Happiness

viewed October 23, 1999 on video

For full information about this film, click here

In Happiness, Todd Solondz takes aim at lonely suburbanites and their desperate pursuits, and hits them hard with half a dozen brilliant scenes, and one in particular, between a father and son, that is devastating.  Solondz direction and writing produce a brand of humor that is arrestingly original, treating dysfunctional types with a twistedly ironized compassion that seems as endeared to its subjects as it is embittered against middle-class values.  Unfortunately, the plot has a cumbersome structure, relying on a succession of climaxes that don't generate much feeling for its subjects other than detached concern, like what one feels when following the latest victims and culprits on the 11 o'clock news.  Part of the problem is that there are too many characters in the mix, involving all 5 members of a dysfunctional family, and their husbands, lovers, children, and stalkers, and Solondz can't keep the less interesting ones in the background. 

The three main plots seem related only incidentally through the family members, and through a non-specific, perverse yearning shared among the main characters of each. Each of those characters is played brilliantly.  Philip Seymour Hoffman, who's really let himself go since his preppy-looking days (remember him in Scent of a Woman?) has sweaty-palmed fun as a guy who, convinced he'll never be attractive to a woman, loads up on porn, booze, and obscene phone calls.  Jane Adams is a pretty-eyed dopey wonder as Joy, who with her ample soul feels her way through one well-intentioned mishap after another.  Perhaps most amazing of all is Dylan Baker as the shrink who has a secret passion for his son's prepubescent friends.  The scenes where Dr. Maplewood talks to his son frankly about sex are brilliantly rendered, like a warped retort to all those sex ed teachers who think parents should talk more openly about sex with their kids.  The final scene between father and son, where the doctor explains his activities, is one of the most devastating scenes I've ever seen.

Solodnz has taken his nasty, almost vindictive satire on a lengthy attack on suburbia; his points are well taken, but could degenerate into smugness if he doesn't keep a rein on his derisive impulses.  But with the heart and wit that he invests in his characters, he has definitely emerged from the recent wave of geek filmmakers to lead the pack -- to where is anybody's guess.

Read Roger Ebert's unabashed praise of this film

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