Happiness [1999]

It's one of those films that is almost impossible to sum up. It's really a long collection of short interconnecting sketches that detail the personal quirks of a dozen or so characters and the skeletons in their closets they'd probably wouldn't want us to know about.

The main thread of the plot is the three Jordan sisters who are all dealing with their own individual crisis. Firstly we meet Joy, who is having dinner with the boyfriend she's just dumped. Joy is insecure, vulnerable, naive and a little goofy. When Andy, her ex-boyfriend, commits suicide days later and she receives a nasty phone call from Andy's mother, she quits her job and starts to teach immigrants English, only to fall for Russian romantic Vlad, whose partner attacks poor Joy in the staff room when she finds out.

We then meet Allen who is seeing a therapist about his obsession with Helen his neighbour. Helen is one of the Jordan sisters and Allen's therapist is married to the other one, (with us so far?) Allen starts to make dirty phone calls to Helen, but to his amazement Helen actually enjoys them, which just doesn't compute with sad lonely Allen. He has his own problems anyway with his other neighbour, Kristina.

Perhaps the most controversial storyline is concerning the final sister, Trish. As we've said she married to Bill the therapist, but what Trish doesn't know is that Bill is a secret paedophile who secretly drugs his family to take advantage of his son's sleep-over friend. What makes this section even harder to get our heads around is that in every other way Bill is a regular likeable chap, some of the heart to hearts he has with his own son are very tender and sweet, and yet here is a man who represents possibly every parents' worst nightmare.

The film can be laugh out loud funny, sentimental and sometimes quite sickening. There are tender moments and vile moments and even some heartbreaking moments. The performances are to a man absolutely perfect and although I'm not going to single out anyone for special mention all the actors put in totally believable performances and capture you from the first scene onwards.

It's not easy viewing sometimes and there are going to be some viewers who find this to be unwatchable in parts. But that all said it is clever, singular and challenging.


The Best Film of All TIme   May 10, 2000
12 out of 13 found this review helpful

This is my favourite film and, if you open your mind just a little bit, you will be greatly rewarded.

Yes, this movie contains child rape, murder, masturbation, paeodophelia etc. but the film is as masterful as it is because it already assumes the audience knows that these things are bad. This is a rare film that will not preach to your "inner conscience" and respects its' audience.

An connecting tale of family disfunction and sexual inadequacy all joined Short Cuts/ Magnolia/ Pulp Fiction style by one or two events is centrally about three daughters, one a terminally smiling but incredibly unfulfilled social worker (Jane Adams), another an unknowing housewife (Cynthia Stevenson) to a paeodophile and the "succesful" one, a beautiful poet with many sexual conquests but feels emotionally empty (Lara Flynn Boyle) and their parents' (Ben Gazzera and Louise Lasser) breakdown of a thirty-year marriage. The film shows all of these (outwardly) normal people, yet many other detailed and brilliant characters, on their search for fulfilment, love and happiness.

Todd Solondz's incredibly ambitious and emotially shattering third film (see also his last: Welcome to the Dollhouse, almost perfect) is a masterpiece, not only of genius scriptwriting that makes you want to laugh, scream, cry and burn the film all in a single line, but also some of the most beautifully underplayed direction, unlike Sam Mendes' recent Oscar winning helming. The relationships are perfectly portayed with the ending scene between Bill, the paeodophile, and his betrayed son one of the most heart wrenching in cinema history.

The acting is completely perfect. From Jon Lovitz's (yes, Jon Lovitz) initially confusing breakdown at the outset to the now eponymous Phillip Seymour Hoffman's phone sex pervert and Dylan Baker's psychiatrist paeodophile, every one would, in a perfect world, take home Oscars.

Instances in this film may make you want to stop watching and damn the film for filth. Don't. This is one of few masterpieces to come out of America in the last decade. Many will not have the stomach for anything quite so perverse but it simply demands to be seen. Purely unmissable.


Not for the Tame of Heart   July 24, 2003
Bruce Kendall (Southern Pines, NC)
10 out of 12 found this review helpful

This smacks a bit of a director (Solondz)out to make something of a splash for himself. An attention-getting, semaphore-waving, "hey looky here how cutting edge, mod, hip, shoot from the hip, auteur I can be!" On the other hand, it's a pretty darned well directed movie, with many carefully-crafted, dramatic and dark comic vignettes, that don't quite add up to a great sum total.

Without going into the lurid details of what makes this movie so controversial (read any other review to get the idea), Solondz' main strength would appear to be his allowing his excellent ensemble cast the latitude to fully investigate their roles. Even Jon Lovitz, not exactly what one would usually think of when the word "method acting" comes up, delivers a delightfully unrestrained, semi-monologue at the beginning of the film that serves as the keynote address in the convention of the mad that is to follow. Perfect delivery. Perfect timing. Nice payoff.

Self-indulgent or not, the film will definitely hold your interest (even when you wish it wouldn't) and have you believing in the characters and the storyline. Don't watch with Grandma and the kids, unless you have an even more bizarre and dysfunctional family than the one depicted here.

BEK


Dysfunctional Black Comedy   August 12, 2004
dogbarkssome (England)
9 out of 13 found this review helpful

Gloriously abnormal film, mixing equal parts tragedy and black comedy, following the misfortunes of 3 sisters (and other oddballs they come into contact with). In tone this film reminds me a lot of American Beauty, with supposedly normal family life being revealed as something much darker, though if anything Happiness is more downbeat. Some people have a big problem with one of the characters being a paedophile, but for me this criticism is ridiculous - the character is rightly shown as a flawed human being rather than some faceless monster, and his actions are in no way condoned. For anyone looking for a film that's a little bit different Happiness is it - constantly skating the thin line between being a great comedy and a great drama.

As for the DVD, the extras are minimal - but do yourself a favour and import the American version, as the feature is presented in its original widescreen format.


Some great ideas but a badly made film   October 21, 2000
robjphat@yahoo.com (Nottingham, England)
6 out of 18 found this review helpful

I really tried to like this film because I have read rave reviews about it, but it did nothing for me. The film is known to be quite controversial, and I respect it for that because I admire films which question peoples opinions. Yet the only thing that offended me about the film is how dull it is. The pace is very slow, a lot of scenes drag on for ages and barely anything happens in the first hour or so. The worst aspect though, is the characters, they really are a hideous group of people and the type of people you have nightmares about being stuck in a lift with. They are dull, boring, creepy, pathetic and unlikeable, and you never feel any attachment towards them. The cinematography is very flat and makes the film resemble a TV movie more than a arthouse picture. ... This film isn't a total disaster, it brings up some important issues towards the end, and I must mention that the acting is very good especially the excellent performance by Philip Seymour Hoffman.

This is the type of film in which a lot of people will say they like it to look cool and to avoid looking like a fan of brainless Hollywood action films. Well to be honest, I have a varied taste in films, from big budget blockbusters to no-budget arthouse films, and I'm going to be hideously uncool by saying that this film is a tedious look at the lives of a group of losers and a chore to sit through