MOVIEmeter
Top 5000
Up 215 this week

Happiness (1998)

 -  Comedy | Drama  -  16 October 1998 (USA)
7.7
Your rating:
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 -/10 X  
Ratings: 7.7/10 from 40,460 users   Metascore: 81/100
Reviews: 484 user | 134 critic | 30 from Metacritic.com

The lives of many individuals connected by the desire for happiness, often from sources usually considered dark or evil.

Director:

Writer:

Watch Trailer
0Check in
0Share...

User Lists

Related lists from IMDb users

a list of 444 titles created 28 May 2011
 
a list of 2364 titles created 4 months ago
 
a list of 10000 titles created 2 months ago
 
a list of 1269 titles created 6 months ago
 
a list of 44 titles created 04 Oct 2011
 

Connect with IMDb


Share this Rating

Title: Happiness (1998)

Happiness (1998) on IMDb 7.7/10

Want to share IMDb's rating on your own site? Use the HTML below.

Take The Quiz!

Test your knowledge of Happiness.
Nominated for 1 Golden Globe. Another 13 wins & 12 nominations. See more awards »

Videos

Photos

Learn more

People who liked this also liked... 

Comedy | Drama
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 7.3/10 X  

Insightful look at an unattractive 7th grader as she struggles to cope with un-attentive parents, snobbish classmates, a smart older brother, an attractive younger sister, and her own insecurities.

Director: Todd Solondz
Stars: Heather Matarazzo, Victoria Davis, Christina Brucato
Storytelling (2001)
Comedy | Drama
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 6.7/10 X  

College and high school serve as the backdrop for two stories about dysfunction and personal turmoil.

Director: Todd Solondz
Stars: Selma Blair, Leo Fitzpatrick, Robert Wisdom
Short Cuts (1993)
Comedy | Drama
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 7.7/10 X  

The day-to-day lives of a number of suburban Los Angeles residents.

Director: Robert Altman
Stars: Andie MacDowell, Bruce Davison, Julianne Moore
Ghost World (2001)
Comedy | Drama
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 7.5/10 X  

Enid and Rebecca are social outsiders who, after graduating from high school, play a mean prank on a middle-aged geek.

Director: Terry Zwigoff
Stars: Thora Birch, Scarlett Johansson, Steve Buscemi
Comedy | Drama
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 7.4/10 X  

Based on the true childhood experiences of Noah Baumbach and his brother, The Squid and the Whale tells the touching story of two young boys dealing with their parents' divorce in Brooklyn in the 1980s.

Director: Noah Baumbach
Stars: Owen Kline, Jeff Daniels, Laura Linney
Drama
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 7.6/10 X  

In Mexico, two teenage boys and an attractive older woman embark on a road trip and learn a thing or two about life, friendship, sex, and each other.

Director: Alfonso CuarĂłn
Stars: Maribel VerdĂş, Gael GarcĂ­a Bernal, Diego Luna
Comedy | Drama
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 7.7/10 X  

Satirical comedy follows the machinations of Big Tobacco's chief spokesman, Nick Naylor, who spins on behalf of cigarettes while trying to remain a role model for his twelve-year-old son.

Director: Jason Reitman
Stars: Joan Lunden, Aaron Eckhart, Cameron Bright
Comedy | Drama
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 7.6/10 X  

An anthology of 5 different cab drivers in 5 American and European cities and their remarkable fares on the same eventful night.

Director: Jim Jarmusch
Stars: Gena Rowlands, Winona Ryder, Lisanne Falk
The Savages (2007)
Comedy | Drama
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 7.2/10 X  

A sister and brother face the realities of familial responsibility as they begin to care for their ailing father.

Director: Tamara Jenkins
Stars: Laura Linney, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Philip Bosco
About Schmidt (2002)
Comedy | Drama
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 7.2/10 X  

A man upon retirement embarks on a journey to his estranged daughter's wedding only to discover more about himself and life than he ever expected.

Director: Alexander Payne
Stars: Jack Nicholson, Kathy Bates, Hope Davis
Drama
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 7.9/10 X  

Successful black woman traces her birth mother to a lower-class white woman, who denies it; emotions run high as everyone's secrets are exposed.

Director: Mike Leigh
Stars: Timothy Spall, Phyllis Logan, Brenda Blethyn
Comedy | War
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 8.6/10 X  

An insane general starts a process to nuclear holocaust that a war room of politicians and generals frantically try to stop.

