pictures that deals with video on demand productions.

She’s Funny That Way features an ensemble cast of Owen Wilson, Imogen Poots, Rhys Ifans, Kathryn Hahn, Will Forte and Jennifer Aniston. Wilson plays Arnold Albertson, a Broadway director, who arrives in New York City ready to rehearse his new play A Grecian Evening. On his first night in New York, he hires call girl Izzy Patterson (Imogen Poots) to his room. After spending the night with her, Arnold gives Izzy $30,000 to quit being a call girl and pursue her dreams of becoming an actress.

Thinking that he will never see her again, Arnold is taken aback when Izzy turns up to audition for A Grecian Evening. However, the play in question stars Arnold’s wife Delta (Kathryn Hahn in the leading role. The play’s other lead actor Seth Gilbert (Rhys Ifans) also saw Izzy leaving Arnold’s hotel room when they spent the night together. In addition to this, the writer of A Grecian Evening, Joshua Fleet (Will Forte), becomes smitten with Izzy upon first meeting her, despite already being in a relationship with Jane Claremont (Jennifer Aniston). As well as being Joshua’s girlfriend, Jane also serves as Izzy’s therapist. Here is created a tangled web set to collapse by the film’s third act. All the audience can do is watch it collapse.

She’s Funny That Way is a reasonably good screwball comedy. The cast is all likeable and gives decent performances. Each part of the ensemble adds something to this film. Even Jennifer Aniston, who does not have as much screen time as the rest of the main cast, plays her part as a short-tempered therapist. As a screwball comedy, the film features fast-paced dialogue and plenty of farce, including one scene in a hotel where Austin has to keep Izzy and Delta from seeing one another. The scene features a lot of running around and enlisting people to help with their ruse.

The film is a Woody Allen comedy if the Coen Brothers had written it. You could compare She’s Funny That Way to something like the Coen’s Burn After Reading, featuring madcap energy and some of the oddness seen in that particular movie. This energy keeps from exploding out by some performances (Owen Wilson), characters and scenes that could be taken from either Annie Hall or Manhattan.

While She’s Funny That Way does work effectively as a screwball comedy; it doesn’t quite reach the levels of something like Intolerable Cruelty or Burn After Reading. The film certainly gets the screwball down, but not quite the comedy of these other films. While the film is certainly entertaining to watch, the film does not have the laughs to back up its rather intriguing premise. After having watched the movie, I’m not sure whether the ‘Funny’ in She’s Funny That Way means funny as in weird or funny as in humorous. While the ensemble does give good performances, I am not sure whether the film’s writing lets them down or whether the cast truly gets the best out of the film’s screenplay. 

When the film devolves into screwball, some performances can come across as a little ‘hammy’, as the actors have to follow the film’s sometimes scattershot pacing. Some of the film’s more absurd scenes, feel a little forced as the film’s pacing suddenly ratchets up to a point where as a viewer, you almost want the film to calm down and take a breath for a minute. The film’s ending seems a little bit too neat while also being somewhat rushed, as the script tries to explain what happens to a series of characters in just a couple of minutes.

She’s Funny That Way was released theatrically and on-demand in 2015. From a budget of $10 million, the film managed to gross $6 million worldwide. Only being released in select cinemas in the United States on 21st August 2015, the film grossed $111,996 after opening at #57 at the box office. The film would prove popular in Poland, Italy and Russia, grossing over $500,000 in each country, leading to a $5.9 million international gross. If you want an opinion other than mine, She’s Funny That Way currently holds a 6.1/10 rating on IMDb from 24,183 user reviews. On Rotten Tomatoes, the film now has 44% critical consensus rating (from 96 reviews) and a 35% user rating (from 5,525 reviews).

If you want to see a screwball comedy that combines elements of Woody Allen and the Coen Brothers, then She’s Funny That Way might be for you.