Happiness

I guess the first thing to say about this movie is that it certainly is NOT for everyone. Let me repeat that: This film IS NOT for everyone.

The first thing that should be mentioned is that it's a film. This guy is great, as long as you go into each one of his films knowing that it’s satire. He writes and directs films to make us feel uncomfortable. He puts us in horrible situations, and makes us feel horrible for laughing. That, my friends, is Todd Solandz, and that is what Happiness is.

This film follows the lives of three sisters, and the intricate relationships that they have. One daughter is a songwriter, and has extremely low self esteem. She tries her hardest to make everyone happy, and is hurt as everyone; even all of her family members criticize her failures. Her Russian boyfriend steels several of her belongings, and she struggles to achieve happiness.

The second sister has the perfect life. A psychologist husband, two kids, a huge house, and a dog. Of course, the situation is far from perfect. Her husband is actually a serial child rapist, and her oldest son is trying to learn how to be sexual. Talk about tension in the room when the son asks the father how to be sexual. Oh EM GEE.

The last sister, a successful poet, and snob, lives in downtown NY, and enjoys the men she has every night. But she suffers, oh how she suffers. Her next door neighbor, played by Philip Seymour Hoffman, is an sexual predator who wants nothing more than to jump her bones. But when given the opportunity, he flees.

Wow, this film is sick. It is raunchy. It will make you feel bad for even renting it. But that's what makes it such a great film. I remember going to a Solandz film here in my hometown with several of my friends. Of the 50 or so people in the theater, we were the only one's laughing. Everyone else sat like stone statues. You just don't know how to react.

If you go into this film, know that it's made to make you feel bad. It's made to show you that not everyone has a perfect life. And for COW SAKE, know that it's satire, and that it's raunchy! Dirty! Sexual! Unclean!

7.5 of 10 for me (most would say lower, I'm sure!)