Review by Doug Cooper
Stars Shirley Henderson, Ciaran Hinds, Allison Janney, Michael Lerner, Chris Marquette, Rich Pecci, Charlotte Rampling, Paul Reubens, Ally Sheedy, Dylan Riley Snyder, Renee Taylor
Written by Todd Solondz
Certification UK 15 | Argentina 16
Runtime 96 minutes
Directed by Todd Solondz
Todd Solondz's follow-up to his 1998 movie Happiness features some of the same characters though here played by different actors. While it's thankfully not quite so repugnant as that earlier effort it is less involving too. Indeed. there are longueurs where drowsiness seeps in.
It's a talky piece with a subtly demented Woody Allen feel to it, the mordant humour rarely making one chuckle - but the performances are first class. And if you want to see Janney (CJ from The West Wing) topless along with Rampling unclothed (again) then here's your chance. They don't appear in the same scene mind.
Janney is a single mother to two sons, little Timmy (Snyder), about to have his bar mitzvah and longing to discover what it is to be a man, and college student Billy (Marquette). She is conducting a romance with Lerner, newly divorced after 35 years and never having been with any other woman. Her ex husband is a peadophile (Hinds), newly released from prison and on medication but still the unhealthy desires pervade him. He has a one night stand with Rampling before travelling to Billy's college to see if his son shares similar traits to him.
Henderson plays Janney's sister, whose husband (Williams) has an affliction. She is visited by the ghost of her former lover (Reubens) who is still trying to rekindle their romance. The third sister is played by Sheedy, angered by the troubled family.
The dialogue is biting and clever at times but because the characters are so freakish one is continuously kept at a distance. You're never drawn into their dilemmas despite the subjects raised - "Is a peadophile a terrorist?" one character says - and boredom reigns. It's very difficult to see how this movie would actually appeal to anyone to be honest. It's a curate's egg of a picture - some good individual moments, and well acted - but ultimately it leaves one cold. For patient arthouse cinephiles only.