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Starring Jane Adams, Elizabeth Ashley, Dylan Baker, Lara Flynn Boyle, Ben Gazzara, Jared Harris,
Philip Seymour Hoffman, Louise Lasser, Jon Lovitz, Camryn Manheim, Rufus Read, Cynthia Stevenson,
Marla Maples. Written and Directed by Todd Solondz.
Joy (Adams) has hit 30 and is struggling to find Mr. Right. She dumps an overweight suitor who cries a lot named Andy (Lovitz). He doesn't take it well. Her one sister is a perky housewife Trish (Stevenson) with two kids and a successful psychiatrist husband Bill (Baker). She defines passive-aggressiveness - she consistenly manages to belittle Joy when seemingly being positive. Her other sister Helen (Boyle) is a successful writer of sexually-violent, trendy poems and stories. Her parents Lenny and Mona (Gazzara and Lasser) are ready to split up after 40 years of marriage. Lenny just wants out - Mona doesn't want him to go, and begs him to stay. Lenny's got his eye on a recently divorced senior in his complex Diane (Ashley), who has been putting the moves on him. Next door to Helen is an overweight mouth-breather named Allen (Hoffman), who compulsively makes obscene phone calls, but is reduced to jelly if confronted by a woman. A big-boned woman next door (Manheim) has her eye on him, as well as a huge secret. Joy is becoming more and more desperate in finding the right man. She takes a job teaching new immigrants, and thinks she might have found him in a Russian cabbie (Harris), but he turns out to a bigger loser than she usually encounters. Helen is sick of the shallow, exploitative prose she writes, and decides to pursue an obscene phone-caller as a form of penance. Meanwhile, Bill has a dark secret and a problem he struggles to control. Unsuccessfully. His relationship with his son, and the rest of his family is forever changed. Extremely controversial at recent film festivals, Happiness deals primarily in characters we generally refer to as losers. Joy is desperate to find a relationship. Helen, despite material and professional success, feels her life is empty. Allen is brutally shy and spends his off hours conducting graphic obscene phone calls. Bill is attracted to young boys, and cannot control his urges any longer. It is the latter relationship that has attracted the controversy. Bill is played sympathetically, in a very measured and skilled performance by Dylan Baker. He is good to his wife and a responsible provider. He is a loving father to his young son, but one cringes every time Bill touches him, even though there is nothing inappropriate in Bill's conduct with his son. It's just that he likes other young boys. One outstanding scene involves Bill and his son discussing it after Bill has been caught, and the son is both repulsed by his father's behaviour, but also a bit hurt because his dad picked other kids to "love" and not him. The rest of the performances are also strong. Stevenson is quite good as the insecure, deluded housewife who thinks she has everything, thinking her world so much better than her sister's. Hoffman nails the sweaty, overweight loner who has no confidence or ability to connect with a live woman. The script is a bit uneven, but is especially strong in the scenes involving Bill, Trish and their oldest son, as well as incorporating subtle black comedy throughout. The film does run over two hours, and while most parts are essential and work well, some parts such as the Russian cabbie scenes drag a bit. Happiness is a unique and interesting film that looks at life's losers in a sympathetic and rarely seen way.  
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