The Movie: Happiness (1998)
What Is It?:
Forget about The Exorcist. You want
to see a real horror movie? Check out Todd Solondz’s Robert Altman-meets-The
Marquis de Sade epic Happiness.
Solondz populates his tale of a mega-dysfunctional family with sadly flailing
characters, such as obscene phone-caller Phillip Seymour Hoffman, Jane Adams,
who wants to do a little good in a horribly corrupt world and fails miserably,
and Dylan Baker as a disturbingly sympathetic monster who provides the film’s
most excruciating moments. The final exchange between him and his son may
reduce you to tears. It might make you throw up. One thing’s for sure, there’s
no way you can watch it without being tremendously affected.
Why Today?: Today
is Happiness Happens Day. Not much
of it happens in Happiness, though.
