Another Happy Day

Movie: Another Happy Day

Genre: drama

Synopsis: Lynn (Ellen Barkin) has two children from a marriage to Paul (Thomas Haden Church): Alice (Kate Bosworth) and Dylan (Michael Nardelli).  She also has two children from her current husband, Lee (Jeffrey DeMunn): Ben (Daniel Yelsky) and Elliot (Ezra Miller).  Alice has had a history of self-mutilation (by cutting herself with knives) and has had a lot of therapy. Lee is autistic. Elliot is only 17 but has already had 3 or 4 stints in drug rehab.  The movie opens with Lynn driving Lee and Elliot to her parent’s house (father played by George Kennedy and mother played by Ellen Burstyn) for Dylan’s wedding.  To say that Lynn’s family is dysfunctional is to grossly understate the situation.  From the moment she arrives, Lynn faces a non-stop battle with Ben (the druggy son), her two terrible sisters, her mother, her ex-husband – and most of all with her mother and with her ex’s current wife (played Demi Moore). This family makes “Mama’s Family” (from Carol Burnett) look like the Cleaver family.

My two cents: This was a painful movie to watch. For the first part of the movie, I thought Lynn was just an insecure whiny woman.  Then you see how her druggy son baits her in the car with really cruel words and you start thinking that maybe she has something to be upset about.  And then you met her mother and sisters.  This poor woman gets it from every side, when all she is trying to do is protect her daughter who is still in a rather fragile state of mind.  There was some great acting in this movie.  Demi Moore was great at playing a hateful shrewish woman who would stab you in the back while smiling sweetly at you. Ellen Burstyn’s character was really well acted.  She was usually just a tightly wrapped bitch – but occasionally you could see the chinks in the self-protective armor she was wearing.  Kate Bosworth absolutely nailed the fragile unstable girl who looked like she was ready to break again.  But the Oscar nomination should go to Ellen Barkin.  For the entire movie she made her character look as if just one more straw would break her back – yet she still managed to keep enough grit to get done what she needed to do.  She seemed like she was made of glass that was ready to just fall apart – but never quite went over the edge.  I just felt so sorry for her.  It seemed that everybody that should support her – like her mother – was doing their best to make her feel like crap. By the end of the movie I was trying to figure out how she had managed to not just commit suicide to get away from everyone.

Bottom line: a really interesting movie with great acting, but it will emotionally drain you.

[191]