Funny Bones

source: Funny Bones

In my quest to see as many Leslie Caron films as I can, FUNNY BONES came my way, via a free rental from my county library. The title comes from a talk by dad (Jerry Lewis) who says, "some people are just born funny, it is in their bones. I hate to tell you this, son (Oliver Platt), you are not funny and you never will be." Leslie Caron plays the mother of a really funny Brit who is also a bit off kilter, not too different from most Brits anyway. Platt's character goes back to his birthplace, Blackpool, to get inspiration after he bombs in his Las Vegas debut as a standup comic. some SPOILERS are contained in the following... The off-kilter son is actually Platt's half-brother, a love-child from the 1960s between the Caron and Lewis characters. He does have funny bones, but had gone a bit crazy some years earlier and killed a fellow clown during a performance by beating him on the head with an iron bar inside a rolled up newspaper. The movie ends with the two half brothers swinging from a high pole in front of an audience, Platt hanging in the grasp of his half brother, who says, "Listen, they are beginning to like you." Frame freezes, it is left to our imagination whether they went on to perform together, or if Platt fell and died, a death he predicted two weeks earlier in Las Vegas. A bit of a strange movie, I don't rate it real high, but after the opening scenes were out of the way, and the story settled in England, it kept my attention every minute thereafter. I like well-done quirky films, and this is one of those. Plus, it is great seeing Leslie Caron at about the age of 64, looking beautiful and playing her role perfectly, which even included a brief dance in a bare belly costume. The consumate actress, now in her 6th decade of film-making.

I can hardly remember the meaning of the story, apart from the fact that Oliver Platt as Tommy Fawkes wanted to make a comedy show. I think we only wanted to see it for the quite funny performance by Lee Evans as Jack Parker. He is quite a jittery character at first and gets involved in chases, but he soon shows his excellent physical comedy to us and Platt. I can't really say that I enjoyed all of it, but the moments with Evans are the most memorable. Also starring Richard Griffiths as Jim Minty and Oliver Reed as Dolly Hopkins. What I remember of this film is okay, but the rest I think is not too interesting. Adequate, in my opinion!

First the bad news. This supposed black comedy is totally devoid of black comedy, and any other kind of humor for that matter. What you get are two separate converging stories neither of which is remotely funny. Jumping back and forth, the viewer is totally bored and confused, not a good formula for entertainment. Trucking out endless vaudeville acts may be entertaining to an extremely tiny minority, but to everyone else "Funny Bones" will be unending torture. After one hour of this total nonsense, I most fortunately consulted the DVD case, which informed me that it was 128 minutes long. I had had enough. Now the good news, I ejected this artsy crap, and didn't waste another minute. - MERK

I had seen the standard shots of this film when it came out and thought that the comedy seemed pretty bad - which put me off seeing it in the cinema. However, now that it's been on TV I would like to recommend it to anyone who wants to see a film which has an original story, interesting characters, unusual settings, great acting, great photography.... generally the opposite of the usual Hollywood fare I usually have to suffer because of my friends. So, to sum up, it's been marketed wrongly - this is not a film which you should see for a laugh; it's a film which constantly surprises - not least in dramatic turns in the story. Loved it - 9/10

Although mostly overlooked at the time of release, this is undoubtedly one of the best films of the 90's. Elegantly surreal, Funny Bones is filled with wonderful visuals and a timeless quality. At the center of this story stands Tommy Fawkes, a reluctant young comedian struggling in his famous father's (Jerry Lewis) shadow. Fawkes is masterfully portrayed by Oliver Platt, an incredibly talented actor who is often placed in supporting roles. Adept at all roles, it's always refreshing to find him as our lead. Platt has a particular gift for portraying the edgy hero, reminiscent of Karl Malden at his best. Somehow, he manages to make Tommy dark, yet uncomplicated. In contrast, we have Jack Parker--seemingly the simplest of characters, he is the darkest and most complicated of all. This offered many of us our first glimpse of Lee Evans, a brilliant young UK actor/comedian with an astonishing penchant for physical comedy. His energy alone is enough to leave the viewer completely awestruck. If Fate is kind, we should have the good fortune of seeing a great deal more of him. As for the rest of this stellar cast, Leslie Caron is charming as ever, George Carl and Freddie Davies are pure energy, and Jerry Lewis is, well, Jerry Lewis (there is no higher compliment I can pay him). Essentially, this film is a requisite for anyone who enjoys surreal, dark comedy with a philosophical edge and an often slapstick pace. "The dark moon, she pulls the tides also." --Thomas Parker (Freddie Davies)

They describe this movie as a black comedy about a stand-up comic trying to make it as a comic just like his dad did so successfully, however he fails miserably. As I watched it, I was asking myself why I am watching this movie. It is boring, predictable and misses the mark on being entertaining. Oliver Platt's character was not relatable, likable or fascinating. At the end I didn't care how he ended up or any of the characters for that matter. Nothing stood out as amazing, wonderful or even entertaining. Scenes were too long, dialog was boring and the plot line sounds better on paper than it played out to be on film. This movie totally missed the mark - don't watch it.

I do have to say from the outset that I really like this film, disjointed though it is, perhaps because it is so different. This is a story of a broken family and hidden secrets - Tommy Fawkes goes to Blackpool, once one of the world's showbiz capitals, to learn how to be funny; once there he finds a duo (played by veteran British comics Freddie Davies and George Carl) who he thinks have stolen his famous dad's act - but are things really as they seem? Jack Parker is a Blackpool born lad with the innate ability to be creatively humorous (Lee Evans is excellent in this role) while lacking in the social skills to survive in the real world. Against this backdrop is something about mysterious eggs which hold some mystical secret or other (giving Oliver Reed yet another strange role as the oddball Dolly). The really interesting aspects of the story are the skeletons in the closet that bring Jack's mother (Leslie Caron) and Tommy's father (Jerry Lewis) together again. The strongest scenes though are the ones which truly shock - the flashback outlining the tragedy that has affected Jack's life, and the final few sequences in the show arena. 'Funny Bones' may be hard to fathom but I think it repays attention by giving its audience something a bit unexpected - plus some great performances along the way.

How did I never hear of Lee Evans before I saw this movie? He is my new idol. When this movie came out, I gave it a miss because of Jerry Lewis (King of Comedy notwithstanding -- he gives me the creeps, man), but I caught it on Sundance the other night and was bowled over. It starts out sorta weird, but then hooks you with the story of this guy trying to be a standup comic in the shadow of his showbiz-legend dad (is there any worse word than "showbiz"? Maybe "node," but other than that, "showbiz" is just such a bad word!!!), and then all of a sudden you are in Blackpool, England, being treated to (a) some amazing vaudeville performers from an era sadly gone by, and (b) some amazing performances by clowny guys (not the creepy kind), and (c) Leslie Caron singing a torch song in a man-tailored shirt, and (d) a beautiful story of lost dreams, redemption, and wax eggs. Rent it, fool. Rent it now if you have a funny bone in your body.

This amazing film won't let you go. I was never a Jerry Lewis fan, but his performance here is extraordinary. The movie is a Pirandellean exploration of the nature of comedy. It works on so many levels--acting, script, cinematography, plot, and of course comedy. The dark secret of humor is that a grin is really a grimace. Oliver Platt is amazing--I hadn't seen him before and will now go to anything he plays in on the basis of the performance. He plays a failed comic son of a famous comic father (Jerry Lewis) exploring the roots of comedy--his own personal family roots, the roots in his home town's vaudeville, and ultimately its roots in the human psyche. I can't tell much more without giving away some of the twists of the roller-coaster of a plot. If you like to think while being entertained, here's a movie for you.