Happiness Runs (2010) User Reviews

Utopia becomes Dystopia

[bboyminn · 6/10 · 5 July 2013]

Utopia becomes Dystrophy.

Free love becomes sex without meaning or commitment.

Drugs become a means of not insight and enlightenment, but of dulling the daily grind of meaninglessness.

The Commune, the group, becomes isolated loneliness. You all say you are together, but without meaning, commitment, or attachment, you are alone in a crowd.

Reality becomes someone else reality, and your own disconnect from reality.

This is not a comedy. This is not an action movie. This is not a Hollywood blockbuster. This is a dark gritty drama, and if you like that sort of thing, which I do on occasion, then you will like this movie. But ...no... it is not for everyone, and absolute not for the 'blockbuster' crowd.

This is grim cold reality. The movie does not have a lot of highs and lows, though there are certainly moments of drama. I guess one could call it a "Slice of Life", but as mentioned, it is a grim empty life wearing the cloak of Utopia.

Excellent job by the lead character - Mark L. Young as Victor. He conveys the desperateness and detachment of Victor very convincingly. And very good jobs by the supporting characters. On acting alone this movie is worth a look. I expect powerful things from Mark Young in the future.

So, whether this movie is for you, only you can tell. If you like the dark and gritty, and something off the mainstream, then you will be satisfied. But if you are locked into 'blockbusters' and 'teen sex romp comedies', I feel this movie will be a bit too grim for you.

The trailer is better than the movie

[lllmorin · 4/10 · 31 August 2010]

I watched the trailer and was excited to watch a movie about what goes down in a commune. It seems so mysterious to me. I wanted their insight to their world. I will agree that the artistic images are very beautiful and acid trippy. I was disappointed because the characters are not developed. Yeah, I get it...they do drugs, they have sex, OK this is clear and this one kid wants to get out and leave. He wanted money that belonged to him. His mother is wealthy.I wanted to know what the hang up was with his mother. and Becky? so many people seemed affected by her. These kids all have this dark side to them. Not much different than troubled teenagers out here in this world. I might not watch this movie again. It lacked a plot. I would have also liked to see what Victor does out in the real world on his own. What was this movie about? The communal living? Victor? Becky? the other children? Insley resembled Timothy Leary...and don't get me started on symbolism. If you want to watch this movie, go ahead and decide for yourself, you may enjoy it you may not. I felt empty after I watched it. It has the potential to be so much more. I am not a movie critic I am just a regular person.

Poor script

[DanH116 · 5/10 · 15 May 2010]

I saw the film at its opening in Hollywood yesterday. Although the actors do a pretty good job and the photography is beautiful, there is definitely a lack of something in that movie. A lot of characters, but never really fully developed. What's that girl's problem, the one who self-inflict cuttings or her thighs and arms? Why did Becky commit suicide? I suppose it's meant to trigger Victor's departure but it's unclear. It looks like a minor climax, but where is the big one? What's with those two kids smoking pot all day long? It's more comical than anything else. And that climax that really never comes... That scenario never takes off and ends up being pointless.

Ignore the low rating here

[Marcus-Aurelius90 · 25 March 2017]

I enjoyed this film. It gave a pretty good view of what it is like growing up in a cult. The confusion and power structures were really well explored in this movie. I cant believe it only has a rating of 4.9, that is far far lower than the rating this movie deserves.

The focus of the movie centers on the youngsters involved in a cult, whose inhabitants are tucked away in what could be anywhere in middle America. The acting is superb considering their age. There is a nice magic realism type feeling to this that rings true. I recommend it for anyone wanting a teenager's view on growing up in a cult.

well...

[cmeade2008 · 1/10 · 5 December 2011]

If you're looking for a movie that will make you feel good, entertain you, and/or change your perception of the world... Happiness Runs is not that movie. While it has artistic elements and is filmed at a beautiful location, the characters remain undeveloped, the plot flimsy, and the ending unsatisfying. The protagonist, while well-intended, comes off as whiny and sort of feels his way through the movie. The female characters do not possess any redeeming characteristics (remember the little girl who played Jenny in Forrest Gump? Yeah, you see her naked for the majority of the movie.) And please, they have sex, run around naked, and do drugs (A LOT), we get it! If you're looking for a dry, undeveloped film, and you don't mind waiting for the climax that never comes, this would be the one to watch.

Horrible. Simply Horrible.

[jettbrowne924 · 1/10 · 24 November 2010]

This is possibly one of the worst movies I have ever seen. I rented it because Strand Releasing usually has some interesting movies. I can not believe they optioned this piece of junk. The story is about some kid living in a commune who wants to get out. The protagonist is not even likable, wearing the same look on his face throughout the movie. The gratuitous nudity starts at the beginning of the credits and does not stop. The massive amounts of drug scenes are so unbelievable as are the scenes with Jack Danials and beers when all the character's are looking for money. Andie McDowall was in another movie. This is the reason why Indie films are so hard to get made. This was just a culmination of stupid dream sequences, stupid characters and horrible acting.

