Life During Wartime (2009)

  This is a follow-up/sequel to Happiness, one of if not the darkest comedy I have ever seen.  Every part is played by a different actor so I spent most of the film on Wikipedia trying to remember who was supposed to be whom.  Probably should have watched it sooner after the first one.  Now, after having seen it, I can safely tell you not to bother and just pretend Happiness exists on its own.

After the fallout from Bill's (Ciaran Hinds) imprisonment for child molestation, his wife Trish (Allison Janney) has told their younger children that he is dead.  This becomes an issue when Timmy (Dylan Riley Snyder) learns the truth just before his bar mitzvah.  Meanwhile, Joy (Shirley Henderson) is running from her marriage to Allen (Michael K. Williams) after learning that he has never stopped making obscene phone calls, and still having troubling visions of her ex, Andy (Paul Reubens), who killed himself.  She tries to visit her sister Helen (Ally Sheedy) in Los Angeles, but is put off by Helen's constant insistence that she is forgiven for whatever perceived slight she has done to Helen.

Happiness worked because it was a deeply fucked up film about deeply fucked up people.  Life During Wartime attempts to look into the aftermath of being so fucked up but that's the problem.  No one cares about the aftermath.  Drama is entertaining.  Forgiveness and repentance are boring.  Plus, there's no way this film could possibly live up to its predecessor and the sudden actor shifts were very jarring.  A swing and a miss.  It's currently streaming on the Criterion Channel.