Happy Hour

In Mike Bencivenga's Happy Hour, Anthony LaPaglia stars as Tulley, a failed writer-turned-advertising executive (with a chronic alcohol problem) who wants the sort of literary success achieved by his mean-spirited novelist father (Robert Vaughn). Most of Tulley's nights are spent trading one-liners and good-humored insults with his fellow inebriate Levine (Eric Stoltz), but life changes when Natalie (Caroleen Feeney) bellies up to the bar, bringing the requisite love interest who mysteriously chips away at Tulley's writer's block (which is convenient), even though his health simultaneously takes a lethal turn for the worst just as he is finding the right words for his long-gestating novel. Despite the talented cast who gamely overplay their roles (especially Feeney, trying too hard to be cute), the film feels like an anemic connect-the-dots exercise in which bathos reigns instead of brainpower—full of caricatures, not characters, and endless shop talk about writing. Not recommended. [Note: DVD extras include an amusing “making-of” featurette. Bottom line: if only the feature was as fun to watch as the featurette.] (P. Hall)