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Happiness

  • 1998
  • NC-17
  • 2h 14m
IMDb RATING
7.7/10
78K
YOUR RATING
POPULARITY
2,614
363
Philip Seymour Hoffman, Camryn Manheim, Jane Adams, and Dylan Baker in Happiness (1998)
Home Video Trailer from Trimark
Play trailer2:30
1 Video
95 Photos
Dark ComedyPsychological DramaSatireComedyDrama

The lives of several individuals intertwine as they go about their lives in their own unique ways, engaging in acts which society as a whole might find disturbing in a desperate search for h... Read allThe lives of several individuals intertwine as they go about their lives in their own unique ways, engaging in acts which society as a whole might find disturbing in a desperate search for human connection.The lives of several individuals intertwine as they go about their lives in their own unique ways, engaging in acts which society as a whole might find disturbing in a desperate search for human connection.

  • Director
    • Todd Solondz
  • Writer
    • Todd Solondz
  • Stars
    • Jane Adams
    • Jon Lovitz
    • Philip Seymour Hoffman
  • See production info at IMDbPro
  • IMDb RATING
    7.7/10
    78K
    YOUR RATING
    POPULARITY
    2,614
    363
    • Director
      • Todd Solondz
    • Writer
      • Todd Solondz
    • Stars
      • Jane Adams
      • Jon Lovitz
      • Philip Seymour Hoffman
    • 557User reviews
    • 121Critic reviews
    • 81Metascore
  • See production info at IMDbPro
    • Awards
      • 12 wins & 27 nominations total

    Videos1

    Happiness
    Trailer 2:30
    Happiness

    Photos95

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    Top cast42

    Edit
    Jane Adams
    Jane Adams
    • Joy Jordan
    Jon Lovitz
    Jon Lovitz
    • Andy Kornbluth
    Philip Seymour Hoffman
    Philip Seymour Hoffman
    • Allen
    Dylan Baker
    Dylan Baker
    • Bill Maplewood
    Lara Flynn Boyle
    Lara Flynn Boyle
    • Helen Jordan
    Justin Elvin
    • Timmy Maplewood
    Cynthia Stevenson
    Cynthia Stevenson
    • Trish Maplewood
    Lila Glantzman-Leib
    • Chloe Maplewood
    Henry
    • Kooki the Dog
    Gerry Becker
    Gerry Becker
    • Psychiatrist
    Rufus Read
    • Billy Maplewood
    Louise Lasser
    Louise Lasser
    • Mona Jordan
    Ben Gazzara
    Ben Gazzara
    • Lenny Jordan
    Camryn Manheim
    Camryn Manheim
    • Kristina
    Arthur J. Nascarella
    Arthur J. Nascarella
    • Detective Berman
    • (as Arthur Nascarella)
    Molly Shannon
    Molly Shannon
    • Nancy
    Ann Harada
    Ann Harada
    • Kay
    Douglas McGrath
    Douglas McGrath
    • Tom
    • (as Doug McGrath)
    • Director
      • Todd Solondz
    • Writer
      • Todd Solondz
    • All cast & crew
    • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

    User reviews557

    7.777.8K
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    Featured reviews

    bob the moo

    Well drawn and depressing – a difficult watch but a worthwhile one

    Centred around a New Jersey based family of three sisters, their parents and their partners and acquaintances, this film looks at their lives. Involving a lonely sister, a sister with a good family life, a paedophile, a telephone sex pest and an elderly couple breaking up, the film follows their short stories through whatever it takes them.

    I remember hearing this film reviewed as being pretty good, but it was pointed out by the critic that it was far from a movie to take a first date to! Seeing it now for the first time he was very right, in fact I would say it is the type of film that could make a partner worry about you if you suggest you watch it together. What type of audience this was made for is questionable but it is not without merit even if it is very, very bleak. The actual `plot' is no more than a collection of stories that roughly overlap due to the character's relationships to one another. Most of these work well enough and are interesting, but the odd one falls slightly flat – Allen's overweight flatmate goes a little too far and the Russian thief subplot is not really engaging.

