Funny Bunny
A bizarre, awkward film that isn't afraid to go all-in on making its characters the social outcasts they are, "Funny Bunny" is a rare sort of movie that has no business being as engaging and interesting as it is.
Calling "Funny Bunny" quirky is kind of like calling Donald Trump "a little out there." The film follows Gene (Kentucker Audley), an anti-obesity advocate with almost no communications skills who nonetheless goes door to door trying to sell the virtues of health. His goal is unknown, as he isn't selling a product or service; he merely wants to reach out and talk to people.
And he finds a connection in a young man who identifies himself a "Titty" (Olly Alexander), who is even more socially stunted, obsessed with a webcam girl named Ginger (Joslyn Jensen), who doesn't get naked but often holds a rabbit in a kinda-sorta seductive manner.
Titty, we learn, is a trust-fund child who lives alone in a large house, living on trust-fund money. Given his mental state he should probably be supervised, but he lives out his days alone in the house with only his webcam to keep him company, obsessed with sex and women but unable to have either.
Gene, of course, has his own issues, including an ex-wife from whom he refuses to move on, barging in on her and her new man and sleeping on the couch and still holding out hope that she wants something--anything--to do with him.
Gene and Titty find a connection, and through Titty's obsession with Ginger they find a connection and decide to find and meet her. They soon discover Ginger is as stunted as they are, broken by trauma and in need of people as much as Gene and Titty are.
Their efforts to befriend Ginger only sparks a larger and more bizarre journey that involves wannabe animal activists who want to break out into domestic terrorism (which is to say freeing farm animals from the confines of their personal death-row accomodations.
Director Allison Bagnall, along with Audley, Jensen, and Alexander, who co-wrote the film, take a tremendous risk in situating the film on three characters who, at least initially, are inherently unlikable. Completely out of touch with reality, they exist entirely in their own world, enveloped in their own neuroses, and havae difficulty relating to other people.
But as the film progresses and we get to know the characters, we see the damaged sides of them come from a deep and personal place. These aren't characters that are quirky and funny for the sake of comedy; they are deeply wounded and emotionally stunted characters.
"Funny Bunny" has some things to say about people, porn, blind activism, and the people and motives with which they operate. It's a painfully funny journey into the lives of people we ordinarily would never get to see, and a touching love letter to those who have been hurt in many different ways. It's a surprisingly engaging film, and one you don't want to miss.