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Editorial Review:
Amazon.com:
At times brilliant and insightful, at times repellent and false, Happiness is director Todd Solondz's multistory tale of sex, perversion, and loneliness. Plumbing depths of Crumb-like angst and rejection, Solondz won the Cannes International Critics Prize in 1998 and the film was a staple of nearly every critic's Top Ten list. Admirable, shocking, and hilarious for its sarcastic yet strangely empathetic look at consenting adults' confusion between lust and love, the film stares unflinchingly until the audience blinks. But it doesn't stop there. A word of strong caution to parents: One of the main characters, a suburban super dad (played by Dylan Baker), is really a predatory pedophile and there is more than an attempt to paint him as a sympathetic character. Children are used in this film as running gags or, worse, the means to an end. Whether that end is a humorous scene for Solondz or sexual gratification for the rapist becomes largely irrelevant. Happiness is an intelligent, sad film, revelatory and exact at moments. It's also abuse in the guise of art. That's nothing to celebrate. --Keith Simanton
Customer Reviews
Average Rating: 
Rating:  - Dysfunctional Family Gone Wild!
Being a long time Solondz fan, I found this to be a really good movie. The best thing about his movies is that you never know what you are going to see next. He does a great job of taking several different stories and intertwining them into one climax ala Seinfeld. Some of the subject matter was pretty disturbing, but in a funny way. I found myself laughing alot through this movie and then feeling bad about it thinking "I don't think thats supposed to be funny"! My favorite character was Allen ... Read More
Rating:  - Happiness does not wear well...
I first saw this movie several years ago and, I guess, my mood was such that, aside from brilliant acting; I found the film wildly amusing despite its central theme. I ordered copies for several friends who seemed to find it "strange" to "wierd"...not very funny.
I remembered it and tried it on a new friend last night. It is still shocking, brilliantly acted...but it isn't very funny after all. The big laughs I remembered just weren't there. The film moved quickly but I kept thinking, "now ... Read More
Rating:  - Horrible mess of fringe people
Only in a film could one find such a menagerie of social misfits that somehow all manage to intersect in some tangential way. While lunatics, perverts, the socially inept, the depressed, ugly, fat and others do in fact exist, to find them all in such close proximity to one another is of course farce. Excuses can be give for why this is, given that it is a film and this is the story the filmmakers choose to tell. Fine. I still hated it. None of the characters were compelling and I could not relate to barely ... Read More
Rating: - Happiness... Not What You Think...
This film explores the ravages of sibling rivalry, the painful torment of twisted sexuality, and the loss of love and discovery of a new life. An amazing cast gives amazing performances. This film is not to be missed but it is also not for the faint of heart.
Rating: - A Must See
This movie reminds me as a dark comedy for personality disorders. Philip Seymor Hoffman does a fantastic job playing his rolse, as does Jon Lovitz, and the rest of the cast. Definitely a Must See!
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