The employees at the Rialto were up to some shenanigans of their own tonight for the 9:30 showing of Funny Games, in which Naomi Watts and Tim Roth are tormented for a couple hours, mentally and physically, by two boys dressed in New England tennis attire—white sweaters, polo shirts, shorts, and gloves. I could go on and on about the film, but I won’t give away too much, except to say that a golf ball plays a recurring role. And that all in all, watching Funny Games is a fairly agonizing experience, leaving the viewer 1) drained, and 2) totally horrified of the tennis guys.
Never ones to miss out on an excellent joke, Matt and Jeff at the Rialto got together and dressed the part completely tonight. White shorts, sweaters, polo shirts, gloves—almost the same hair, even, as the tennis guys. It was an exact, eerie resemblance.
And when the movie got out, they stood in the hallway directly outside, bouncing a golf ball, waiting to deliver a menacing “have a good night” to the utterly shellshocked exiting the theater.
I missed most people’s reactions, but I’ll tell you this: Matt and Jeff each had one of those fantastic “we don’t get paid that much, but fuck it, we’re having fun” grins on their faces.Funny Games ends its run on March 27. I can say with all honesty that it’s better than the original.
