ThedevilChoose When a movie has you begging for it to end not even half way through it's pure crap. We've all seen this movie and this characters millions of times, nothing new in it. Don't waste your time.

Invaderbank The film creates a perfect balance between action and depth of basic needs, in the midst of an infertile atmosphere.

Sameer Callahan It really made me laugh, but for some moments I was tearing up because I could relate so much.

Phillipa Strong acting helps the film overcome an uncertain premise and create characters that hold our attention absolutely.

Richard_vmt Happy Tears is definitely worth seeing. I had some reservations about it but I will start with the positives. The film begins with the Posey Parker character, Jayne, an icy rich woman commanding her way in Manhattan. But just as we are getting used to this, the scene switches to Pittsburgh where she is visiting her lowbrow family, a stark contrast. Before we know it we are involved with her dastardly but winning Father, Jayne's sister, Laura, who is caring for him and his sleep-in girl friend who is masquerading as a nurse. The purpose of the visit is to make arrangements for him. He is incontinent. The sisters become reacquainted around the task of cleaning feces off his body.The most striking performance is Ellen Barkin's character Shelley, the old man's "nurse". Wearing a stethoscope around her neck does nothing to disguise the fact she is an aging crack whore who is living symbiotically with the old man. Everything about this characterization is larger than life. While Jayne takes exception to her, she isn't very designing. In fact she is too innocent to be evil in any way. When in the end there is largess, the sisters plant her rightful share in a coat which she slips in to snatch. Shelley and the old man lend the film a lot of humor and humanity.What I found disturbing was the character of Jayne, as it is represented. It is not a question of acting but writing. While she seems to approach everything from a conservative angle, she herself is nothing like conservative. In fact, during her visit she has a sexual episode on LSD with a teenage boy. It seems really quite a stretch that any woman in her 30's would go this way, especially with the teen answering to the question what the drug she is asked to swallow is: "Does it matter?" Questions like that would flow naturally from the mouth of a serial killer. This leads to pregnancy, while her husband has expressed a wish not to have children. Although her wealthy husband has been peripheral to the film to the point of being non-existent, still we know enough not to be surprised when his resistance to children turns to "Happy Tears," a phrase which he actually uses.But none of this adds up. We are disposed to like Jayne and yet for no reason at all she makes him the unwitting father of another man's child. It would make more sense in terms of motivation if their marriage had been sexless. But then of course he would know he is not the father. I had the disturbing thought, could he be denying what he knew? But this is not in the film. What is there is simply an inconsistency created by the slapdash addition of disparate elements into the brew. Chalk it up to out of control woman.Buried treasure incidentally is discovered in the backyard in a late-night bulldozer session which we are supposed to believe would be plausible in Pittsburgh (--or, for that matter, in California.) I suppose this is an attempt to rub shoulders with some of the glory of King of California (an enormously better film). While on the subject of unreality, this is yet another film where joints are always accepted and the micro-mini skirt is still the norm. In short, it may be an Indie, but it never left Hollywoodland.

rzajac "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.

Wes Lambert Friday night, we here at the MockingMovies household were in a movie-less funk with nothing to watch. Thank God, for Comcast giving us the option to spend too much money and watch movies that are still playing in theaters. The preview for "Happy Tears' presented what appeared to be a run of the mill dysfunctional family "dramedy" starring Rip Torn, Demi Moore, Parker Posey(this sold me on the movie) and Ellen Barkin. I have been a consummate fan of Parker Posey through her reign as the queen of the indies during the 90's and in her more conventional fare ("You've Got Mail" and "Scream 3"), and I had a feeling that she would raise this movie above the ordinary. I was not disappointed. There is so much going on here that is not hinted at in the trailer. Moore and Posey are sisters who have to return home to take care of their father ( Rip Torn) who is beginning to suffer from dementia. The family dynamic is quickly set up with Moore being the older, responsible sister who takes care of and shelters her younger, quirky, needy sister. Rip Torn walks the fine line between being the dark comedy offered by his dementia and the more weighty prospect of becoming a burden on his daughters. All of this is the run of the mill part I referred to before. The unexpected comes in the form of trippy fantasy sequences Posey's characters lapses into when confronted with anything remotely challenging and the fantastic Ellen Barkin. Barkin is a drugged up homeless woman and possible prostitute who having hit rock bottom appears to have moved into Rip Torn's house under the guise of being his nurse. The running joke is that spends the entire movie with a stethoscope around her neck.There is much to enjoy here and I would highly recommend "Happy Tears" .

plkldf Saw this at Cinema Sundays at the Charles here in Baltimore.The audience liked it a lot, from their reactions during the film and also at the Q&A. Parker Posey and Demi Moore play two sisters who are faced with taking care of their father in the house where they grew up. Their father, played by Rip Torn, is becoming less and less compos mentis. Not forgetting the wonderful Ellen Barkin, who brings humanity to the role of Shelley, a woman who has reached bottom.The movie has some pretty trippy sections, a fair amount of things that make you not so sure what's supposed to be happening in the movie's reality, and what's just happening in the head of one of the characters.It's primarily a good-natured comedy about people and how they get along. It's very funny, with some subtle and unexpected laughs. I can't wait for this to be shown in a local theater so I can see it again.