Happiness
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Movie Reviews of Happiness
Movie Review: The Terrible Truth
Summary: 5 Stars
You will not like it. There is nothing to like about this film. It deals with topics that are indescribable without having this review purged. The film comes with warnings all over the cover. People got up and left the cinema. People tried to boycott it and wanted to see it banned. It is an assault on morals. It is the darkest of dramas. It is only funny because a smile is all you can do to deal with what you are witnessing. It is nauseating. It is completely taboo. You do not want to tell people you saw this. You do not want to watch it with your girlfriend. You do not want to recommend it. You would feel excruciatingly embarrassed to watch this with your parents. You can not comprehend why anyone would want to make it. You feel that the actors have gone too far. You never want to see anything like it again. However, inside, deep down, you know that what you have seen is nothing short of the horrific truth about some people. You know that your parents could very well be like this. You know that your girlfriend or boyfriend may have some secrets like this. You know that your friends could well be involved in some of the topics conveyed in this film. You know all too well that the media reports on it 24/7. You know that PEOPLE DO THESE THINGS! But it is taboo, taboo and it is not you! Never you! How could you ever do such a thing or even think such things.... But there in the darkness of your soul is something that is not a hundred miles away from the topics that this darkest of film expounds on. The human condition and its western syndrome are all too capable of what is on display here.The fact remains that millions of people have experienced first-hand much of themes that this film covers. It is not something that does not happen. It does and they do. The media talk about non-stop. Any tabloid magazine is full of it. The telephone services have to deal with it - so do the police and social services. People even make money out of these things. It is terrible, awful, disgusting - but real.
What most people fail to realize is that this film is all about the mentally ill who have very deep-seeded psychological problems that they can not cope with, without some help. These people can be found in any walk of life. As on display in "Happiness" those who suffer from these diseases of the mind are in fact everyday Joe-soaps and some with important jobs or are even authority figures. It is this angle that makes it all the more real and upsetting. It is this upper-class take on the whole problem that shows that no matter who you are, you too can suffer from these problems. Too long has this material been only played out in the hands of the seedy "villains" or underground freaks. Too long has cinema devoted these themes to prisoners and baddies and the elements of society who most of us never engage in. Here we see our friends, family, employers, employees, doctors and teachers all doing what they should not be doing! This is why this film deserves the acclaim that it got. It did the right thing. It did it the right way. It did it to balance out this topic that has always been dealt with unjustly.
Honesty deserves praise and praise is what this film deserves. Say "thank you" to Todd Solondz for "keeping it real".
Movie Review: an excellent look at some pretty hard times
Summary: 5 Stars
Happiness is one of those rare films that takes a look at lives that are so often "hidden" from public view. It seems that just about everyone in this movie has serious personal problems; and the film gives us a frank and often brutally honest view of troubled lives.
There are several main characters in the film whose lives all intertwine to some degree. There's Mona and Lenny Jordan (Louise Lasser and Ben Gazzara) whose marriage is coming apart after 40 years of togetherness; and we see their three daughters Trish Maplewood, Joy Jordan and Helen Jordan (Cynthia Stevenson, Jane Adams and Lara Flynn Boyle, respectively). Trish has no idea that her husband Bill Maplewood (Dylan Baker) likes little boys way too much as he supports his family by being, of all things, a psychiatrist.
In addition, we also meet Allan (Philip Seymour Hoffman). Allan is frustrated for lack of a woman in his life so he makes lewd crank phone calls to women. We also meet the Maplewood's two sons, Billy and Timmy. Look for some particularly fine acting from Rufus Read who plays Billy Maplewood.
As the film progresses, we see all of these people trying to find happiness. Although they try to make emotional connections with other people they fail. Allan can't do any better than a woman with a rather grisly little secret; and Mona cracks up when Lenny, her husband of forty years, leaves her for "no one" and the one time we see Lenny with another woman he complains that he feels "nothing." Of course, trouble looms over the Maplewood household as Bill Maplewood tries desperately to hide his pedophilia from his family. It doesn't help that the love life has faded out of the Maplewood marriage.
