-Written by Kyle Bain.
“All happy families are alike; each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.” All Happy Families opens to this quote, one that immediately makes you think. Is it true? What are the reasons behind a happy family? What are the potential plethora of reasons for an unhappy family? Again and again throughout the course of my viewing I revisited this idea, and it’s something that ultimately kept me engaged in Writer-Director Haroula Rose’s film. Does Rose ever directly answer this question? No, though I’m not sure that she’s meant to. The film is ultimately left open-ended in this regard, and that’s a nice touch–allowing the film to exist beyond its runtime, effectively playing a role in viewers’ lives long after the credits have finished rolling.
I honestly believe that this is the best part of the entire film, as it’s the piece of this production that was really capable of resonating with me. There are pieces of some of these characters that worked for me, small traits and daily struggles that I felt that I could identify with–but characters as a whole were mostly lost on me throughout. Whether it’s Graham (Josh Radnor), Evie (Ivy O’Brien), or someone else entirely, the entirety of the characters were challenging to connect with, to understand.
While many of these characters exist in an incredibly niche place in life, it’s actually the fact that they are often so aloof that turned me off to them. I understand why Graham struggles, but I don’t understand why he’s such a messy goofball as a result. I get that Graham’s brother, Will (Rob Huebel), is an asshole, but I can’t quite grasp why he’s still the semi-goofy older brother while dealing with sexual harassment allegations. There’s just something with most of these characters that don’t compute, and their development throughout the course of All Happy Families simply doesn’t make sense–and it steals from both the validity of the story and the film as a whole.
If you haven’t realized by now, All Happy Families, a film about a family dealing with a number of internal and external struggles, is character based, and driven entirely by what each of these characters bring to the table. There are quite a few characters present throughout the film:
Graham
Dana (Chandra Russell)
Will
Sue (Becky Ann Baker)
Roy (John Ashton)
Lila (Colleen Camp)
Phil (Antoine McKay)
Jerry (David Pasquesi)
Evie.
And each and every one of them plays a pivotal role in All Happy Families. What Rose and Co-Writer Coburn Goss do really well is create a balance among these characters. It’s clear that Graham is the lead, followed by Sue, and the rest fall in line behind them. With this many characters present in the film, it’s likely that both Goss and Rose had to spend time attempting to figure out how to juggle everyone, ensure that they don’t step on each other’s toes, and that they ultimately play out before viewers in a way that feels natural and fair. While I, again, struggled to appreciate the entirety of most of the characters, I very much enjoyed the fact that there’s an effective balance throughout–helping to create a fluid story.
I’m not sure that All Happy Families was my cup of tea, that it was even a film really meant for people like me. Sure, the film is home to a series of characters that are meant to exist in many walks of life–but the fact remains that they are (at least most of them) part of the same family, existing within the same family dynamic. I had trouble connecting with the characters in this relatively simplistically made film. None of the technical aspects blew me away, and I was left with the characters. The quote that All Happy Families opens to remains my favorite part of the film. Sure, it’s a testament to the filmmakers to include something so eye opening and existential–but the fact that this was the best part of the production is a bit troubling.
Directed by Haroula Rose.
Written by Coburn Goss & Haroula Rose.
Starring Josh Radnor, Chandra Russell, Rob Huebel, Becky Ann Baker, John Ashton, Colleen Camp, Antoine McKay, David Pasquesi, Ivy O’Brien, etc.
5.5/10 = WORTH THE RISK, BUT YOU’VE BEEN WARNED
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