So much average

True to its essence, the characters remain on the same line and manage to entertain the viewer, each highlighting their own distinctive qualities or touches.

It really made me laugh, but for some moments I was tearing up because I could relate so much.

It's simply great fun, a winsome film and an occasionally over-the-top luxury fantasy that never flags.

If you are interested in a comedy about inferiority, loneliness, masturbation, stalking, divorce, pedophelia and rape then this is the movie for you. This is one cheery movie, all about family values. It is a story about people who long to connect with eachother, but struggle to understand eachother and therefore unfortunately "are alone together"... Director Todd Solondz has the unique ability to irritate the movie masses, because he dares hold up a mirror to all the hypocrisy of pretending to be better than you are. Todd Solondz dares to film all those taboos that are NEVER shown in the hollywood movies for the masses. That's why Todd Solondz'movies dont sell very well, but nevertheless are regarded as classics amongst filmcritics and moviegeeks.The movies by Todd Solondz are always about losers, psychiatrically disturbed people, who loathe themselves. And he makes us laugh about those twisted human shortcomings that can ruin relationships and families. In real life those ruined relationships and psychiatric illnesses are not funny at all, but in "Happiness" he makes comedy out of misery in a brilliant way. That is to say if you like black comedies, otherwise you will be bored or offended or both. Acting is great. Magnificent performance by Philip Seymour Hoffman. He is just hilarious. The story more or less starts with him being a phone stalker. He is depicted as a truly perverted evil man at the beginning. But as the story progresses more and more "normal" people around him, seem to be even more disturbed than he is. In the end the phone stalker is, (relatively speaking), the most sane and innocent of the whole bunch of characters that are seriously mentally ill. It may sound horrible to be able to laugh about so many human shortcomings, but it truly is a "cheery" movie. And brilliant, because not many directors can or dare to portray those shorcomings no one dares talk about.Lovely and hilarious soundtrack with a great "Happiness" end track by Michael Stipe from R.E.M. which was specifically written for this movie.

I liked Happiness in some weird way. This movie is really interesting to watch despite all those disturbing scenes it has. You just cant stop watching until it's done, you wanna see what's gonna happen next. For that alone I give it 9, but because of some nasty things in the movie, gotta lower the grade by 1.8+

I've always enjoyed 'Happiness,' despite asking myself WHY I ever bothered to watch it after every single viewing. Yes, the title is deliberately ironic as there is barely a trace of anything vaguely happy in the entire mover, but then it knows that. It's safe to say that 'Happiness' is definitely not a 'feel-good' film and you really do need to know what you're in for before you sit down to invest over two hours with this manic depressive beast of a movie.I suppose you could call it an 'ensemble' piece as there are numerous characters all woven together around the three central characters who are sisters all at various stages of adulthood and doing their best to either live with what's become their lot in life, or desperately try to change it. It's basically a family drama, but with a few – very – dark helpings of black humour. However, the overriding thing to say about 'Happiness' is that it deals with the worst themes you can probably think of and presents them in a way that forces you to think about those who it's easy to despise without a second thought. Therefore, you don't just have to be in the mood for something depressing, but also something that really goes into areas of human nature that you would probably not like to dwell on, most notably child abuse.'Happiness' is a film that will certainly leave an impact on you, even if it's just you swearing you will never watch something like that again. However, for all the darkness and realism it presents, I have watched it about three times and I think it's a worthy film. The performances are all excellent. You'd be hard put to it to find a weak link among the cast. Phillip Seymour Hoffman is naturally excellent, but perhaps the hardest role falls to Dylan Baker who plays possibly one of the most (bizarrely!) relatable child molesters you've ever met. It must have been a horrible role for him and he plays it to perfection.Like I say, don't expect feel-good and get ready for a rough ride. But, if you're in the mood for something as deep as this it will certainly make you wonder who's sitting opposite you and what goes on behind the façade of family-friendly life.

Happiness is nothing but cheap indie shock porn. A hollow, impotent Pink Flamingos wannabe that chooses easy subjects of provocation to just appease expendable income chic cine-masochists and leaves the more human among us asking why people's time and money was wasted on this spiteful, one note effort. Most insultingly, it has the nerve to ask us to care for its squirm suburban paranoia caricatures whilst simultaneously breaking out the Farley Brothers level of gross out humour every opportunity it can. Insincerity is the most evident sign of amateurism in a storyteller and this adolescent effort is the most blatant example I've ever come across in film. Worse than non-action, insincerity or a lack of moral stance is the bane of independent filmmaking, more often than not it's not an effort towards greater truth but rather one towards covering up an immature or trivial concept or a weak surface value vision which is what we have here. Todd Solondz aims just to cause his audience pain and even if he had higher aspirations, they definitely are not evident on screen, and if laughing at other people's misery is your idea of the epitome of cinema, well you are beyond help and your fabricated soul has no place being anywhere near a film screen. Your kind will have your time soon and it will be a spacious, lengthy, dark time. Admittedly, I should check out more from the wasteful decade of American independent cinema that spawned this faux-intellectual piece of inhumanity before I say anything too concrete, god forbid, but for now I'll just say bluntly that this film, and its defendants, can go to hell despite them not being flammable, what with all the fibre glass and all