    However for most of the film the stories are very engrossing despite being very sad. The plot assumes unhappiness of one form or another to be a given as part of life, and I think that that is a pretty fair assumption. Some of the characters bring it on themselves, some of them are simply alone however all the scope of human misery is here even if it takes the form of events that not everyone will be able to relate to. No matter whether or not you like the characters you will feel for them – they are very well written and the dialogue feels natural. While the paedophile character will turn many stomachs, I did respect the film for not monsterising him.

    Baker plays him very well, and mixes it with all the hallmarks of a `normal' guy. His chats with his son form a strand that runs through the film well and is ultimately quite moving and hard to watch. Hoffman and Boyle don't really have a great deal to do and their characters were harder for me to buy into, as their relationship was not clear. All the cast do a good job regardless mainly because the characters are very well written and fit together in a great ensemble presentation. Special mention should go to Lovitz for a great little cameo that opens the film – in 4 minutes he gives a better performance than I have seen him give anywhere else.

    Overall this film is not an easy, fun film to watch but it is very well written even if some of the threads do not engage as much as the others. The conclusion of the film offers no respite and only sees a collection of characters hurt by themselves or others who have little hope for the future other than to just keep plodding on. Like it or not the message of the film is powerful even if the presentation doesn't do anything to make it accessible. When REM close the credits singing `happiness where are you? I've searched so long for you' it is difficult not to feel something.
    drosse67

    Polarizing

    There are only a handful of films that have a distinct polarizing affect on the audience--A Clockwork Orange, The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover, and I would even lump in American Beauty--these are movies you either get, or you don't. And if you don't get it, you will hate it. Open minded viewers need only apply, and that's certainly the case with "Happiness." I remember leaving the theater absolutely shocked, and not just because of the events on screen. I was shocked that I found the movie so intelligent and oddly entertaining. The actors surely must have felt that, after reading the screenplay. And there are some big actors in this--veterans like Ben Gazzara, Louise Lasser, Elizabeth Ashley, mixing with new talent like Philip Seymour Hoffman, Camryn Manheim, Dylan Baker, Lara Flynn Boyle, etc.

    The subject matter is truly unsettling--a parental figure, respected in his community, does some horrible things, and this is the main reason why so many people have a hard time with this movie. Did this material really need to be examined in modern cinema? Well, yes--in the same way that David Lynch had to explore it in Blue Velvet. Happiness is a masterpiece of irony (even in the title), and finds humor in the most unusual and downright bizarre circumstances. You will not see another movie like it. Guaranteed. And fair warning--you could very well despise it. And it's probably a fair estimate that its writer/director, Todd Solondz, doesn't give a damn.
    nosunset

    A compelling watch, which will both amuse and seriously disturb

    Happiness - which centres around the lives of three sisters - Joy who's permanently unlucky in love, Helen a successful poet whose next door neighbour is obsessed with her and phones to explain this in graphic detail and finally there's Trish who has it all, a big house, a couple of kids and a successful psychiatrist husband who himself harbours uncontrollable urges.

    The sisters are all somewhat fractured of mind - for example Lara Flyn Boyle's character plays an author suffering writers block bemoaning the fact that she wasn't abused as a child that could lend her work some authenticity - so she's delighted when she gets an obscene phone from a one of the many fat ugly sex obsessed dysfunctioning American neurotics that seem to be this seasons slim sexy movie star successes. Happiness manages to be truly provocative and also madly comical at one and the same time... for instance I never thought I could feel sympathy for a paedophile or a bloke making obscene phone calls but with tact and courage Happiness confronts these modern folk devils.

    Happiness is anything but; as the characters lives intertwine in the search for happiness they find only loneliness, obsession and some serious psychological problems. In particular the psychiatrists story is remarkable with performances second to none as he tries to explain to his son about his paedophile tendencies.

    Happiness explodes some of the fear related misconceptions showing that repression is the oppression of our generation... as if an open mind is just that. Open and willing for some perverted notion to crawl right in...

