Todd Solondz presents the sequel to his 1998 film Happiness with Life During Wartime. The new twist? A new cast. You do not need to see Happiness before Life During Wartime in order to understand the events, but I would advise watching the former and skipping the latter.
The first scene of the sequel sets the tone for the film and revisits the first scene in Happiness. Joy, played by Shirley Henderson (Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire) sits at dinner with her husband Allen, played by Michael Kenneth Williams (The Wire), and after a long pause, breaks into tears. What ensues is the funniest scene I’ve ever seen among two miserable people. The two rehash their problems as a couple and agree to separate. Joy visits her family in Florida and the film uses Joy’s travels to weave together the stories of the Jordan family.
Trish (Allison Janney), the housewife who had everything, is now starting over and falling in love with Harvey (Michael Lerner), a divorced man on the verge of retirement.
Bill (Ciaran Hinds) has completed his jail sentence for child molestation and seeks the family he lost, and perhaps redemption.
Helen (Ally Sheedy) is the successful poet and screenwriter who is lost in her own self importance.
Joy is trying to find a new future while dodging patronizing advice from her older sisters and man-hating jabs from her bitter mother.
The voice of reason in the film is Trish’s son Timmy, played by newcomer Dylan Riley Snyder, who is the man of the house since his older brother Billy (Chris Marquette) is in college. Timmy tries to navigate concepts like forgiveness and redemption with advice from his over-medicated mother and his misanthropic potential brother-in-law.
The individual stories are interwoven throughout, changing the tone of the film from hilarious to dramatic to dry and back to hilarious. Solondz’s characters speak honestly and without any social filter, pushing the dark humor to 11. But the overall theme of forgiveness adds an empty dramatic tone. In Happiness, all of the characters are screwed up, in denial, and a little delusional, but they don’t get righteous about it. In Life During Wartime, the characters grow a conscience and take all the fun out of the humor. Though there are some great moments that are either funny or highly intelligent, the film also hits many sour notes, leaving an overall bad impression.
The film is now playing in limited release.
Limité Rating: 2/5
Director: Todd Solondz
Writer: Todd Solondz
Cast: Shirley Henderson, Ciaran Hinds, Gaby Hoffmann, Allison Janney, Michael Lerner, Chris Marquette, Rich Pecci, Charlotte Rampling, Paul Reubens, Ally Sheedy, Dylan Riley Snyder, Renee Taylor, Michael Kenneth Williams
Genre: Dark Comedy
Runtime: 97 min.
Release Date: July 23, 2010 (limited)