Director: Stanley Kubrick
Stars: Peter Sellers, George C. Scott, Sterling Hayden
Edit

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
...
...
...
...
...
Justin Elvin ...
...
Lila Glantzman-Leib ...
...
Psychiatrist
Rufus Read ...
...
...
Lenny Jordan
...
...
Detective Berman
...
Nancy
Edit

Storyline

When a young woman rejects her current overweight suitor in a restaurant, he unexpectedly places a curse on her. The film then moves on to her sisters. One is a happily married woman with a psychiatrist husband and three kids. Unfortunately the husband develops an unnatural fascination for his 11 year old son's male classmates, fantasizes about mass killing in a park, and masturbates to teen magazines. One of his patients has an unrequited fascination for the third sister. Meanwhile the apparently stable 40 year marriage of the sister's parents suddenly unravels when he decides he has had enough and wants to live a hermit's life in Florida. Obviously, the whole movie is slightly warped in its viewpoint and certainly presents abnormal relationships among all of its parties. Written by John Sacksteder <jsackste@bellsouth.net>

Plot Summary | Plot Synopsis

Genres:

Comedy | Drama

Parents Guide:

 »
Edit

Details

Country:

Language:

|

Release Date:

16 October 1998 (USA)  »

Also Known As:

Todd Solondz's Untitled  »

Filming Locations:


Box Office

Budget:

$3,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

£83,998 (UK) (16 April 1999)

Gross:

£365,332 (UK) (7 May 1999)
 »

Company Credits

Production Co:

,  »
Show detailed on  »

Technical Specs

Runtime:

Sound Mix:

Color:

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1
See  »
Edit

Did You Know?

Trivia

A scene was filmed in which Andy commits suicide but it was deleted. See more »

Goofs

A crewmember's head is reflected in the window of the car when Bill is sitting in it after buying a magazine. See more »

Quotes

Joy Jordan: I am not a scab... I am a strikebreaker.
See more »

Connections

Featured in Zomergasten: Episode #14.1 (2001) See more »

Soundtracks

"You Light Up My Life"
Performed by Montovani
Written by Joe Brooks
Courtesy of Pair Records
By special arrangement with Passport International
See more »

Frequently Asked Questions

This FAQ is empty. Add the first question.

User Reviews

Well drawn and depressing – a difficult watch but a worthwhile one
16 November 2003 | by See all my reviews

Centred around a New Jersey based family of three sisters, their parents and their partners and acquaintances, this film looks at their lives. Involving a lonely sister, a sister with a good family life, a paedophile, a telephone sex pest and an elderly couple breaking up, the film follows their short stories through whatever it takes them.

I remember hearing this film reviewed as being pretty good, but it was pointed out by the critic that it was far from a movie to take a first date to! Seeing it now for the first time he was very right, in fact I would say it is the type of film that could make a partner worry about you if you suggest you watch it together. What type of audience this was made for is questionable but it is not without merit even if it is very, very bleak. The actual `plot' is no more than a collection of stories that roughly overlap due to the character's relationships to one another. Most of these work well enough and are interesting, but the odd one falls slightly flat – Allen's overweight flatmate goes a little too far and the Russian thief subplot is not really engaging.

However for most of the film the stories are very engrossing despite being very sad. The plot assumes unhappiness of one form or another to be a given as part of life, and I think that that is a pretty fair assumption. Some of the characters bring it on themselves, some of them are simply alone however all the scope of human misery is here even if it takes the form of events that not everyone will be able to relate to. No matter whether or not you like the characters you will feel for them – they are very well written and the dialogue feels natural. While the paedophile character will turn many stomachs, I did respect the film for not monsterising him.

Baker plays him very well, and mixes it with all the hallmarks of a `normal' guy. His chats with his son form a strand that runs through the film well and is ultimately quite moving and hard to watch. Hoffman and Boyle don't really have a great deal to do and their characters were harder for me to buy into, as their relationship was not clear. All the cast do a good job regardless mainly because the characters are very well written and fit together in a great ensemble presentation. Special mention should go to Lovitz for a great little cameo that opens the film – in 4 minutes he gives a better performance than I have seen him give anywhere else.

Overall this film is not an easy, fun film to watch but it is very well written even if some of the threads do not engage as much as the others. The conclusion of the film offers no respite and only sees a collection of characters hurt by themselves or others who have little hope for the future other than to just keep plodding on. Like it or not the message of the film is powerful even if the presentation doesn't do anything to make it accessible. When REM close the credits singing `happiness where are you? I've searched so long for you' it is difficult not to feel something.


30 of 33 people found this review helpful.  Was this review helpful to you?

Message Boards

Recent Posts
If you enjoyed this movie you are a sick, demented, despicable freak. Battle-Axe
Seriously, what the hell? zamsmash
i hate this film moosepie
Children in this movie mib_one
Did anyone find this film uplifting? banddirector23
Alan's phone call to Joy rha048
Discuss Happiness (1998) on the IMDb message boards »

Contribute to This Page

Create a character page for:
?