Suffice it to say that the plots and subplots take many interesting turns along the way; and although the subject matter can definitely be disturbing few people who do choose to watch or buy this movie will ever switch it off before the ending. Actually, there is one person who does achieve a degree of happiness at the very ending of the movie--but I'll leave out the specifics so you can experience that for yourself.
The DVD comes with pitifully few extras. Instead of a few commentaries and some extra deleted scenes, we get little more than scene selection and a "filmography" for five of the actors in the movie. A disappointment for sure!
Overall, this excellent movie is for a crowd that's not exactly squeamish. Happiness eagerly delves into deeply disturbing yet all too real problems society faces every day--and when the movie ends you feel better off for having watched it. One reviewer wrote that they felt like "a fly on the wall;" and I think that's the effect director Todd Solondz wanted to create.
Happiness shows us a "slice of life" with several types of characters that are not normally main characters in films; and there are many plot diversions to add extra spice to the overall plot.
I highly recommend this film.
Movie Review: A shocker - harder and much better to "American Beauty"
Summary: 5 Stars
"Happiness" tells the story of about twelve characters all looking for happiness, especially three sisters. Joy (Jane Adams) is a single, average, not very attractive but very nice and sensitive woman, employed in a software company. When she manages to find a boyfriend (a Russian thief), she believes she just found love and happiness but the trouble begins. Helen (Lara Flynn Boyle, "Twin Peaks", "Men in Black 2"), just published a useless novel. She has too many boyfriends, which means she doesn't have any. She's aware of the meaninglessness of her life and believes she just found happiness when her neighbor, a sick man, insults her on the phone. Trish (Cynthia Stevenson, "The Player") is married to an average American man, with a situation. She believes she's happy, with the ideal family, but she doesn't know that her husband is fond of little boys...Their father is more reasonable: when his doctor tells him he's gonna live until he's a hundred years old, with the condition of staying away from salt, he just adds more salt in his meals, in order to make his life shorter...
With this third long feature, Todd Solondz, an independent and iconoclast American writer-director, slowly and carefully destroys the goldened image of the average family, not only in the U.S. The result is a real shocker, trashy, hilarious and highly, disturbly realistic. What Sam Mendes (along with his screenwriter, Alan Ball) only suggested in "American Beauty", Todd Solondz shows it straight (uncomfort, hypocrisy, vice and vanity in life, especially inside families), dealing with [sexual situations] without putting gloves on. This leads to the hilarious and unstandable scene where the father confesses in front of his son that he's a pervert. Many people compared "Happiness" to "American Beauty", talking about it as a hard version; but they forgot or didn't know that "Happiness" was filmed and released one year before. So actually, "American Beauty", it's "Happiness" in a soft, sweet way. I even suspect Alan Ball for having taken "Happiness" and based upon it to write a gentle version.
The casting is very ecclectic. Dylan Baker and Philip Seymour Hoffman are great as nutcases, Camryn Manheim is very good, and Ben Gazzara, who used to be one of Cassavetes' favorite actors, gets involved in Solondz's universe the most ideal way. With this film, Solondz can easily be compared to Tarantino and "Pulp Fiction" from his many portraits and his way to go from one character to another, with talent, competence and control. "American Beauty", with Dreamworks behind, its cast of stars and a bunch of Oscars, still doesn't have the strength of Cannes International Film Festival acclaimed (and prized) "Happiness", which is about to be a classic. An incredible shocker and a rarer and rarer piece of American cinema work. Some people should see it to understand the world. Very, very special.
Movie Review: Turns out that happiness is not all it's cracked up to be
Summary: 5 Stars
I watched this film hoping to be blown away, and afraid I'd be too disgusted to finish it. I'd heard so many things about it, both good and bad, that I had no idea what to expect. And indeed, it was the absolute last thing I expected: truly and profoundly boring.
