MovieChat Forums > Another Happy Day (2011) Discussion > I don't think it worked at all

I don't think it worked at all

posted 12 years ago by amountpastdue
14 replies | jump to latest

the characters seemed like such stereotypes. it was depressing, humorless and very heavy handed.

Ellen Barkin was the kind of character you'd have to get away from within minutes in real life. an insecure schrew, she was unbearable.

no one else was much better.

I don't think the writer-director showed much promise but i'm sure he'll show up with something better sometime. nepotism goes a long way and he'll have lots of chances. there's nothing wrong with that if he can do something more palatable.

this family, a self-richeous mess.....

[–] 12 years ago

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[–] amountpastdue 12 years ago

with the exception of those sisters, i agree with you. they were pretty well written. i just don't think that's enough, i don't think that makes this original and it doesn't show me that anyone involved, especially the writer/director, has any special talent.

[–] netshopper-2 12 years ago

Hmm...I thought all the characters were somewhat realistic except for her sisters. Who would act like that about their sister and niece/nephews? Plus the one husband was a caricature. Barkin did well in this but the film is not better than average on my personal scale.

[–] speedo58 12 years ago

sisters can and do act like that

[–] jozielee 10 years ago

Totally agree with Speedo58. Sisters can sometimes be the hardest, especially if they're jealous of their sister's success. Lynn seemed to have the career, money, and trappings of success - an easy target.

[–] MisguidedMiscreants 12 years ago

I thought Ellen Barkin was pretty unbearable. The whole family is pretty awful but I thought the kids were entertaining (Ben "You're like 50 years older than Civil Rights" and Elliot and his Fox bashing and Alice Scissorhands). I disliked how bitchy Demi Moore was...just seemed so stereotypical. \

I liked alot of parts of the film but as a whole it work well.

“The essence of the independent mind lies not in what it thinks, but in how it thinks.” C. Hitchens

[–] sue-534 12 years ago

What did you despise about Ellen Barkin's character?

I thought she was portrayed very realistically and we saw how much she loved her kids but at the same time was extremely frustrated by Elliott's multiple mental illnesses (anxiety, OCD, depression, and Tourette's) and all the harm it did to others. Her husband, Lou, was of little help in controlling Elliott or giving him the help he needed.

She also felt very put off that her own mother welcomed her ex-husband, Paul, who abused her repeatedly and admitted to punching her in the face(!), and yet the mom insists he and his new wife come in for coffee(!)

"the only way through it is through it " -Jackson Browne

[–] MisguidedMiscreants 12 years ago

I didn't mind the character as much as I didn't like Ellen Berkin. Someone wrote that from the beginning of the movie emotionally she was at a 10 and I thought she stayed at that level. I found how emotional she was to be very grating. I get that it was a tense situation and her sisters and parents were sh*tty but the fact that on the night of her sons wedding she tries to bring up old drama with her mother was poor judgment on her part.

“The essence of the independent mind lies not in what it thinks, but in how it thinks.” C. Hitchens

[–] sue-534 12 years ago

I think it's a testament to Ellen Barkin's acting that it grated on you.
She was emotionally distraught.

She had to drive with her quite rude and acting-out son, Ellliott to the older son's wedding knowing she would see her ex husband, who used to beat the crap out of her AND also see her parents who are emotionally shut down completely AND are in total denial about any of her emotional upset AND she also has to deal with her daughter that cuts herself is pretty unstable as well and how it will be with the father.

Even with all that, AND her crappy sisters who have no sense of dignity AND Patty the new wife who CALLS HER OUT in a BATHROOM STALL (!) at the reception, and she hears her son is DRUNK and DRUGGING, she still offers encouragement and good words to her daughter - "Don't let them effect how you feel or think about yourself."

We see that it gets through to Alice since she turns down the father for a few minutes to speak alone after he basically tells her he won't see her without his precious wife by his side.

This movie was not for the average movie goer, granted. It really hits to the heart of family dysfunction and how everyone in the family deals with it.

Barkin's character wanted to fix it, Alice acted out on herself with the cutting but we see she's going to college for child development in hopes to help others, Elliott drinks and drugs, the younger son tries to be the docile good kid, and Barkin's parents live in denial as if nothing is or ever was, wrong.

I can't imagine being Barkin's character but I come from a family of pretty extreme dysfunction so I guess I very much empathized with her and felt she held up pretty well considering all the crazy circumstances.

"the only way through it is through it " -Jackson Browne

[–] AntiSaint 12 years ago

Agree 100%. I think the characters in this film -- the ones aside from Lynn -- are all kind of like rocks being thrown at her. Their subplots and stories, including the boys, are less about THEM. Elliott, her mom, the sisters, they all have issues. We get to see them, but Lynn is the center of the story.

It's kind of funny that she is, because the impression I got a few times is that everyone seems to write her off as "just wanting attention" without realizing the points she's trying to make are valid, even if she brings them up at the wrong times.

Everyone poo-poos her over her concern about Alice and Paul having not seen another for so long, but then she points out the cutting. Rather than 'siding' with her, they all gossip about it. In the therapist's office, Paul thinks Lynn is misguided about how their present-day relationship will be affected by the past, and Lynn points out that he would've fought tooth and nail for their son, but she could just take Alice, no big deal, whatever, yet he still seems to think things will be fine. At the dinner table, when her mother suggests the situation between Lynn and Paul was Lynn's fault, he admits to punching Lynn in the face. And even with all of that she can't get what she wants out of her family, which is just for someone to say "I understand, and I'm here for you."

[–] Galagatron 12 years ago

In real life, a lot of people are so generic and alike so many others that they practically are stereotypes.

[–] Benicky 11 years ago

You are right it did not work. Sometime life does not work.
I spent time in a toxic family and it is what it is. Movies are supposed to resolve but sometimes it is this *beep* and over the top.

It took me aback with the intensity and actually took me a while to get back to abnormal

[–] monstermayhem32 10 years ago

I would agree that there were times that the film was over the top.

[–] 10 years ago

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