Rent Happiness (1998)
3.7 of 5 from 185 ratings
2h 14min
- General info
- Available formats
- Synopsis:
- Isolation...alienation...happiness. In America they all go hand in hand. Buy a new TV and you will be happy. Still not happy? Experience alienation. Can't afford a new TV? Then live in isolation. 'Be happy', and if that doesn't work, pretend to make it work. For the characters in Todd Solondz' award winning, subversively funny film Happiness, the struggle to attain such a state is fraught with perils both heartbreaking and hilarious.
- Actors:
- Jane Adams, Jon Lovitz, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Dylan Baker, Lara Flynn Boyle, Justin Elvin, Cynthia Stevenson, Lila Glantzman-Leib, Gerry Becker, Rufus Read, Louise Lasser, Ben Gazzara, Camryn Manheim, Arthur J. Nascarella, Molly Shannon, Ann Harada, Douglas McGrath, Eric Marcus, Eytan Mirsky, Lisa Louise Langford
- Directors:
- Todd Solondz
- Producers:
- Ted Hope, Christine Vachon
- Writers:
- Todd Solondz
- Studio:
- Entertainment In Video
- Genres:
- Comedy, Drama
- Collections:
- A Brief History of Films About Sisters, A Brief History of Film...
- BBFC:
- Release Date:
- 30/09/2024
- Run Time:
- 140 minutes
- Languages:
- English DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0
- Subtitles:
- English Hard of Hearing
- Formats:
- Pal
- Aspect Ratio:
- Widescreen 1.85:1
- Colour:
- Colour
- BLU-RAY Regions:
- B
- Bonus:
- New conversation between director Todd Solondz and filmmaker Charlotte Wells
- New interview with actor Dylan Baker
- Trailer
- BBFC:
- Release Date:
- 30/09/2024
- Run Time:
- 140 minutes
- Languages:
- English DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0
- Subtitles:
- English Hard of Hearing
- DVD Regions:
- Region 2
- Formats:
- Pal
- Aspect Ratio:
- Widescreen 1.85:1
- Colour:
- Colour
- BLU-RAY Regions:
- B
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Reviews (2) of Happiness
Deeply dark, funny and painfully uncomfortable. - Happiness review by CP Customer
Though told mainly from the viewpoint of Joy, ‘Happiness’ is essentially the story of three sisters and the characters that surround their lives. Helen is a successful and arrogant writer of sexually explicit fiction who boasts to journalists of wanting to know what it is like to be raped and abused, but deep down sees her own work as shallow and exploitative. Trish is a middle class housewife and mother of three, happily married to psychiatrist Bill and on the surface seems to have the perfect life, except one thing, Bill is highly manipulative and active paedophile who preys on young boys. Joy, the youngest of the sisters, is a sensitive and sweet natured woman who always seems to be unlucky in love and who always manages to get on the wrong side of everyone she meets. After breaking up with a man she dated at work he responds with a malicious and vitriolic rant and then commits suicide a few days later. In an attempt to make a new start she decides to work as an English teacher at an immigrant education center, where she is despised by her students and fellow workers for being a scab during an ongoing teachers strike. The only person who is kind to her is a Russian student named Valdimir who seduces her in order to rob her of her possessions. I have to admit I bought the DVD of Happiness on impulse about seven years ago as it was on sale for £1.99, and thought it was so bad I switched it off only 20 minutes in and sold it on eBay the next day. Since then I’ve rediscovered the films of Todd Solondz, first with ‘Welcome To The Dollhouse’, then ‘Palindromes’ and then ‘Storytelling’. And though I through loved ‘Welcome To The Dollhouse’, it was only after watching ‘Palindromes’ that I got what Solondz is trying to do via film. As well creating great characters and stories, Solondz’s subversive skill is to create scenarios which at first make you laugh then sharply stab your conscience when you realise your laughing at the most appalling of situations, and his second film ‘Happiness’ is without doubt the most potent with this ability and as a film is thoroughly captivating. Be warned though, this is a film which in parts is incredibly uncomfortable to watch and often offensive and if you’ve not experienced a Todd Solondz film before you might be better off trying out ‘Welcome To The Dollhouse’ and ‘Palindromes’ first. But if you like independent cinema and are not easily offended then this is and outstanding film.
2 out of 2 members found this review helpful.
Uncomfortable Yet Compelling Comedy Drama - Happiness review by GI
A distasteful, unique, at times very funny dark comedy drama about sexual frustration and the efforts to connect while harbouring deviant tendencies. The writing here is absolutely spot on even though it will make you squirm in scenes, for example, where a paedophile explains himself to his son. This is a film of interlocking stories of a group of people who have some connection with each other including a renowned doctor and family man (Dylan Baker) who lusts after boys and eventually begins raping his son's friends. A frustrated man (Philip Seymour Hoffman) who lusts after his sexy neighbour (Lara Flynn Boyle) but can only resort to making dirty phone calls until she reacts in a way that offers him the opportunity he craves; and a young teacher (Jane Adams) who is lonely and foolishly falls into the trap of an adult pupil who seduces and manipulates her. There is an older couple (Ben Gazzara, Louise Lasser) who decide to be apart but avoid divorce but uncomfortably stay living together. None of this sounds like a comedy and it also includes a woman (Camryn Manheim) who hates sex and has the body parts of a man who attacked her in her freezer, yet writer and director Todd Solondz creates a vignette of tales that is bizarrely compelling. He makes no attempt to give any of reprehensible characters or their acts any justification but does try to explain them. It makes for a challenging, interesting and quite bold film.
1 out of 1 members found this review helpful.