Sunday, March 19, 2023

Happiness (Todd Solondz, 1998)

A woman breaks up with her boyfriend; he thinks it's because he's fat. A man is unable to tell her next-door neighbor that he finds her sexually attractive. An old couple wants to split up, but they don't want to get a divorce. A therapist masturbates to teen magazines. An 11-year-old kid is insecure about the fact that he hasn't masturbated yet. Office workers try to recall the face of a coworker who recently died. A woman is sure that she has everything she could ever want. The lives of these individuals intertwine as they go about their lives in their own unique ways, engaging in acts which society as a whole might find disturbing in a desperate search for human connection. 


Director & Writer Todd Solondz


Stars:Jane Adams, Jon Lovitz, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Dylan Baker, Ben Gazzara, Lara Flynn  Boyle, Jared Harris. Cameo by Todd Solondz as the Doorman.

 
Philip Seymour Hoffman based his character (Allen) off of Ralph Reed; the founder of the Christian Coalition, and a Republican politician. During a run in with Ralph, he told Philip that his favorite movie was Happiness. Little did Ralph know, he was Allen.

This film received a sequel in 2009, "Life During Wartime", in which every returning character was played by a different actor.

Jack Black was considered for the role of Allen.

Philip Seymour Hoffman and Ben Gazzara are both in this film, but do not share any screen time. The same year (1998), they were both in The Big Lebowski, where they also shared no screen time.

Included among the "1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die", edited by Steven Schneider.

Jon Lovitz was also considered for the part of Allen.

At the time of this film's release Lara Flynn Boyle and Camryn Manheim were co-stars on the TV series O Desafio (1997).

Despite the fact that this was filmed in the standard spherical format, "Filmed in Panavision" is listed in the end credits.

On IMDb Jon Lovitz's first listed film that he's known for is Happiness, despite the fact his character only spends five minutes of screen time, in a movie that goes for 134 minutes.

The character of Helen (played by Lara Flynn Boyle) gets a call from a person called "Salman" in London, it's possible this is a reference to the writer Salman Rushdie. She also mentions sleeping with "Haruki", which could be a reference to the Japanese author Haruki Murakami.

There were several scenes in the script that didn't make the final cut, but there were scenes in the movie that weren't in the script.

Subs: English & Portuguese

Link: https://youtu.be/_cL8gmaLiQk

Copyright owner is blocking in these territories
Austria, Germany, Switzerland

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