This review was written by Tory Crowley.
Watching All Happy Families, the latest film from co-writer/director Haroula Rose, feels comfortingly familiar. It’s set on the North side of Chicago in a modest two flat. The house is managed by Graham Landry (Josh Radnor), but owned by his brother Will (Rob Huebel), who purchased it from their parents. It is truly a family home.
Graham’s job is to get the house ready to rent out to a new tenant, Dana (Chandra Russell). It should be a simple task, as no one in the family seems to love the home, but we quickly learn the Landry family is more attached to this place and to each other than they seem.
The movie opens with Leo Tolstory’s famous quote from Anna Karenina: “Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.” Within the first few minutes, it’s easy to see that we’re about to witness a very unhappy and very unique family.
And it is the Landry family that makes up the heart of this character-driven movie. They’re a group of dynamic, flawed, and open people. Graham, our main protagonist, is a struggling actor and writer, and an unassuming underdog who’s easy to root for. If you liked Radnor in How I Met Your Mother, you’ll love him here. He has mastered the art of displaying restrained longing and feelings of disappointment.
Graham’s reluctance to embrace life contrasts with his brother’s personality. Will is a famous television actor who is charming, somewhat arrogant, and goes after what he wants. Huebel somehow conveys both Will’s sense of selfishness and sense of compassion in a believable way.
Their parents, Sue (Becky Ann Baker) and Roy (John Ashton), are similarly a ball of contradictions. They regularly express dissatisfaction and annoyance with each other, yet continually display solidarity and understanding for one another. Both Baker and Ashton are well-cast in these roles. They look like the elderly couple that might live on your street, tired by life’s challenges but experienced enough not to let anything get under their skin.
The family is rounded out by Evie (Ivy O'Brien), Will’s 16-year-old daughter. While a little rebellious, Evie is sweet and generally forgiving and accepting of her family’s shortcomings—except for her dad’s. She throws a wrench in things when she drives from her home in Nashville and unexpectedly shows up at the family home in Chicago.
As the Landry family converges, preparing for the new tenant to move in, it seems that everyone has an unexpected problem to solve. Graham develops a crush on Dana and worries that he can’t both have her as a tenant and future romantic interest. Will is accused of sexual misconduct on the set of his tv show. Sue is sexually harassed by her former boss. And Roy struggles to be a supportive husband and grandfather. All of these conflicts arise under the same roof at the most inconvenient time.
It’s in this chaos that All Happy Families may be at its weakest. Every character has their own subplot and it’s unclear which one is the most important at any given time. And when each problem does resolve, it feels lackluster, like a victory for that day rather than a serious character change for anyone.
At the same time, that may be the hidden genius of this movie. It’s real. It’s honest. It’s not a story about a pivotal victory that defines a lifetime but rather the daily battles that people and families fight every day. Some days you lose, some days you win.
The irony is that in the end, you can see how this “unhappy” family continues to choose each other. As Sue and Evie drive off together in the final scene, I thought, “They seem happy.” Maybe this is a happy family after all. They’re just like every other happy family because they don’t give up on each other.
While the story feels unfocused and slow at times, I appreciate that director Rose (who also wrote the screenplay with Coburn Goss) has the patience to draw out a story like this, with nuance and subtlety.
All Happy Families is now in theaters.
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