Dazed and Confused

[skiersam10 · 3/10 · 5 August 2010]

Very interesting but really bad, it has the potential of going in to my collection of horrible films. The film was somewhat artsy, but it wasn't anything to praise. It was based upon a true story (or so you think) about a polygamous commune, and one child who wants to get out. 10 year olds smoking pot, perverted 50 year olds, and pill popping teens make this film even worse. This film is really hard to want to watch because it had dry writing, mostly consisting of f-bombs. The actors just weren't cutting it for me, the performances of them were just boring and plain annoying. I don't recommend people watch this film, it was a waste of time.

Interesting and all should be warned about a particular scene

[karika1999 · 7/10 · 14 June 2011]

I found this movie interesting. It was probably healing for the man whose experiences it was based on. I read several negative reviews when I took a break in the middle of the movie. Apart from the burn scene, I liked it (I saw a spoiler and skipped that scene). I felt the main character, Victor, was likable and expressed well by the actor. All of the young actors did a great job in my opinion. I felt the same about Andie McDowell as I always have, she comes off like she is reading her lines. I was just wondering where Rutger Hauer was the other day and this movie popped up in my suggestions box. I feel he portrayed Insley as well as could be expected with the limited amount of screen time. Others have said this movie could be so much more- it was from the youth perspective. We could have seen Insley and the other adults more if it were about them, but it wasn't. It was about the pain the creator felt growing up in a half utopia. The commune creators got parts of it right (lots of cannabis and open sex and nudity, sharing everything), but missed other important facets to utopian life like equality, avoiding chemicals, open dialogue that involved all members of the society including children, and likely natural parenting with attachment parenting (oh and not brainwashing through hypnosis is a biggie). The kids seemed messed up like the kids I grew up with, not what I would expect from a supposed utopian society. I would recommend it as interesting.

interesting young actors

[SnoopyStyle · 5/10 · 1 September 2016]

Victor (Mark L. Young) is a young man growing up in a hippie commune. His mother (Andie MacDowell) gives all of her fortune to the group led by guru Insley (Rutger Hauer). Victor has a crush on the sexual Becky (Hanna Hall). She hangs out with Chad (Jesse Plemons) doing and selling drugs. Jake and others are also pushing into the drug trade. Victor wants to take Becky away from the chaos.

This indie has three good young actors. Mark L. Young is a fine lead. Hanna Hall has a dangerous charismatic sexuality. Jesse Plemons has a great edge to him. He's not overly menacing but he has an interior explosiveness. With these and other solid actors, writer/director Adam Sherman needs to construct a narrative and cohesive story around them. The rambling chaos takes over and the movie functionally fails.

Wants to be more than it is

[blumdeluxe · 6/10 · 28 January 2019]

"Happiness Runs" is the story of the children of a hippie cult, growing up to see their parents failures and weaknesses and desperately trying to escape the system while finding themselves repeating the same patterns.

The film gets overwhelmingly metaphorical from time to time and almost desperately tries to be an arthouse title. Unfortunately many of the dream sequences don't really add up. And that's the most general problem of the movie in my opinion.. I do like the idea of presenting a concept like hippie life from the viewpoint of their children and I could imagine that there is quite an amount of truth in this work. But some elements of the story are just so over the top that I cannot but think that they are supposed to be metaphors for something I simply don't get. Maybe I'm just too stupid for this film. However, judging from what others say, it is maybe more a failure of the producers to not really reach the audience. I think that this could be a tremendous movie but it never really takes off through strange characters and other difficult choices.

All in all this is a can watch that has some nice elements and thoughts in it but leaves you wondering more about the movie than about the topic it tries to reflect on.

Fantastic, if you can relate

[zak-ames · 9/10 · 13 March 2013]

Fantastic movie... if you've experienced countercultures. If you haven't, you might not get it. This film makes no effort to bring in uninformed audience members. (In sharp contrast to Saving Private Ryan, where a war journalist character, for our sake, knows nothing about war.)

It's human nature to compete and/or differentiate ourselves. This commune homogenizes everything, removing traditional channels of competition and expression. (I've lived in a town like that!) If this film had shown character development, it would have been forced and faked. What it does explore is how how self expression prevails, albeit in a warped and perverted form, despite these constraints. It's a very interesting film.

Best movie that I've seen recently

[me-ga-sa · 10/10 · 5 August 2010]

Wow! That was a masterpiece, a piece of art. I am very much delighted. Wonderful photography, beautiful music, the lost generation was nicely shown. I would give an Oscar to the man who made this movie and to the girl who played Becky. The movie was flowing with my soul - an art - that's what that was. Everything was portrayed poetically.

I am a kind of person who hates vulgar things and nudity but that wasn't bothering me at all in this movie. I am putting it to my favorite movies collection.

I just re-watched it for a second time and I enjoyed it again. It really is one of the best movies I've ever watched, I don't remember any other movie which would be a pure ART like this one. The whole movie is like a beautiful video clip painting sad emotions perfectly. I could relate a lot with the main character Victor.