Happy Here and Now

We're supposed to believe that there's an enticingly seedy quality to everything happening in this “high-tech” thriller, but don't be fooled: it's nothing but the artistic pretensions of writer-director Michael Almereyda at play in Happy Here and Now, in which a teenage girl's (Liane Balaban) search for her missing sister leads her to the basement of a pornographer (David Arquette) who communicates with ladies over the Internet, while disguising his voice and face on the grainy black-and-white video he transmits. Because it looks all cool and weird and independent-movie-ish, Arquette's fuzzy image is a perfect match to his rambling philosophizing about the meaning of life…or something. Unflaggingly committed to its affectations of deepness and meaningfulness, but only imparting a sense of tediousness, this is not recommended. (M. Johanson)