Another Happy Day

DIRECTOR: Sam Levinson

Starring Ellen Barkin Kate Bosworth Demi Moore Thomas Haden Church Ellen Burstyn George Kennedy Ezra Miller

2011

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LYNN (Barkin) and her two younger sons, Elliot (Miller) and Ben(Yelsky) drive to Lynn’s oldest son’s wedding. Her son, Dylan(Nardelli) is from a previous marriage. Elliot and Ben discuss how weird it’s going to be to see their mom’s ex husband, whom they have never met, while Ben videotapes everything he can. They arrive at Lynn’s parent’s house just as an ambulance sits in front. Lynn rushes in to find her father Ian() on a stretcher. His pacemaker went off but he will be ok for the time being. Doris(Burstyn), Lynn’s mother, tries to calm everyone down. Also, at the packed house are Lynn’s sisters, Bonnie(Hogan) and Donna(Scarwid) and their sons. Elliott has recently gotten out of rehab, but Lynn lies and tells everyone that he was in Sweden. At night, Elliot snoops around and steals some of his grandfather’s medicine. He goes into the bathroom and gets high. At a therapy session the next day, Lynn meets up with Dylan, her ex husband, Paul(Church), and Paul’s wife, Patty(Moore). Lynn calls the meeting to discuss how traumatic Paul’s presence at the wedding is going to be for Alice(Bosworth), Lynn and Paul‘s daughter. After all, he was never a real father to her and he hasn’t even seen her in seven years. Tammy continually butts in, saying that they are just as much Alice’s family as Lynn is. This infuriates Lynn and the tension grows in the room. No one wants to back down and the issue remains unresolved. On the drive home, Lynn apologizes to Dylan for bringing him into the whole mess. At Dylan’s house, Lynn talks with the bride to be, Heather(Coover). Back at the house, Ian goes missing and after a scary search, Donna finally finds him at the bottom of the hill in the backyard. He had lost his balance and fallen down while trying to put seed in the bird feeder. At a pool party that evening, the family all gathers around the yard and chats about how dysfunctional they are. When Lynn tells Elliot that he can not go out that night, he becomes infuriated and threatens her. Lynn, in rage, jumps on him and two break up their struggle before it goes to far. After some harsh words are exchanged, the two apologize to each other in tears. Lynn talks with her husband on the phone about how crazy things are around there. Ben continues videotaping everyone and their awkward conversations. There is a false alarm when Ben and Elliot think that Ian is dead, but he perks right back up. Elliot storms off in rage just as Paul and Tammy arrive at the house. Alice finally arrives, at the disapproval of her mother. Everyone welcomes her but are too scared to inquire about her “cutting,” a self destruction disorder. They instead remove all of the knives from the kitchen. That night, Elliot and Alice smoke a joint by the water and return to the house to see that Doris has called the medics. Ian’s pacemaker has gone off again, but he pulls through once again. As the wedding day approaches, the tents are set up in the backyard and everyone scrambles in the last minute preparations. At the rehearsal dinner that evening, the family all gathers at a local restaurant. Elliot gets hammered at the bar while Lynn tries to avoid the annoying Tammy. When Elliot tells Tammy’s son that Paul met her when she was working at a strip club, Tammy finds Lynn and attacks her, screaming at her in fury. Lynn denies the fact that she told Elliot that. Completely upset with Elliot and everything else, Lynn drags her family out of the restaurant to go home. On the wedding day, everyone gets into their appropriate attire and goes to the church. Things have not yet healed between Elliot and Lynn. After the ceremony, they all go to the tents for the reception. Elliot gets high again, hops into an inner tube that is in in the sound, and sets himself off drifting in the bay. Back in the tents, Lynn tries to make sense of the whole mess. Paul tries to talk to Alice and ask for her forgiveness for his absence, but she won’t hear it. Lynn tries to talk things out with her mom, but Doris is sick of bringing up the past. Meanwhile, Ian works on his tractor in the backyard and finally gets it running again. Lynn starts to get worried when Elliot is no where to be found and she calls the coast guard to help find him. Ian dies on the tractor, which then in turn, narrowly misses collapsing the whole tent. The guards find Elliot in the middle of the bay. He recites his grandfather’s eulogy as Lynn and her family pack the car back up to leave. They drive home back to New York City.

Status: Completed

Genre: Romance,Comedy