Even so, Funny Bones exists on a level of imagination that clearly places it apart from the mainstream. Lewis seems perfectly cast as the famous American, since his part gets very near both his own experience and our reactions to his comedy. The star of the film, however, is Evans, who plays Blackpool Jack with a total appreciation of the dark side of comedy and still succeeds in being very funny indeed. This sort of subtlety wouldn't get him far in most movies, but Chelsom takes him a long way. What the film amounts to is a series of sequences that gradually achieve coherence.
Patches are brilliant, but other bits seem to be there for a purpose it is difficult to comprehend.
This is hardly the proverbial curate's egg of a project. Funny Bones easily sustains itself with its baleful look at the comic process, its affection for its characters and its sense of how the past affects the present. It's a dark film made with a light touch.