    Directed by Todd Solondz Happiness is a slice of American life that isn't normally dealt with this honesty, making it a compelling watch, which will both amuse and seriously disturb for its two hours and fifteen minutes running time. Happiness is a must see.
    johnpil

    Transfixed, mortified, amused, devastated

    Gradually, as I watched this movie, I became aware that I was witnessing some of the most powerful and honest acting, writing, and directing I had ever experienced. And I'm glad, because if this material had been attempted by anyone without extreme skill and sensitivity, it would have been a monstrous disaster. As it is, I don't think I would add it to my DVD collection. I don't know if I could watch it again, and I'm not sure I'd feel comfortable people seeing it on my shelf unless they knew me well. There are moments of great hope in this movie, when you think misery may finally give way to happiness. There are moments of great honesty, when a character says just what you'd expect them to say, and you realize how "safe" every other movie character has been in comparison. The humor that other reviews talk about is not the kind of humor that makes me laugh, personally. It's the dark, visceral humor of human weakness, meanness and even pathology. I still appreciate it for what it is, and it is used in a profound and delicate way. I highly recommend this movie to anyone who is willing to accept that life, and especially sexual life, is really much more complex and difficult than we usually admit. I recommend watching it alone, or with a friend or partner with whom you can discuss the most emotionally difficult topics. This movie will test you if you stick with it, but you'll know you saw something profound.
    9evilmatt-3

    An oft-misunderstood film about quiet desperation

    I wasn't going to write a comment for this one, but after reading all the nasty things said about it, and considering that _Happiness_ was the basis for one of my final undergraduate philosophy papers, I feel a duty to defend it.

    First of all, what you've heard is true: this movie is very graphic and almost impossible to sit through without covering your eyes at least once. However, it is worth noting that the most uncomfortable scenes are uncomfortable precisely because of an empathy that the audience establishes with the characters; it is that precisely that empathy which often pulls the audience in a direction opposite from social mores that makes us squirm. I don't know how many of the other critics here are schooled in film theory, but that kind of powerful emotional effect is typically considered a GOOD THING in films. So, really, what most people object to about this film is the content, regardless of what they want other to believe.

    That said, this really is a wonderful film precisely because of the level of human understanding, empathy, and reality it encompasses. It portrays human nature from the inside out, where it is least dignified and most pathetic. What we see are a number of people desperately scrabbling around for fulfillment, because they have all to some degree achieved the fulfillment of their desires and found it hollow. Since they don't realize this fact themselves (most people don't), they look for that fulfillment they feel entitled to by using other people. It is this fundamental destructiveness of human desire (written about masterfully by Zizek) which causes the "evils" in this film.

    I put "evils" in quotes because, as Solondz's film masterfully demonstrates, there is no evil to be found in this film; there is only humanity and suffering. This absence of moral judgment, though disquieting, is what allows the spectacular sense of empathy and full moral complexity of this film.

    Thus, the moral of the film is that the surest way of destroying happiness is to seek it. And that, I feel, is a message that not only makes this a great film but also an artwork of tremendous social value.

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    Storyline

    Edit

    Did you know

    Edit
    • Trivia
      Todd Solondz: as the doorman in Allen, Helen, and Kristina's building.
    • Goofs
      When the police officers are sitting in Bill Maplewood's house.
    • Quotes

      Bill: I wake up happy, feeling good... but then I get very depressed, because I'm living in reality.

    • Connections
      Featured in Siskel & Ebert: Godzilla/Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas/Bulworth/The Horse Whisperer (1998)
    • Soundtracks
      Soave sia il vento from Cosi Fan Tutte
      Written by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

      Performed by Orchestra of the Royal Opera House Covent Garden, Montserrat Caballé (as Montserrat Caballe),

      Janet Baker, and Richard Van Allan

      Conducted by Colin Davis (as Sir Colin Davis)

      Courtesy of Phillips Records

      By Arrangement with PolyGram Film & TV Music

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    FAQ20

    • How long is Happiness?Powered by Alexa

    Details

    Edit
    • Release date
      • October 16, 1998 (United States)
    • Country of origin
      • United States
    • Languages
      • English
      • Russian
    • Also known as
      • Felicidad
    • Filming locations
      • New Jersey, USA
    • Production companies
      • Good Machine
      • Killer Films
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Box office

    Edit
    • Budget
      • $2,200,000 (estimated)
    • Gross US & Canada
      • $2,982,011
    • Opening weekend US & Canada
      • $130,303
      • Oct 18, 1998
    • Gross worldwide
      • $2,982,321
    See detailed box office info on IMDbPro

    Tech specs

    Edit
    • Runtime
      2 hours 14 minutes
    • Color
      • Color
    • Sound mix
      • Dolby Digital
    • Aspect ratio
      • 1.85 : 1

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