Happiness Review

Try to imagine Woody Allen on crack, and you have Happiness.

Todd Solondz’s disturbing black comedy about three sisters who belong to a dysfunctional family in the suburban wasteland of New Jersey is a shocker.

Happiness is a monstrous anti-sitcom in a class of its own that overturns all the rules of the genre.

Rejected by the Sundance Film Festival and abandoned by its distributor, this perverse masterpiece received great acclaim at Cannes.

Why the ruckus?

Happiness delves into every conceivable dark corner of American society and is unashamedly disgusting.

Pedophilia, masturbation, dirty phone sex, murder, and suicide all get their swift due.

The characters are pathetic and deviant.

Is this a sick movie, as many critics claim?

It’s not for everyone, that’s for sure.

But Happiness is filled with hilarious laughs and at times it’s a strangely endearing work of cinema.

The suburban freak show it depicts could probably be found in any American neighborhood if you dig deep enough.

And that’s exactly why Happiness is filled with so much cringe.

It digs and digs until you finally get cleansed.

It’s an outrageous film colonic with a top-notch cast.

Any takers?