FunRating:
Release Date: 14 May, 2002 Retail Price: $9.99 Sorry, this product is not currently available. Cast: |
Fun Reviews
Horrific and disturbing
On May 14, 1985, a fifteen year old girl named Paula Cooper committed a particularly vicious crime that eventually landed her on Indiana's Death Row. After skipping school for an afternoon of fun--which included drinking and drugs--with a few friends, Cooper and her pals arrived at the home of an elderly woman named Ruth Pelke. The girls managed to get inside the house by inquiring about Bible classes taught by the older woman. Once inside, Cooper stabbed Pelke over thirty times so she and her friends could steal ten dollars and the woman's car. The subsequent trial, supposedly marred by the bad advice of a public defender, resulted in a death sentence for Cooper. As the youngest individual on Indiana's Death Row, it was inevitable that Cooper's case would draw attention from liberals. Millions of pleas for leniency poured in from around the world, and even members of Pelke's family eventually supported the idea that the girl should receive a commutation from the governor. On July 13, 1989 Cooper escaped her fate, but received a sixty-year sentence in the process (eligible for parole in twenty-six years). As far as I know, she still resides in prison somewhere in Indiana.
It's important to begin a review for the grinding experience that is the film "Fun" by recounting the specifics of the Paula Cooper incident because it's obvious the film takes this horrific incident as its starting point. The movie, directed by Rafal Zielinski, concerns two young girls and a crime terrible beyond reckoning. Most of the central elements of "Fun" come down to us through a series of flashbacks told by the two girls to a reporter named John (William R. Moses) and prison counselor Jane (Leslie Hope). These two young ladies, Hillary (Renee Humphrey) and Bonnie (Alicia Witt), couldn't be further apart in demeanor. Hillary is a dark haired beauty with a chip on her shoulder against the whole world, a sullen girl who rarely cracks a smile except when she's talking about Bonnie. Witt's character is over the top, to say the least; a non-stop spasm wrapped up in the form of a teenage girl. She prances, she dances, she lies, and she talks a million words a minute, yet she too becomes morose whenever the topic of Hillary comes up--mainly because the authorities keep them separated. It's obvious the two share a weird connection, a connection that John and Jane suspect has something to do with a physical relationship. They both prod the girls to discover exactly what happened.
What happened is, in a word, repulsive. The flashbacks, which are in color versus the dull black and white of the prison scenes, show us how Hillary and Bonnie meet at a bus stop. The two quickly form a strange bond based on a history of family troubles, and it's not long after this meeting that the girls are running around town causing trouble. As they're wandering through a peaceful suburban neighborhood in which one of the girls claims she once lived, they decide to ring doorbells, yell profanities at whomever opens the door, and then run off. Hillary and Bonnie are just having fun, but then one of them suggests carrying the game a bit further. They approach the house of an elderly woman--remember Paula Cooper's crime--and talk themselves inside by claiming illness and the need for a telephone. Once there, the nightmare unfolds in vivid, unflinching detail as Bonnie stabs the poor woman to death. Then it's off to the local gas station to clean the gore off in the bathroom, followed by a trip to Hillary's house where the two girls lie in bed chatting about what they've done. It is here where the police find the two killers.
Zielinski's film is massively disturbing in several key ways. One concerns how the girls don't seem to care about the crime as much as they do about each other. In the prison, all the two can think about is reuniting. Two, the behavior exhibited by Hillary and Bonnie is sickening and shocking. "Psychopathic" and "sociopathic" are two terms that come to mind while watching these two lie, throw fits, and do just about anything to confound John's and Jane's efforts to learn the truth. Third, and finally, the actual crime turns the stomach. I've seen hundreds upon hundreds of horror films, yet I've never seen an onscreen murder that disturbed me as much as Bonnie's killing of this poor old lady. The amount of blood involved--and there's a huge amount of blood--isn't nearly as upsetting as Bonnie's shrieks of animalistic madness mixed with the moans and groans of the victim. Yet something odd happens as the memory of the crime emerges: the same emotions exhibited by the girls earlier seem to assume a second dimension, namely one of tentative shame and even remorse. Or perhaps not. The challenge of "Fun" revolves around discovering what makes these two girls tick. Are they compulsive liars and sociopaths? Or is there a sense of wrongness about what they did somewhere down deep? Zielinski's film works so well because the viewer can interpret the film in different ways.
Zielinski is an oddball director. He's made films like "National Lampoon's Last Resort" and "Screwballs," but he's also lensed the pro-Christian "Hangman's Curse" based on the best-selling novel by Frank Peretti. When you throw "Fun" into that mix, it makes for a strange filmography. As for the DVD release of this movie, it's nothing to write home about. All we get here are trailers for this film, "Meet the Feebles," "Down For the Barrio," "Stripshow," "Dark Obsession," and "17 & Under." This is the sort of film that fairly screams for a commentary track from the director, writer, and actors. "Fun" is dark, disturbing, and complex--and I for one would like to hear if my interpretation of the film is the correct one.
A Few Words... Of Warning? Of Enthusiasm?
I am both driven to warn people about this movie, and to be enthusiastic about it. Definetly not for the faint of heart, it is terribly disturbing. I watched the film with my best friend and we both kept staring at eachother in amazement, which could be a true sign of how masterful the piece is. Great characters and story line. If you think you can handle the psychological implications and chilling plot of this movie, then go for it!
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