Having recently watched 'Welcome to the Dollhouse' (which I adored) and now 'Happiness', I think Solondz employs a reliable method to evoke laughter - he delves into our deepest anxieties, in this case our fear that we are depraved, weak, pitiful, unlovable. While many movies dance around this subject matter, Solondz dives right in, and refuses to grant any relief. His films tell you that your worst doubts may very well be true. That break-up conversation WILL go horribly wrong. The sad loser you dump WON'T recover and go on to find his soul mate. I consider myself to be fairly demon-riddled, and thus a prime candidate to enjoy this type of humor, but 'Happiness', despite the abundance of sexual fluids, remains an oddly arid film.
While I know this will comparison will cause 'Happiness' lovers to quiver with rage, I really consider 'American Beauty', while far less ambitious, to be a more powerful film. I sympathized with Kevin Spacey's character a great deal, which made his obsession with his daughter's best friend all the more squicky. I didn't empathize with anyone in 'Happiness' in the slightest, and was therefore not moved by the cruelty, pathos, and flat-out stupidity of their actions. Everyone could have turned into giant, talking aardvarks halfway through the movie, and I wouldn't have been particularly surprised or affected.
I find this particularly odd because I know several women like Joy, and feel the anxiety her character is meant to evoke: what do you do with people who care so much about helping others, but are somehow ineffectual? I would think I'd find her character utterly engrossing, but no. Not even a shiver of interest. While watching `Dollhouse', I was constantly debating whether to laugh, cry, or throw up. While watching "Happiness', I was debating whether to turn it off and catch something on HBO.
Finally, and I know this is just a personal quirk, I can't stand watching conversations that are filled with long, awkward pauses, which pretty much defines this entire movie.
The acting is fairly solid and there are a few funny moments here and there, which is why I think the film merits two stars. Overall, though, if you haven't seen a Solondz yet, I'd suggest `Dollhouse'. I'd also like to recommend another movie that covers similar themes, though it is not well known: `Spanking the Monkey'.
Movie Review: Good Lord!
Summary: 5 Stars
This movie was incredible, one of my favorite movies of 1998. I had heard it was very engrossing, shocking, and disturbing, and it did not dissapoint. I don't know whose character I felt the most sorry for, they all had such utterly wretched lives. I think it was a toss-up between Camryn Manheim's Miss Lonelyhearts, who is so desperate for company and attention she wants to get together with the disgusting, sweaty obscene-phone caller who lives down the hall, and who ends up committing one of the most shocking acts in the film--I totally did not expect her character to end up the way she did. But I also felt sorry for the pedophile dad, who knows he is a monster but can't stop himself from committing his evil acts no matter how hard he tries. I spent much of the movie wondering which character was going to commit suicide or homicide first--but all my guesses were wrong. This movie is rightly unrated, probably for content. The sick dad has many discussions with his son about sex, and masturbation, trying to explain 'the birds and the bees' to him using impersonal, technical terms. Then the scene comes where the son asks the dad if he's actually done all the horrible things to his friends that he has been accused of doing, and the brutal honesty of what he admits to his son is genuinely shocking, especially contrasted with his earlier Wally Cleaver-ish talks with his son. All the acting was brilliant, and beleivable. The depressing situations the characters find themselves in are all too true-to-life. You probably know someone like at least one of the characters, be it Jon Lovitz' lonely loser or the young woman who has one 'relationship' more disasterous than the next in her search for a man she can share her life with. Dylan Baker's performance as the surburban sex predator is probably the most impressive and the most frightening (and the reason for the movie not even trying to get an "R" rating). Don't see it if you're easily upset or disgusted, or want a "feel good" movie. If you are up to it, though, I can't recommend it enough. Though it was hard to watch at times, I actually didn't want it to end--though as I'm sure you've heard, the last shot is a kicker that will...uh...well, you'll see. When the little boy goes out on the balcony at the end, if you are eating something while you are watching, put it down it that point, OK?