Okay, the plot of the Michael Douglas vehicle (he plays the title character) isn't QUITE identical to that of HAPPY TEARS. The former "crazy" dad with a secret of hidden treasure has just ONE daughter, while Rip Torn in HAPPY TEARS has two. But HT is NOT twice the fun!! After all, while Douglas scuba dives, Torn wears diapers (and there is a scene in HT designed to illustrate to young people if they would make good "candy striper" candidates). Another advantage KOC has is that its plot is far simpler than HT's, which in this case is a definite plus. While the main characters of KOC are all likable and funny, most of those in HT are prickly, while more than a few are downright unsympathetic (not to mention unfathomable). Further, maybe in the go-go 1990s jokes about women who buy $4,000 boots on a whim while a sibling needs to practically gnaw on tree bark to survive (with a bunch of children to feed, to boot) would be funny. Today, only the Tea Party anarchists would laugh at that. If you fall into the latter group, you may find HAPPY TEARS to be a hoot. But for the 90% of us who are relegated to just one-third of America's bounty (a percentage that is steadily shrinking at a rate now exceeding the robber baron days which even Republican president Theodore Roosevelt recognized as a crime against humanity when he broke up the trusts), rent KING OF CAL!FORN!A instead!
Review of Happy Tears
