Happy Now

Writer Belinda Bauer and director Philippa Cousins have turned out a stylish looking Welsh movie that doesn't know if it wants to be a sick black comedy or a semi-serious psycho based murder drama. It clearly wants to be an Alfred Hitchcock copycat film that's too obvious for any success in either genre.

Those with a yen for bizarre and nasty characters or gross situations will find this somehow agreeable but it flounders in typical, modern BFI style and ends up sinking itself in tastelessness.

Best attributes come via the good looking cinematography by Welsh born Richard Greatrex and an OK cast. Otherwise it's another cold and soulless modern wannabe failed 'classic'.

I also stumbled across this film on BBC2 by accident. Why wasn't it promoted more by the Beeb? Do pull your finger out, BBC!

It's not every night that a really great film comes along and it's also made in Britain too. I decided to watched this film because it was set in Wales and I'm half Welsh myself. All British films really need to be promoted more and given a better slot in the scheduling on terrestrial TV. Not everyone has cable you know!

I really loved the dark humour of this movie. All the acting was superb but I was particularly struck by Paddy Considine. He's certainly someone to watch. A very edgy performance. And he's cute as well!

An excellent, off-the-wall, Twin Peaks meets Fargo-esque black comedy thriller. Strong performances by all of this ensemble cast, mixing new and established talent, make this a riveting viewing. Dark, well-observed, comedy-of-errors humour. Beautiful locations, well shot. Excellent score complements the camerawork. I'm sure we'll be hearing more from this talented first time features director.

The dark comedy concept of this film was a plus. Some American viewers might find the Welsh/British accent is difficult to understand; however, there are some good one-liners. The movie seemed a bit rushed in places. For example the love story just happened rather suddenly. Most of the casting was good. However,the father's appearance left one wondering how he could have fathered those two girls. The detective (Ioan Gruffudd) was quite able, sensitive, and strong.

The comedy along with the attractive and quirky characters could make this into a cult favorite. It's certainly worth a look.

My friends and I laughed from start to finish with this superb, witty black comedy - the many original characters were well played, yes there were a couple of holes in the plot (how do you escape from the boot of a centrally locked car?) but, hey, I went to be entertained and I was.

We saw this at the Welsh Film Festival - why on earth has it not yet been distributed? We want to see it again to remind ourselves of all those great one-liners.