Happiness (1998)

Happiness (1998)

NC-17

A disturbing must-watch about the evasiveness of happiness

7.0

Movie

United States of America
English, Russian
Comedy, Drama
1998
TODD SOLONDZ
Ann Harada, Anne Bobby, Arthur J. Nascarella
139 min

What it's about

The lives of many individuals connected by the desire for happiness, often from sources usually considered dark or evil.

The take

Happiness is a difficult, disturbing watch. Unlike films that claim to be brave, Happiness actually goes there and shows us just how deep, dark, and perverse our urges can get. But far from being controversial for the sake of it, this fearless film has important things to say about the facade of happiness, the urgency of loneliness, and the futility of feigning ignorance about both. And it does so with an impressively wry humor delivered by a talented cast that includes Philip Seymour Hoffman, Lara Flynn Boyle, and Dylan Baker. They play their complicated characters so well, they'll have you thinking about the strange ways you can, in fact, relate to them on some level, long after the credits roll. 

This isn't a film you'll want to revisit often, but you will have to see it at least once in a lifetime—if anything, for the kind of painful honesty you’ll rarely find anywhere else.

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