Rating summary

Movie		3.0
Video		5.0
Audio		5.0
Extras		2.0
Overall		3.5

Happiness 4K Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov September 4, 2024

Todd Solondz's "Happiness" (1998) arrives on 4K Blu-ray courtesy of Criterion. The supplemental features on the release include new program with Todd Solondz and Charlotte Wells; new program with actor Dylan Baker; and original trailer. In English, with optional English SDH subtitles for the main feature. Region-Free.

The world is full of miserable people, and some of them are perverts. This seems to be the only message of Todd Solondz’s film Happiness. Or perhaps there isn't one. Perhaps Happiness is only an astonishingly bold attempt to gauge just how crude a mainstream film can be and get away with it.

Solondz’s camera follows several characters whose lives are closely intertwined, constantly switching personalities like professional chameleons. Joy Jordan (Jane Adams), a genuine romantic dreamer, has just exited a relationship with a boyfriend (Jon Lovitz) who has shown her indisputable evidence that he is a ticking bomb. The breakup has been so unexpected and shocking that her entire universe has fractured itself into countless little pieces and visibly impaired her ability to stay focused in the present. Allen (Philip Seymour Hoffman) makes ends meet while doing something with computers. However, he spends virtually all of his time fantasizing about a beautiful and single neighbor, Helen (Lara Flynn Boyle), who barely acknowledges his existence. He is also a sex maniac, with a seemingly inexorable urge to masturbate. Kristina (Camryn Manheim) is his neighbor, too. She wants to talk to him and be his friend, maybe even more, but is overweight and unattractive. She also has a secret, the kind of secret that sends one to the electric chair. Dr. Bill Maplewood (Dylan Baker) is a happily married husband and father. He is also a closeted pedophile. His wife, Trish (Cynthia Stevenson), does not know, but his son, Timmy (Justin Elvin), admires him because he teaches him what it means to make love, even when there is no one to make love to. Lenny (Ben Gazzara) has stopped loving his wife, Mona (Louise Lasser), and quite possibly everyone he could love. He has told her, surprising her and himself, and discovered that he feels great for being honest with her and himself. Vlad (Jarred Harris) is a Russian immigrant who drives a taxi and lives with a woman who may not be right for him. He also steals what he can, just as he did before reaching American shores.

All of these characters become moving pieces in a giant puzzle of human dissatisfaction and misery. Gradually, it is revealed that some are family members. Gradually, it is revealed that a few are human wrecks impossible to save. After that, Solondz uses different pretexts to emotionally scar them as badly as possible.

Much of the scarring is done with morbid dark humor, frequently creating astonishing contrasts, and this is arguably the greatest strength of Happiness. However, plenty of the scarring is done with crassness that feels off in more than one way, too. Because of it, it is easy to speculate that Happiness was supposed to gauge the tolerance levels of its audience and of course those of the important critics who had to judge it.

Considering all the odd behavior and crassness that flood Happiness, it seems fair to write that the leads are frequently impressive. They are very good at being very bad and just flat-out repulsive. A few make their characters appear legitimately delusional as well. But this sort of performing very quickly becomes tiring because there is a limit to what can be done before it all evolves into a meaningless mish-mash of grotesque posturing.

It also has to be said that some of the material with the youngest actors is genuinely unsettling. It is undoubtedly the reason Happiness initially received an NC-17 rating.

Criterion’s upcoming 4K Blu-ray and Blu-ray releases of Happiness are sourced from an exclusive new 4K master, supervised by director of photography Maryse Albert.

Happiness 4K Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Criterion's release of Happiness is a 4K Blu-ray/Blu-ray combo pack. The 4K Blu-ray disc is Region-Free. However, the Blu-ray disc is Region-A "locked".

Please note that some of the screencaptures that appear with this article are taken from the 4K Blu-ray and downscaled to 1080p. Therefore, they do not accurately reflect the quality of the 4K content on the 4K Blu-ray disc, including the actual color values of this content.

Screencaptures #1-19 are from the Blu-ray.
Screencaptures #22-30 are from the 4K Blu-ray.

The release introduces an exclusive new 4K makeover of Happiness, supervised by its director of photography, Maryse Albert. In native 4K, the 4K makeover can be viewed with Dolby Vision and HDR grades. I chose to view it with Dolby Vision. After that, I compared it to the 1080p presentation on the Blu-ray.

I do not have any DVD releases of Happiness in my library. However, even if I did, I almost certainly would not have used them for comparison purposes. The 4K makeover is an absolute stunner that instantly creates the impression that Happiness is only a few months old. On my system, every part of it, regardless of whether it feature darker indoor or bright daylight footage, looked sensational. Virtually all visuals looked razor-sharp and incredibly lush, boasting hugely impressive primaries and supporting nuances. Fluidity was excellent as well, so the consistency of the moving visuals is fantastic. There are no traces of any problematic digital corrections. The entire film looks immaculate. So, how does the 1080p presentation look? It looks very impressive, too. I think that in a couple of darker sequences, like the one where Philip Seymour Hoffman attempts to start a conversation with Lara Flynn Boyle in the hallway, the native 4K presentation performs marginally better, but these are very minor discrepancies because the overall quality of the 4K makeover is that good. Color reproduction is similarly satisfying in native 4K and 1080p.

Happiness 4K Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

There is only one standard audio track on this release: English DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0. Optional English SDH subtitles are provided for the main feature.

For a dialog-driven feature, Happiness surprises with plenty of diverse and quite effective music. In several areas, there are wonderful dynamic contracts. The dialog is crystal-clear, sharp, and very easy to follow. Stability is excellent, too. While viewing Happiness, I did not encounter any encoding anomalies to report.

Happiness 4K Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

4K BLU-RAY DISC

• Bonus Features - there are no bonus features.

BLU-RAY DISC

• Todd Solondz and Charlotte Wells - in this program, Todd Solondz and filmmaker Charlotte Wells discuss independent cinema and Happiness. In English, not subtitled. (41 min).

• Dylan Baker - in this program, actor Dylan Baker discusses the character he played in Happiness. In English, not subtitled. (14 min).

• Leaflet - an illustrated leaflet featuring an essay by screenwriter and novelist Bruce Wagner, as well as technical credits.

Happiness 4K Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Happiness seeks humor in a place where there isn't any. It is why viewing it can be an unforgettably awkward experience. Regardless of what has been said and written about it, which is a lot and often contradicts itself, it is pretty obvious that it was supposed to scandalize. What isn't entirely clear is whether it was supposed to be anything else, like a meaningful film. Criterion's combo pack introduces a spectacular new 4K makeover of Happiness, supervised by its director of photography, Maryse Albert. A standard Blu-ray release streets with it as well. RECOMMENDED to folks who want a definitive release of Happiness in their collections.