#the diner scene is so funny. kristina in the middle of her confession and the waitress is like 'here's your ice cream :)'

[philhoffman]

Revisiting an old and familiar favorite for this week’s Monday Philm — Happiness (1998), dir. Todd Solondz.

I’ve been meaning to watch more Solondz movies and get familiar with his style so today I made myself a little sick on him tbh — three of his feature films (Welcome to the Dollhouse, Palindromes, Wiener-Dog) and all of his NYU short films, then tonight’s screening of Happiness (my first time watching it on DVD instead of a low quality torrent!). While that crash course was... a lot, it also very clearly defined his work. He has such an easily identifiable style, you may not like it, but no doubt you can recognize it within 30 seconds.

I honestly don’t like Solondz’s films very much, the humor isn’t my style and the fucked up stuff seems more cynical and outlandish for outlandishness’ sake than witty or valuable social commentary. But I’m glad I watched them to get a better sense of how Happiness fits in. It’s definitely my favorite of his films (heavily biased by PSH as Allen Mellencamp, obviously). But it’s also... bolder? than many of his other movies. If it’s going to go there, it goes there fully, recklessly, which I respect — it’s much more biting than Palindromes a few years later, for example. Which makes it funnier, too.

Happiness is also Solondz’s longest film, which is a benefit. Aside from maybe Dawn in Dollhouse, these are his strongest characters because you get a chance to really know them. Many of them are disgusting, despicable people, or sad and lonely, but we see them for what they are. And the cast is especially wonderful anyway, I really loved Camryn Manheim as Kristina (so sensitive) and Lara Flynn Boyle as Helen (so vain) this time around.

It’s impossible for me to be normal about Allen so I won’t even try. It feels way too reductive to call him “the incel blueprint,” a description I’ve heard before — he’s like every stereotype of the horny, nerdy, socially awkward computer guy yet he bodies it in a totally original, fleshed-out way. In one of his interviews with NPR, Phil talked about developing Allen’s voice and his physicality, picturing him as a guy just collapsing in on himself. His voice, his hunched-over posture, his gaze down, just totally withdrawn and therefore only reaching out in obscene ways. Allen can’t even keep up the charade over the phone after he’s called out. He’s gross and oblivious, he’s kind of a loser, and he’s also sort of sweet...? Maybe I’m projecting bc I know I could fix him 😌 but his weird little... partnership with Kristina is touching, and one of the “happiest” endings a Solondz character gets (Life During Wartime doesn’t exist to me.), no matter how brief.

At any rate, some of PSH’s best work — there’s an early moment in the therapist’s office where he does such a classic Phil gesture but otherwise he’s totally Allen (he looks like he constantly has a headache, brow furrowed and eyes screwed up with concern), one of his most iconic, well-remembered performances and rightfully so.

Trying to articulate how much I love Mr. Allen Mellencamp who works in data resources always comes out messy but he is just a weird guy who rocks <3 He seems like one of the strangest PSH characters to get mushy about but after a rough week it was just good to see him again. “I was pretty heavy, and I was afraid that people would laugh at me... Sometimes, acting is a really private thing that you do for the world.”