I can only suppose that
writer/director Sam Levinson (some of director Barry) chose the title for his
debut feature movie with a real sense of irony.
He does such a good job convincing us that the embittered family in the
centre of this drama has never had a single happy day, let alone another one!
Mr. Levinson shows us how life
in a wealthy extended family in Annapolis who have nervously congregated
together for a wedding on their estate is fraught with impending disaster. Lynn, the mother of the groom, is on edge as Paul,
her ex-husband and his brassy second wife have brought up her eldest son without involving her at all. Lynn’s other three children are a total mess. Alice has her own demons and is dealing with
them by frequently slashing herself with knives; Elliot at 17 has already been
in and out of rehab four times and still drinks heavily and takes and drugs he
can lay his hands on and is verbally and physically abusive to his mother, and
Ben the youngest has Asperger’s and insists on intrusively filming everything
with his video.
Lynn hasn’t spoken to Paul
for years and is still raging with pent up anger on her unresolved issues. Her mother, the family matriarch, deeply
resents her daughter’s need to publicly deal with her problems and actually
prefers her ex son in-law and his controlling loud-mouthed wife who has hijacked
all the wedding arrangements. And if
that is not bad enough, Lynn’s two sisters, always seen with full cocktail
glasses in their hands, publicly deride her for trying to deal with her issues.
The story which won a
Sundance Screenwriting Award is not really about the wedding at all, as that is
just the set up for a series of verbal histrionics when family member fights
family member, and in which no-one ever really wins.
It may not be happy, but it
is neither depressing too. Just an
emotional roller coaster that really keeps you knotted up anxiously worrying
how it is all going to turn out in the end.
It works as well as it does because Mr Levinson got himself a first
class cast together that made the whole thing sing. Not one but two Ellens: the wonderful Ms.
Burstyn as the formidable matriarch, pitched up against Ms. Barkin as her weepy
over-wrought daughter Lynn. Then add
Thomas Haden Church and Demi Moore as Paul as his wife, George Kennedy as the patriarch,
Kate Bosworth as troubled Alice, and Ezra Miller as stroppy Elliot. Mr. Miller made this movie before his other big role
in 2011 as Kevin in 'We Need To Talk About Kevin' and is a superbly gifted young actor
who looks like he is going to be a major star just based on these two performances alone.
'Another Happy Day' will keep
you engaged to the very end, and will also make you appreciate that your own family
are not that bad after all. Or maybe
they are!
★★★★★★★★
★★★★★★★★
