And yet Funny Pages is teeming with broad influences and niche references, ranging from The Last American Virgin (1982) and Lilith (1964) to Wallace being a former assistant colorist for Image Comics. It’s bookended, for example, by two equally traumatic events that put a fresh spin on the familiar and make it somehow feel both more authentic and more absurd than anything to come before it. Instead, the directorial debut of Owen Kline ( The Squid and the Whale) takes bigger swings. Despite this sounding like the plot of any number of coming-of-age films, this is no William Miller-Lester Bangs relationship. Enter Wallace, played by Matthew Maher, a character actor for the ages.
But, as luck would have it, Robert does serendipitously stumble upon a possible mentor. Owen Kline's darkly hilarious directorial debut 'Funny Pages' is a coming-of-age tale that finds the sublime in the grotesque, and the profound in an absurd search for meaning in the basement. The film follows a budding cartoonist named Robert, played by Daniel Zolghadri ( Eighth Grade), as he shuns his spoiled suburban lifestyle in favor of a more artistic one, which he has, of course, romanticized.
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Now Playing: Chicago’s history in movie adsįunny Pages is an earnest ode to the obsessives.He soon meets Wallace, played by Michael Maher, one of Hollywood’s great. After all, he leaves behind a wonderful house in the upper-class suburb of Princeton, a fully-funded college education and a supportive family who only wants the best for him. Funny Pages is constantly riding the line between the banal and the absurd, always with a seasoned eye for the grotesque.
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Maher’s portrayal of Robert’s psychotic instructor is the perfect centerpiece for a film full of feverishly flawed individuals, one of which being the protagonist himself.Īlthough it is respectable that Robert strives to become an independent individual while he follows his dreams, the fact that he rejects his incredibly fortunate life, undeniably illustrates Robert as an ungrateful, spoiled brat. With its focus on the character of Wallace, stellarly performed by Matthew Maher, “Funny Pages” places its bet on the right race horse.
Robert’s naivety inks Wallace as his best way to break into the industry. Wallace is currently in legal trouble for attacking a pharmacist at a local RiteAid and can be best described as paranoid, unpredictable and prone to violent outbursts.Įven if he is a terrible person, Robert desperately pursues Wallace as a mentor because of his ex-position as a comic book color separator’s assistant, a role in which Wallace insists he had no creative input at all. In his pursuit of independence and success, Robert frequently finds himself in scenarios that will make audiences cringe and snicker simultaneously.įor example, in a scene taking place in Robert’s new living situation – a dilapidated basement in Trenton that he shares with two grown men – Robert finds himself barging in on the two men engaging in unspeakable acts, with Robert’s valuable comic books in hand.Įven if his new roommates are total nutjobs, they do not even compare to Robert’s new mentor (if he can even be called that) named Wallace. The film is a dark comedy after all, and the unfortunate setting makes the uncomfortable comedy all the more hilarious. It premiered at the 2022 Cannes Film Festival and was released in the United States on August 26, 2022. Like Dante’s vision of hell, everything is cold, exhausted and bitter. Funny Pages is a 2022 American coming-of-age black comedy film written, directed, and edited by Owen Kline. Where last year’s phenomenal coming-of-age film “Licorice Pizza” was set in the warm and dreamy San Fernando Valley – a place full of love, opportunity and hope – its new coming-of-age peer “Funny Pages” takes place in New Jersey.
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