Happiness

Happiness is almost too difficult to watch--not because of its potentially shocking content, but because it's so achingly sad. The dozen or so principal characters in Todd Solondz's bleakly funny suburban nightmare fumble and fail so consistently in their pursuit of happiness, you might reasonably conclude the darn thing is unattainable. And in the sense that most of these characters define it, it is. Happiness deals with people whose chances for contentment are thwarted by yearnings for things they can't have, or are perhaps wrongly convinced they should be yearning for: an aspiring songwriter (Jane Adams) who searches for a man to complete her life; a pedophilic psychiatrist (the stunning Dylan Baker) who preys on children; and so on. The Baker storyline is the film's most controversial, but Solondz is never merely interested in the sensationalistic but trite notion that the monsters who turn up in headlines are our neighbors. Instead, he shows us the misery of a monster who knows he's causing pain, but can't stop himself because it's the only way of easing his own. Solondz only stumbles by including a surreal rape/murder sub-plot, taking the story in the direction of bizarre cheap laughs. It's far more effective when the edgy humor comes from a place that's more genuine. There are no grand enlightenments in Happiness, which led many critics to mistakenly assume Solondz was reveling in his characters' degradation. Instead, he takes a chance on showing people in a hopeless pursuit of a "happiness" no one quite knows how to define. Highly recommended. (S. Renshaw)[DVD Review--July 15, 2003--Lions Gate, 140 min., not rated, $19.99--Like Lolita, the latest entry in Lions Gate's "Signature" series is simply just a re-release of the original extra-less DVD (i.e., a non-anamorphic widescreen transfer with only Dolby Digital 2.0 sound) in a shiny new package. Bottom line: if you already own the first version of this release, this is identical; if you don't, then you should definitely consider adding this controversial but excellent film.]