Happy Tears never bores... it's perversely entertaining. [Full review in Spanish]

| Oct 26, 2022

Overwrought comedy.

| Original Score: C- | Sep 29, 2017

| Original Score: 1/5 | Apr 4, 2011

| Original Score: 1.5/5 | Jan 3, 2011

Demi Moore and Parker Posey play polar-opposite sisters dealing with their aging father (Rip Torn) who's showing signs of senility, soiling himself and shacking up with his "nurse" (Ellen Barkin).

| Original Score: 82/100 | Jul 3, 2010

It's rarely dull and confidently guided by the cast, but it offers little in the way of overall impact, despite creative visual flourishes and a screenplay rooted in the devastating game of personal reflection. It's cold to the touch.

| Original Score: C | Jun 17, 2010

one of those awkwardly pretentious attempts to seem hip and profound by simply depicting people acting really goofy

| Original Score: 1/5 | Mar 18, 2010

Reminds one of how bad American independent films...can be.

| Original Score: D | Feb 28, 2010

You don't necessarily believe these are real folks but boy they sure are entertaining.

| Feb 22, 2010

Sometimes dysfunctional families are better kept for personal consumption rather than being unleashed on the world at large.

| Original Score: 2/5 | Feb 19, 2010

A cringe-inducing, self-consciously kooky indie comedy that's best enjoyed for its taste of Rip Torn, who, judging by his recent alleged bank break-in, comes to loose-cannon stuff naturally.

| Original Score: 1/4 | Feb 19, 2010

Writer and director Mitchell Lichtenstein struggles to find the humor in a host of horrors.

Full Review | Original Score: 2/5 | Feb 19, 2010

Not all of the subplots work, but with its flights of fancy, strong acting and a cockeyed skew of family dysfunction, Happy Tears most certainly tries.

| Original Score: 5.75/10 | Feb 19, 2010

An oddball family drama with idiosyncratic characters and a handful of surreal scenes.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Feb 18, 2010

If the plot unfolded in a less formulaic way, this could have been an impressive dark-tinged comedy. But in the end, it's more a case of talented actors trying to find something fresh in a fairly stale tale.

| Original Score: C+ | Feb 18, 2010

Hollywood's strong female actors have in Lichtenstein a young talent who gives them the roles they deserve.

| Original Score: B | Feb 18, 2010

Happy Tears is a complete mess of a movie, but Lichtenstein conjures some sweet moments and striking metaphors -- and none more striking than Posey's $500 boots, which look either black or blue, given the available light.

| Original Score: B- | Feb 18, 2010

What's worse, the super-tired plot or the pretentious daydream asides? Despite Demi Moore and Parker Posey, the only time I was happy was when I was leaving the theater.

| Original Score: D- | Feb 18, 2010

Realism falls victim to quirk yet again.

| Original Score: 2.5/5 | Feb 18, 2010

It works more often than it doesn't, but it never quite goes where you expect. And that's rare enough to be noteworthy.

| Feb 18, 2010