Another Happy Day

Q: When is Another Happy Day not another happy day?
A: When it's this movie.

With the back drop of a wedding:  the special day where the bride is as beautiful as she will ever be and the groom is happier than he'll ever be.   Sounds cynical, yes?  Having been involved in many weddings, once as the groom in a failed one, my observation is meant to be coolly clever and not to piss on anyone's wedding cake.  But that's not what Another Happy Day is about.

From the trailer, which looks angry, sad and a bit intense, we are introduced to a "modern" family (father leaves mother for another woman and mother raises kids alone) coming together for the wedding of their eldest son.  Ellen Barkin, who in my opinion hasn't made nearly enough movies, is the scorned mother of the groom.  Thomas Hayden Church, who in my opinion also hasn't made enough movies, plays the ex-husband who is now with Demi Moore.  Demi Moore seems to play a more mature version of the character she played in the terrible adaptation of Carl Hiaasen's very entertaining novel, Strip Tease.   She still looks great but her beauty seems only skin deep.  I think she is perfectly cast as the selfish, apparently narcissistic step-mother.  Does anyone else feel that, as an actress, Demi is kind of soul-less?

So, Another Happy Day is not.  It's an examination of a family broken, and unable to come together for what is supposed to be a happy day.  The kids, all at or close to adulthood are fighting their own respective demons.

I'm sure I'll see this because I know the wife will want to see it and we'll likely watch it on-line when Netflix Canada gets it - in three years or so...