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Happy Tears | 2009 | R | - 8.4.5

Parker Posey and Demi Moore star as sisters who return home to care for their ailing father (Rip Torn). All three family members must now confront their not-exactly-perfect lives, getting older, and mortality. Also with Ellen Barkin, Christian Camargo, Billy Magnussen, Roger Rees and Sebastian Roché. Directed by Mitchell Lichtenstein. [1:35]

SEX/NUDITY 8 - A young man and a woman have sexual intercourse while under the influence of drugs: during a hallucination, the woman and the young man are seen from the side, completely nude (everything appears out of focus and distant, and we see the profile of the woman's breast) and with the young man floating over the woman's body; in a non-hallucinatory flash, the shirtless young man is seen thrusting from the assumed perspective of the woman.
 A woman walks into a room and finds a naked young man crouched in the corner and a naked woman covered by a jacket (they have just had sex) and she asks the woman for details.
 A woman is seen sitting on the toilet, she wipes herself, inspects the toilet paper, rubs her finger on it and declares it "gummy;" she is then seen standing with a leg propped up on the sink with one of her hands at her crotch, as another woman walks in the bathroom and the two discuss fertility and their sexual relationships with their husbands, while the other woman uses the toilet.
 A woman is seen in a bathtub filled with bubbles, a young man walks into the room and informs her that he has to urinate, he then sits on the edge of the tub and the two hold hands until the young man leaves.
 A woman is seen wrapped in a towel, which she exchanges for a short kimono. A woman's thong-style underpants are visible above the waistband of her skirt when she stands up. A group of prostitutes are seen, talking to men in cars; they are wearing short dresses and revealing outfits. A woman's upper thighs are visible when she leans her head into the lap of another woman (in a non-sexual manner). A shirtless older man, wearing only boxer shorts, hugs a woman in a non-sexual manner. A young man takes off his shirt and his bare chest is visible. An elderly man is seen wearing an adult diaper and a shirt. An elderly man's bare buttocks are visible and covered in feces while he is being cleaned in the shower.
 People make crude and derogatory comments about a man's sexual orientation, and a woman later mentions that he had promised that he would no longer have sex with other men, but that she previously allowed him to have intercourse with men, as well as herself. On multiple occasions, two women discuss the sexual proclivities of a man, including how he had been sexually involved with countless prostitutes while he was married, and continues to be involved with prostitutes. An elderly man listens to two women discussing his sexual activities and interjects that he had also had intercourse with family friends, not just prostitutes. A woman is perceived to be a prostitute and she questioned by two women about her intentions in terms of an elderly man; she does offer a denial, and the man later says that he had given her something as "payment for services rendered." It is mentioned that two women had been strippers, and the two women state that they had been strippers for only one summer. People make multiple crude remarks about sex and genitals, including an elderly man who makes multiple comments about wishing he were on the receiving end of sexual activity.
 A man straddles another man's back, and massages him in a non-sexual manner; however, the man receiving the massage groans loudly in a sexualized manner.

VIOLENCE/GORE 4 - An elderly man has a bowel movement while sitting at a kitchen table and must be cleaned off by two women: while they are cleaning him in the shower, his bare buttocks are visible, covered in feces, one of the women makes crude comments about the other woman "using her hands" to assist in the cleaning, and the two then discuss the man's loss of control of his bowels.
 A man cuts himself while using a table saw: his injury is not seen, but he drips blood onto a painting and drags his fingers through the blood, and he is later seen with his wrist wrapped and curled up on the floor, presumably unconscious from loss of blood.
 During a dream sequence, a woman draws a vial of blood from an elderly man and licks the needle puncture site.
 A woman driving a car with an elderly man and another woman as passengers, wildly drives off the highway, across a median, and onto a ramp, cutting in front of a fast-moving car and crashing into a pylon (the three occupants are seen in the hospital but no one is seriously injured). An elderly man crashes a bulldozer through a fence.
 People discuss death, including the death of two women from cancer, and the death of a dog. A man tells a woman that a man's life expectancy is no more then two years. There are several arguments between women, and an older man shouts angrily at no one.
 We see flashes of a very sickly woman lying in a bed, and it is implied that she dies shortly thereafter. A young man uncovers the entombed body of a dead dog and opens the casket to reveal the dog's bones to two women. A man spits out a piece of food.

LANGUAGE 5 - About 7 F-words and its derivatives, 9 scatological terms, 3 anatomical terms, 10 mild obscenities, 2 derogatory terms for homosexuals, name-calling (crackhead), 4 religious exclamations.

SUBSTANCE USE - People are seen taking unidentified hallucinatory pills and smoking marijuana, a woman acts as though she is under the influence of drugs, and a woman has a dream that another woman is pushing a cart filled with vials filled with crack rocks. People drink cans of beer, glasses of wine, and cocktails. Women smoke cigarettes throughout the movie.

DISCUSSION TOPICS - Homosexuality, death, cancer, dementia, secrets, fidelity in marriage, antiques, family, drug abuse, prostitution.

MESSAGE - You can always count on your family.

CAVEATS

Be aware that while we do our best to avoid spoilers it is impossible to disguise all details and some may reveal crucial plot elements.

We've gone through several editorial changes since we started covering films in 1992 and older reviews are not as complete & accurate as recent ones; we plan to revisit and correct older reviews as resources and time permits.

Our ratings and reviews are based on the theatrically-released versions of films; on video there are often Unrated, Special, Director's Cut or Extended versions, (usually accurately labelled but sometimes mislabeled) released that contain additional content, which we did not review.


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