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Happy Here and Now

Play trailer Poster for Happy Here and Now R 2002 1h 29m Mystery & Thriller Drama Play Trailer Watchlist
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50% Tomatometer 20 Reviews 43% Popcornmeter 500+ Ratings
After Muriel (Shalom Harlow) goes missing, her sister Amelia (Liane Balaban) tries to track her down. Aided by Bill (Clarence Williams III), a family friend and former CIA agent, Amelia finds out that Muriel had been having a lengthy Internet correspondence with a local man named Eddie (David Arquette). Once Bill and Amelia locate Eddie, an eccentric exterminator, and his brother Tom (Karl Geary), they find themselves even farther from Muriel than before.

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Happy Here and Now

Happy Here and Now

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Critics Consensus

Happy Here and Now has a rich setting and some interesting ideas, but the story frustratingly refuses to spark to life.

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Critics Reviews

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David Hunter The Hollywood Reporter 12/16/2005
The future is quieter, emotionally subdued and grayly mysterious, at least in the small hop forward imagined by filmmaker Michael Almereyda. Go to Full Review
Kevin Thomas Los Angeles Times 12/16/2005
3.5/5
This is a droll, laid-back film noir steeped in Crescent City atmosphere and music that culminates in the colliding worlds of genuine and virtual reality. Go to Full Review
V.A. Musetto New York Post 12/16/2005
1/4
Michael Almereyda's muddled Happy Here and Now should have stayed on the shelf -- where it's been gathering dust for several years. Go to Full Review
Dennis Schwartz Dennis Schwartz Movie Reviews 01/03/2015
B+
Strange but intriguing pic about alienation from the modern-day tech world. Go to Full Review
Doris Toumarkine Film Journal International 03/01/2007
Murky and humorless. Go to Full Review
MaryAnn Johanson Flick Filosopher 02/08/2006
The film is resolutely committed to its affectations of deepness and meaningfulness, but all it imparts is a sense of tediousness. Go to Full Review
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Audience Reviews

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09/20/2016 This movie was one of the worst I have ever seen. The computer camera in one scene had showing the girl and on the black and white CRT she was viewed as a rabbit. How sltupid that was. In one black and white flash back (I guess) the girl hugged something with its head covered with something that looked like a knitted hood. What was that? Thumb's DOWN on this movie! I would like to add that music was very good and the acting was good. See more 01/10/2014 (*** 1/2): [img]http://images.rottentomatoes.com/images/user/icons/icon14.gif[/img] A strange but intriguing film. See more 11/01/2011 Amelia has just arrived in New Orleans to find that her sister, Muriel, has gone missing without a trace. The only clue which Amelia has is a stranger who her sister chatted with online. Michael Almereya's film is a strange, interesting commentary on technologies influence on our identities and the isolation which it tends to cause. It's an interesting theme but the execution is not nearly as good as the idea. Its a very meditative flick, with the disappearance being the driving force of the story. I found the film to be too muddled throughout except for the last 10 minutes or so, which were more clear and concise. A film that definitely will make you think, but it could have been executed better. See more 05/08/2011 An atmospheric film from New Orleans that explores the loss of identity we experience as technology encroaches, even to the point of mediating our relationships for us. Can we know people better if we have no opportunity to touch them? The film has a rather meditative quality about it, while the mystery of the central plot carries the characters along. The first and final sequences of the film are one of the best edited scenes I've seen in some time, a visual poem that create beautiful bookends. See more 12/16/2010 Slow, mundane, don't care. See more 08/31/2009 Started out promising with some interesting character studies & great shots of the real New Orleans pre-Katrina, but not much of a story. Just as I became interested in the characters, it ended. See Ally Sheedy in HIGH ART for her best performance yet. See more Read all reviews
Happy Here and Now

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Movie Info

Synopsis After Muriel (Shalom Harlow) goes missing, her sister Amelia (Liane Balaban) tries to track her down. Aided by Bill (Clarence Williams III), a family friend and former CIA agent, Amelia finds out that Muriel had been having a lengthy Internet correspondence with a local man named Eddie (David Arquette). Once Bill and Amelia locate Eddie, an eccentric exterminator, and his brother Tom (Karl Geary), they find themselves even farther from Muriel than before.
Director
Michael Almereyda
Producer
Anthony Katagas, Callum Greene
Screenwriter
Michael Almereyda
Production Co
Keep Your Head, IFC Productions
Rating
R (Some Language)
Genre
Mystery & Thriller, Drama
Original Language
English
Release Date (Theaters)
Jun 8, 2002, Original
Rerelease Date (Theaters)
Dec 14, 2005
Release Date (Streaming)
Jan 19, 2017
Box Office (Gross USA)
$2.4K
Runtime
1h 29m
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