Plot Details: This opinion reveals major details about the movie's plot.


Happiness is something everyone seems to crave, particularly in these bleak times. The idea of having a family, a nice home, a respectable job, and love is something everyone wants. Well, not exactly. There are those who crave happiness on a different level that some might consider to be sick. Coming off his 1995 breakthrough masterpiece “Welcome to the Dollhouse”, Todd Solandz wrote and directed a harrowing black comedy that transcends the boundaries of sex and family values in his 1998 film “Happiness”.

“Happiness” is a film about three sisters dealing with their life as their elderly parents’ marriage are disintegrating as each one is dealing with their own problems as well as the people around them. The result is a film that deals with the idea of kind of morals are brought to the table and are the people around them are just sick or to be sympathized with. Where in “Welcome to the Dollhouse”, Solandz brings a level of realism into the grittiness of adolescents while in “Happiness”, the film is mostly adult driven and its presentation comes off as something aggressive and at times, disgusting. With an all-star cast, “Happiness” is an excellent, harrowing film that deals with what makes people happy.

The film begins in the first five minutes as a young 30-year old woman named Joy Jordan (Jane Adams) breaks up with her fat but nice boyfriend Andy (Jon Lovitz) as he breaks down and wanted to give her this lovely ashtray during a dinner at a restaurant. He refuses to let her keep as he tells her to rot in hell for rejecting him as he declares, “I’m champagne” while she is sh*t. She talks to her eldest sister Trish (Cynthia Stevenson) about her problems as she is trying to get on with her life while Trish is happily married to her psychiatrist husband Bill (Dylan Baker) and with three kids, baby Chloe (Lila Glantzman-Lieb), troublemaking middle child Timmy (Justin Elvin), and eleven year old Billy (Rufus Read). Trish thinks her life is perfect as Bill is counseling a lonely, overweight man named Allen (Phillip Seymour Hoffman) who talks about wanting to f*ck a neighbor of his while Bill is thinking of something else including a disturbing scene where he dreams of killing off a group of happy people and families in a park with a machine gun.

Bill talks to his psychiatrist about the dream where he sees something positive in the fact that he doesn’t kill himself. Bill is also an unhealthy man who often masturbates to kids magazines that feature young boys. Billy often talks to his dad about his problems with growing up including about masturbation where Bill seems comfortable to talk about since he has an unhealthy infatuation with Billy’s friends. The woman Allen is obsessing about is none other than Bill’s sister-in-law and middle sister Helen, a respected writer who finds herself unhappy with her fame and feels that she’s a total phony. Joy is however, trying to move on with her breakup with Andy, even by channeling her frustrations through songs, as she is a songwriter, until she learned that he killed himself and she quits her job as a phone telemarketer.

Things for the Jordan parents of Lenny (Ben Gazzara) and Mona (Louise Lasser) are finally collapsing as he decides to leave her to be alone while Mona suspects that he’s having an affair with a woman around her age named Diane Freed (Elizabeth Ashley). Allen meanwhile, continues to call people to ask what they’re wearing in order to have some sexual satisfaction. One night, he calls Joy’s number where he asks what she’s wearing and if her p*ssy is wet. He gets a bit of satisfaction but is then asked by fellow neighbor, the sweet, overweight Kristina (Camryn Manheim) who talks about a dead doorman named Pedro and if he would go to a basketball playoff game but he says no.

One day, Allen calls Helen’s number and she calls back, after realizing that she’s a phony, as she asks Allen for some sexual favors but he gets scared. Bill meanwhile watches Billy during a baseball game as he has an unhealthy obsession with Billy’s friend Johnny Grotto (Evan Silverberg) where his dad Joe (Dan Moran) ask Bill if Johnny is a homosexual because of the way he behaves. Johnny sleeps over at Billy’s house where Johnny eats a tuna sandwich with crushed prescription pills inside. Joy quits her phone job to become a substitute language teacher to immigrants as she gets some comfort from a Russian cab driver named Vlad (Jared Harris) whom she eventually has an affair with.

Allen finally meets up with Helen but nothing happens as he finds some comfort from Kristina who tells him about Pedro and what happened in his death as he is shocked but finds something in Kristina that he could relate to. Joy meanwhile, finds herself in an uncomfortable position with Vlad, since he’s a thief. Lenny eventually has a fling with Diane but realizes that he’s more comfortable in being alone while Mona is upset that her marriage after 40 years has disintegrated. Bill meanwhile, has another interest in one of Billy’s friends as truths come in as Billy ask his dad about his strange activities in a very disturbing scene.

“Happiness” is a film that is very strong in its subject matters as each scene is filled with a sense of disturbance that is very uncomforting to watch at times. Todd Solandz goes for the grittiness in this film although at times, the various stories seems to be inconsistent but it all comes ahead right at the end. What make the film even more uncomforting are its grotesque matters of pedophilia and the subjects of masturbation, even when it’s a kid talking to his father that just feels very disturbing. Timed at nearly two-and-a-half hours, the film doesn’t feel slow but it is at times, inconsistent. Soldanz makes everything in the film seem off, even in Maryse Alberti’s colorful cinematography where things seem beautiful and suburban but there’s something not right in its image.

The film’s performances from its ensemble actors are top-notch. Though Jon Lovitz’s performance was brief, it was memorable as he played a rejected man who loses all sorts of control. Jared Harris as the Russian cab driver is fun to watch, especially when he sings “You Light Up My Life” on an acoustic guitar. The performance of Rufus Read as Billy is one of the most harrowing performances of the film as he asks questions relating to sex while Phillip Seymour Hoffman deliver the film’s best performance as the self-loathing, sick Allen. Dylan Baker even brings in a disturbing performance as Bill where at times, you just don’t want to look at him for being a pedophile. The performances of Ben Gazzara and Louise Lesser are well portrayed as the crumbling parents while Jane Adams stands out as the naïve, desperate Joy. Camryn Manheim is the film’s best female performance as Kristina as she too, plays a desperate overweight individual who has a loathing for sex. Cynthia Stevenson is excellent as Trish, who seems to be in denial over everything while Lara Flynn Boyle is amazing as Helen; a woman seems to have all the answers but knows that she’s a phony.

“Happiness” is an excellent film that is just very disturbing and real at the same time. Todd Solandz brings in a movie where everything goes wrong and gives an audience an ending in thinking where will everything be all right while adding more of something disgusting at the same time. Those who enjoyed “Welcome to the Dollhouse” and 2001’s “Storytelling” will love “Happiness” despite its inconsistency and grotesque scenes and subjects. In the end, “Happiness” is a harrowing film that takes everyone to the world of everything gone wrong.

Todd Solandz Reviews:

Welcome to the Dollhouse (1995):

http://www.epinions.com/content_110027902596

Storytelling (2001):

http://www.epinions.com/content_112294858372



Recommended: Yes

Viewing Format: DVD
Video Occasion: Fit for Friday Evening
Suitability For Children: Not suitable for Children of any age