Another Happy Day

Definitely worth seeing. Watched it tonight, bottle of wine, low expectations, as I hadn't heard of the film at all....full of great acting, good script, believable characters, some fine comedic moments and very touching at times. Mind you, with Ellens Barkin and Burstyn in it, it must have something going for it, don't you think? Both wonderful, and also great to see George Kennedy, too. The young actor playing Elliot is definitely one to watch, too. I can't believe that this film is rated a 5 out of 10, given some of the garbage I've seen lately. Watch this - you wont be disappointed. I hope. Some comments say the characters aren't believable. I beg to differ.

I find it odd that nobody has mentioned how hilariously funny this movie is. I also find it odd how many people claim this is somehow unrealistic for the sheer amount of problems this family has.

Personally this seemed like exactly the family I was raised in. An extended family of, on the surface, squeaky clean socialites and all American families, while my mother was the person who had a history of therapy and being abused, and my siblings and I all had a number of mental health issues, which ended up causing every gathering to feel like us vs them where we seemed to be dismissed as the broken trouble makers who were too uppity and made too many ripples rather than pretend everything was fine and dandy when daddy broke mommy's nose etc.

I loved this movie and was amazed by how real it felt and how funny it was at the same time as being disturbing and full of neurosis.

I loved the dancing at the wedding, that's how I feel at those places. It's so weird to see it all without the music and with all the issues bubbling beneath the surface.

Lynn (Ellen Barkin) is coming back to the family home with his sons Elliot (Ezra Miller) and Ben (Daniel Yelsky) Her eldest son Dylan (Michael Nardelli) is getting married. Her daughter Alice (Kate Bosworth) is also coming. She's a fragile mess. Elliot is a cynical trouble maker who causes havoc. Lynn struggles with her parents (Ellen Burstyn, George Kennedy), her sisters (Siobhan Fallon, Diana Scarwid), her ex-husband (Thomas Haden Church) and his second wife Patty (Demi Moore).

This is Sam Levinson's directorial debut and a writer as well. The cast list is very impressive. That may have something to do with the fact that Sam is the son of Barry Levinson. The great actors do some big performances here. Besides the big names, Ezra Miller also gives a good performance. However the whole movie is a chaotic mess of excessive drama with too many characters. More is not always better. The amateur directions never really allow the film to settle down and find a member of this family that we can root for.

I went into the Savannah Film Festival screening of this film not really expecting much. Of all the movies I saw at the film festival, this one resonated with me the most, and came closest to my heart.

Sam Levinson has woven a dark dramedy of epic proportions as Lynn (Oscar-worthy performance by Ellen Barkin) drives her two sons to her mother's house for the eldest son's wedding. Through it all the audience witnesses the public and private meltdowns and sentimentality's of this flawed, and deeply human family.

From Lynn's confrontation of her divorcé husband (Thomas Haden Church), to her drug-addled, caustic-mouthed son Elliot's (genius performance from Ezra Miller) flirtation with grandpa's meds, to catty quips from Lynn's sisters, past trauma, guilt, and resentment flow onto the screen. What rises from this fertile emotional landscape are frightening moments, and hysterically funny scenes. For the audience it's an event, but Lynn and her boys it's just 'Another Happy Day.'

Humor is the pallet cleanser for this hearty cinematic meal. The viewer fears for Elliot's life after he nearly OD's on the bathroom floor; then breaks into hysterics as Elliot tries to hide his blue lips with mom's rouge, the following morning. It's all so funny, and so smart. You will be cry as much from laughing as you will from the sorrowful scenes.

Performances cut deep with their stark realism. From Ellen Barkin's Lynn, Ezra Miller's Elliot, Ellen Burstyn's Doris, down to 14 year old Daniel Yelsky's Ben - someone is going to get an Oscar nomination here. And if not, then the critics aren't ready for Levinson's dark blend of laughs and tears.

Highly recommended: 9 out of 10.

This is a wonderfully powerful film that manages to seriously portray family drama in a believable way - so much so that I could match situations in the film to similar situations that have happened at my own family gatherings. It might not be everyone's cup of tea, hence the lower rating, but for me it was a great snapshot into a family's life and all the issues that get dragged up when so many people come together with a lot of emotional baggage.

Others have mentioned the amazing acting performances and they really do bring the characters and thus the story to life. You can't help but feel for Ellen Barkin's Lynn as she's getting picked at from all sides, both from judgement and disdain from outside her immediate family and from within with Ezra Miller's Elliot acting up the entire time.

However, this film tends highly towards the drama end of comedy-drama, so much so that it contains very little comedy at all in my opinion so I feel the genre categorising is a little disingenuous.