FUNNY HA HA
Year: 2003
USA: Goodbye Cruel Releasing
UK: Diffusion Pictures / Miracle
Cast: Kate Dollenmayer, Christian Rudder, Jennifer L Schaper, Myles Paige, Marshall Lewy, Lissa Patton Rudder, Andrew Bujalski, Justin Rice, Mark Herlehy, Victoria Häggblom, Vanessa Bertozzi, AnitRa Menning, Danny Miller, Mark Capraro, Sabrina Hawthorne, William Westfall, Jed McCaleb, Sheila Dubman, Thomas Hansen, Justin Sheckler, Jonathan Clermont, Phillip Mighdoll, Morgan Faust, Adam Mansbach, Randy Bell, Sam Dollenmayer
Director: Andrew Bujalski
Country: USA
USA & USA: 90 mins
UK Certificate: 15 contains strong language
USA Release Date: 29 April 2005 (Limited Release)
UK Release Date: 16 March 2007 (Limited Release - London, ICA)
ICA
Synopsis
23 year-old college grad Marnie (Kate Dollenmayer) totters into a tattoo parlor and is talked out of getting either an interlacing Celtic design or a cow tattooed to her body by the tattoo artist. The tattoo artist makes it clear to Marnie that she shouldn't be wandering into tattoo parlors drunk without her friends, because her friends would never let her get a tattoo while drunk... you always get the wrong thing, it's there for the rest of your life.
The next day, Marnie visits Alex (Christian Rudder), her best friend and hopeless love interest. She informs him that she has been fired from her job, and they share a laugh about it. Soon after, Marnie bumps into friends Dave (Myles Paige) and Rachel (Jennifer L Schaper) and heads to dinner with them to meet up with a group of engineering students and drink scorpion bowls. At dinner, Marnie confesses to Rachel that she has feelings for Alex but senses that it will go nowhere.
After dinner, Alex's sister Susan (Lissa Patton Rudder) shows up at Rachel and Dave's house for some mid-summer drinking. Dave leaks to Susan the news about Marnie's feelings for Alex, and on the ride home Susan encourages Marnie to show her feelings to him that she needs to put herself out on the line.
The next morning, Marnie has her first day at her new temp office job. Marnie is seated alongside nice but socially challenged Mitchell (Andrew Bujalski), who stammers through awkward conversation with her.
In her bedroom after work, Marnie receives a phone call from Alex about some crazy things his sister had been saying. Marnie gets shot down before she can even put herself out on the line.
Marnie hangs out at Rachel and Dave's house for another party, and drinks until she eventually kisses engineering student Wyatt (Marshall Lewy), who pulls away from the kiss before heading home. Marnie, embarrassed, heads to her car to leave with Dave walking her out to make sure she is ok. In her car, Dave kisses Marnie, and after the kiss Marnie points out to Dave that his girlfriend Rachel is waiting inside the house.
Marnie, back at her temp job, fumbles with trying to stay interested in her work. She quits the job, but as she is leaving Mitchell asks her to dinner as friends-- because Marnie has declared she has a boyfriend. When she gets home, she finds a message from Alex, inviting her to hang out at his house...
FUNNY HA HA follows Marnie's ill fated romances and is a 90-minute feature film, shot on 16mm in and around Boston, MA, over 20 days. The indie film was made extremely cheaply, with tremendous donations of time, energy, favors, and talent from a whole lot of people.