Happiness

Rating:
Summary: Gross, unappealing and offencive
Review: I rented this movie with my girlfriend to watch on a saturday afternoon expecting it 2 be like "very bad things" a black comedy. I found NOTHIN at all funny in this entire movie. The "big name" stars in this should b ashamed. The use of children in this movie is nothin short of vile. How this could be called "ART" is beyond me. I found this movie more offencive then KIDS and all those other so called "controversal" movies of the 90's. This was not shocking it was symply gross and a movie I would go as far as saying "should never have been made"

I gave it 1 star as it did have an appealing cast, who did nothin to make this movie anything more than trash. In the bin is where it belongs.

Rating:
Summary: Throw American Beauty in the garbage!
Review: This has the same spirit but is superior in every way: in the plot twists, pace, acting. There is not one mediocre performance. Yes, some parts are a bit intense, but the quality of the filmaking overrides any of these concerns. I found myself becoming completely engrossed in the film. It's one of those where you forget where you are in the theater and become part of the characters' world.

Rating:
Summary: Interesting and Depressing.
Review: Happiness, if nothing else, is a one of a kind. Where other movies tend to have a disturbing event or two, or a disturbing character that grabs your sympathy nonetheless, Happiness inundates you with so much jaw dropping grotesqueness that it begins to lose effect.

Yet it is quite interesting to watch, in a car wreck sort of way. The triumph of Happiness is not its abrasiveness, or its shock value. It is the fact that the movie forces you to sympathize with the people who are the most morally reprehensible, and hate those who you'd probably socialize with in real life. At the end of the movie, you find yourself feeling sorry for the pedophile and hating Lara Flynn Boyle's pretentious yet morally neutral character.

Happiness is about a group of people whose gratification lay just outside their reach, as if doomed to live a life that could never make them happy. One of the sisters couldn't be sweeter or more well meaning, but she ends up with a parade of loser men who abuse her in one way or another. A pedophile with a family, a writer who wants to be raped but of course, can not invite sex and write about being raped, a woman who is not loved by her husband, nor is divorced from him...none of these people can grasp what would ultimately make them happy.

Though much of this sort of draws you in, there are some problems here. First, I have to say I find this movie almost too depressing. There is simply not one moment when you feel at ease with what is going on. Secondly, it's too incredible. That these people are so out of whack, and that they are all related as well, is just too much of a reality stretch. The feeling of the movie is that this in someway applies to many of us, but the way it is portrayed in Happiness is so exaggerated you find yourself distancing rather than embracing the message.

Well worth seeing. Just be in the mood. And don't bring a date.

Rating:
Summary: The moving experience of lonelyness
Review: Its an amazing ,moving beautifully acted piece of art, thats produced here. There are so many moving moments and so many successless attempts to be happy and escape lonelyness. The scene when the paedophile father admits his crimes to his son, because he is unable to lie to him, is awsome. Wonderful movie.

Rating:
Summary: Sickening realistic
Review: I pray that I never live with any of the situations in HAPPINESS. Why is it so sickening? Because unfortunately, it is a reality for many people. Todd Solondz unflinching look at familial angst and human perversion creates an unsettling movie that sticks with you for weeks. ... From the uncomfortable discussions between Bill Maplewood and his curious son to Philip Seymour Hoffman's twisted fascination with female voices, this movie never pulls punches. All of Solondz choices are justified and needed to propel this story forward; nothing is gratuitous when you realize he is being true to his characters.

This isn't a movie for the faint of heart; it's a brutal look at selfishness and perversion, and how they are the downfall of mankind.

Rating:
Summary: Some great ideas let down by a badly made film
Review: I really tried to like this film because I have read rave reviews about it, but it did nothing for me. The film is known to be quite controversial, and I respect it for that because I admire films which question peoples opinions. Yet the only thing that offended me about the film is how dull it is. The pace is very slow, a lot of scenes drag on for ages and barely anything happens in the first hour or so. The worst aspect though, is the characters, they really are a hideous group of people and the type of people you have nightmares about being stuck in a lift with. They are dull, boring, creepy, pathetic and unlikeable, and you never feel any attachment towards them. The cinematography is very flat and makes the film resemble a TV movie more than a arthouse picture. The script is also very bad and seems to be written by someone who hasn't a clue how ordinary people talk and act. This film isn't a total disaster, it brings up some important issues towards the end, and I must mention that the acting is very good especially the excellent performance by Philip Seymour Hoffman.

This is the type of film in which a lot of people will say they like it to look cool and to avoid looking like a fan of brainless Hollywood action films. Well to be honest, I have a varied taste in films, from big budget blockbusters to no-budget arthouse films, and I'm going to be hideously uncool by saying that this film is a tedious look at the lives of a group of losers and a chore to sit through

Rating:
Summary: Such potential...
Review: After seeing this movie again after 2 years, its weaknesses are even clearer. So many obviously unrealistic lines and a general contempt for just about every character. It's also unsettling to imagine the child actors' perceptions of what they're called to do in this film. Some isolated terrific moments, but, overall, too cartoonish, too self-consciously controversial, and just basically unbelievable.

Rating:
Summary: Not for the Squeamish
Review: Ugh. You'll find yourself saying that many times during this dark movie. Yes, it's a good movie. No, it's not a cheerer-upper.

All the characters in here are depressing .... Except maybe the housewife and writer. And speaking of the writer--WHY DOES SHE ALWAYS HAVE TO WEAR BLACK? That's the oldest stereotype in the book. The first and only movie director to have a writer character finally NOT wear black, should win the NOBEL PRIZE for ORIGINALITY and NOT SUCCUMBING to dumb stereotypes.

This is one of those four-star movies that get four stars for technicality and artistry. But it doesn't get four stars for putting a smile on your face or making you feel good.

It's a good movie, but not for everyone. I know some people will disagree with my review and what I've said. That's fine with me.

Rating:
Summary: Get Out Your Addressbook and See for Yourself
Review: Happiness tells the terrible truth about our blank lives. No guns, no catchphrases, no handy resolution. This is us. Reviewers who claim that it's too negative should try a simple experiment: get out your addressbook and go through ten randomly-chosen names. Then ask yourself whether Happiness is really an exaggeration of the terrible loneliness of cubicle-life in the American middle class.

Hate this film if you like, but at least tell the truth about why you hate it: because it shows the simple, bland, unbearable truth.

Rating:
Summary: Devestating Reality
Review: why are people so afraid to confront such issues as sex obsession, masturbation, pedophelia, masturbation, and rape? we're not in the June and Ward Cleaver era anymore. families don't usually eat dinner together. i'm not saying that this is the cause for the horrors of rape and child molestation, but i do not understand why some choose to act as though such degradations don't exist? wake up. yeah, everyone masturbates. and most likely, someone in your family has had to deal with a sexual abuse of some sort. as a society we are taught to shy away from things and sweep them under the carpet. my personal opinion is that rapists and child pedophiles should be tortured to the upmost form of torture and publicly murdered. cruel i know, but that's just my opinion. who am i to judge? no one, of course. like previously pointed out, this movie isn't for everyone. but this movie is directed to all our lives somehow, in big ways or tiny ways, whether we know it or not.