Pretty Good

Boring

Although it has its amusing moments, in eneral the plot does not convince.

It's easily one of the freshest, sharpest and most enjoyable films of this year.

A satisfactory comedy drama from the director who brought us the classic horror coming-of-age satire 'Teeth' (2007). The Coens brothers and Alexander Payne come to mind several times, but Lichtenstein does not prove to be as spot on as his colleagues - though he certainly was in 'Teeth'. Awkward situations and humour are well-represented, and several strange, though not always great (fantasy and or dream) sequences pop up here, but the story - even if it isn't all too complicated - meanders too much, only to 'culminate' in an overly sentimental conclusion of events.It's probably partly biographic for Lichtenstein (yes, he is the son of Roy Lichtenstein), but in the end, it doesn't need to result in this sort of indulgence. But I already mentioned before that 'Happy tears' is a satisfactory experience, and it still is that, even more so because of the fine acting jobs by the likes of Parker Posey, Rip Torn, Demi Moore and Ellen Barkin.A small 7 out of 10.

Gee, Ellen Barkin looks like hell (it's all makeup; she's not THAT old), Patti D'Arbanville (about whom Cat Stevens wrote his song) -- yes, folks, we all do grow old. I don't know why people gave this such a low rating, but, without having read any of the reviews, I am here to say that while the plot is kind of ridiculous, the portrayal of old age is not. Dementia is miserable for the people who have to deal with those who are undergoing it. And this film does depict it in a Hollywood way. It's worse in real life, for those who don't have money to afford -- any of it.Okay, I just lost my mouse, so I am going to submit this without further comment. Except to say I am surprised that this film was not more popular -- oh, and OF COURSE to make the connection (I never had a doubt) between Roy Lichtenstein and the director. No one else would be able to use that "Happy Tears" logo, and the plot certainly made sense to a person who understood the difficulty of being the child -- wunderkind -- of a Very Famous Artist.Dementia is always depressing, so I think Lichtenstein did a good job. If I still had my mouse, I'd look up how Roy died, see if he went the way his son depicts...

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!

"Happy Tears" is sort of odd: It draws you in, and you comfortably watch the whole thing. Then, after it ends, you realize it suffers from "chick flick" syndrome, almost as bad as the worst of the genre.It really has poor story structure. It seems to be moving along, but really it's just floating along on a stream of trenchant dialog and beautiful graphics and editing, and some great acting. But it ends on a happy-go-lucky, that seems rather undeserved and subsequently trite. All kinds of dramatic elements get dropped, and others enter without decent leading development.In short, if you like narrative integrity, skip it.