60
Metascore
18 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 83Christian Science MonitorPeter RainerChristian Science MonitorPeter RainerKittelsen is a funny, expansive actress, and director Anne Sewitsky manages the sad-comic tonal shifts with emotional accuracy.
- 75The A.V. ClubNoel MurrayThe A.V. ClubNoel MurrayThe characters remain governed by what they've been told about themselves for years - that they're ugly, devious, mean, low-class, or silly - until a fresh set of eyes changes what they see in the mirror. Knowing this mutual moment of stark self-awareness is coming doesn't make its arrival any less powerful.
- 70The Hollywood ReporterThe Hollywood ReporterIf it weren't so good-natured overall, Anne Sewitsky's feature debut Happy, Happy might seem entirely implausible, even for a comedy.
- 70VarietyDennis HarveyVarietyDennis HarveyPicture ultimately pulls off a fairly ambitious narrative agenda with a wrap both credible and crowdpleasing.
- 70Village VoiceVillage VoiceThe questionable black-historical shorthand detracts from what is otherwise a well-performed and fitfully amusing film.
- 70Los Angeles TimesBetsy SharkeyLos Angeles TimesBetsy SharkeyAt times, Happy, Happy is cutting comedy at its brutal best; at times, it slips on the black ice. Still, the love of life is exuberant, the pain exquisite.
- 60Wall Street JournalJoe MorgensternWall Street JournalJoe MorgensternIn her casually daring - and mostly endearing - debut feature, the Norwegian director Anne Sewitsky mixes and purposely mismatches light and dark moods to tell the story of a rural wife and mother looking for happiness in the wrong places, and finally in the right one.
- 50Slant MagazineEd GonzalezSlant MagazineEd GonzalezThe filmmaker looks to American modes of visual and aural expression to give Happy, Happy its soul, but all her fetish accomplishes is depersonalizing her story, making a sitcom of her character's lives.
- 50The New York TimesStephen HoldenThe New York TimesStephen HoldenSets out to puncture the clichéd image of Scandinavians as rosy-cheeked choristers bonded in communal togetherness. But its subversive intentions are ultimately undercut by its lack of nerve, along with a lurking sentimentality.
- 40Time OutDavid FearTime OutDavid FearThrow in some quirky interludes of a Norwegian quartet singing old American spirituals every so often, and you've got something that's truly messy, messy.