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Life During Wartime
2010 | 98 minutes | Rated NR
Happiness (1998) still stands as one of the most shocking and brilliant comedies ever made, so this sequel by writer-director Todd Solondz was almost guaranteed to be a disappointment. But I'd never have predicted something this mediocre. For his last movie, Palindromes (2004), Solondz audaciously divided his protagonist among eight different actors, a move that seems to have emboldened him to recast every character here, often to disorienting effect (Philip Seymour Hoffman, the obscene phone caller in Happiness, is replaced by Michael K. Williams, best known as the armed bandit Omar from The Wire). Rounding up the original players, however, would have made obvious how little Solondz has left to say about their characters; his singular comedy of delusion, selfishness, and petty cruelty has never before seemed so pat and nihilistic, and his theme of forgiveness is so baldly stated that it comes off as sentimental. With Shirley Henderson, Allison Janney, Michael Lerner, Ciaran Hinds, Paul Reubens, Ally Sheedy, and a degradingly typecast Charlotte Rampling.
See our full review:
Six Characters in Search of an Actor
In wresting his returning characters out of the clutches of the talent, Todd Solondz robs them of depth. »
Director: Todd Solondz
Producer: Christine Walker, Derrick Tseng, Elizabeth Redleaf and Mike S. Ryan
Cast: Shirley Henderson, Ciarán Hinds, Allison Janney, Michael Lerner, Chris Marquette, Rich Pecci, Charlotte Rampling, Paul Reubens, Ally Sheedy, Dylan Snyder, Renee Taylor, Michael Williams and Gaby Hoffmann
Producer: Christine Walker, Derrick Tseng, Elizabeth Redleaf and Mike S. Ryan
Cast: Shirley Henderson, Ciarán Hinds, Allison Janney, Michael Lerner, Chris Marquette, Rich Pecci, Charlotte Rampling, Paul Reubens, Ally Sheedy, Dylan Snyder, Renee Taylor, Michael Williams and Gaby Hoffmann
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Six Characters in Search of an Actor
In wresting his returning characters out of the clutches of the talent, Todd Solondz robs them of depth.
- Aug 5, 2010
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