Actually, it isn't funny at all

When someone asks you a question which leads to a series of stories, the normal response is "it's kind of a funny story". And people think that you're trying to make a joke. But in reality, you're not. You just don't know how to tell the story, so you say "it's funny". Well, in this movie, I didn't find any part where I could laugh so hard, I'd gasp for air. I didn't feel the urge to laugh at all. Okay, maybe I smirked, but that's about it.  

Recently, I rearranged my movies based on certain genres. I have the usual action, comedy, drama, etc., but then I also have separate locations for movies that I absolutely enjoyed like LOTR, or any movie produced by Marvel. And then, I have this one set of movies which I labeled as "Smart" movies. I made that genre up because these are movies that make me think. These are movies that have a deep message embedded in its story. It's more than just about making a movie. These movies either had ideas, or morals, or both.

When I first saw that Zach Galifianakis was in this movie, I thought "Oooh! Another comedy with Zach!". Boy was I wrong. Most people think Zach's only good for comedy. I myself thought like that. However, his acting skills are beyond what I expected. I mean, it's one thing to be "Alan" in "The Hangover". It's another to be "Ethan Trembley" in "Due Date". But to be "Bobby" in this movie, is probably his best performance yet. In fact, he deserves an award for best supporting actor in a DRAMA for this one. Zach showed (us) that he can do more than just comedy.

Now, on to the movie itself. Since it's based on the novel with the same title, I thought "daaammmmnnn dude! you thought of that?!". It's actually a very interesting format. To see the people inside a psychiatric ward in another perspective. To see how and why they got admitted. To see if you yourself can find the means to cure your own depression. I actually understand what the protagonist goes through because he helped these people by listening to them and figuring out how to help them. And in doing so, he was able to help himself. Sure he has other real world problems to fix, but that doesn't mean he can't face them now. He may not have been able to face them before, but the experience he obtained in five days was well enough to make him a better person.

Oh, let's not forget Emma Roberts, daughter of Julia Roberts. She's an eye candy to the movie, and she did well in being a suicidal teenager (with lack of actual suicide attempt footage for her character), but both she and Keir Gilchrist couldn't possibly match the acting prowess of Zach. 

Overall, this is a great movie. It will start out dull at first, but you have to take a step back to see how amazing this movie actually is.