Happy Tears: movie review

‘Happy Tears’ is a dysfunctional family drama with life lessons thrown in at regular intervals.

In Mitchell Lichtenstein’s “Happy Tears,” Parker Posey and Demi Moore play two sisters, Jayne and Laura, who return to the house they grew up in when their cantankerous father, Joe, played by Rip Torn, goes a bit wobbly in the head.

This is the kind of movie where life lessons are posted every quarter-hour. (I timed it.) The sisters, who grew apart, grow back together; Joe, with his crack-addict girlfriend (Ellen Barkin) in tow, learns the meaning of – well, I’m not sure he learns much of anything. He might as well have the word “rascal” pasted on his forehead.

Lots of tears are shed but, despite the film’s title, not many of them seemed very happy. Grade: C- (Rated R for language, drug use, and some sexual content including brief nudity.)