Happy (2012)

Great movie. When I watched this movie it made me feel that happiness is obtainable. Through religion, and doing the right thing. I believe this movie taught a very valuable lesson as in if you do good things, it can make you feel good. People think scientific facts would matter but science doesn't define emotions. Some things are unexplainable in life for a reason. I think this is great, and enjoyable to watch. I have seen this movie multiple times when I was upset and it always brought me out of my funk and helped me feel positive again. I showed this movie to many members of my family and it made them not only get emotional, but they felt this was a great guide to become a happy person.

Warning: The spoiler is in the title. This is my first IMDb Review and I will keep it brief, as those before me did a great job summarizing the nuts and bolts of the Film. I am not a movie fanatic (by any stretch), however, if you knew me, you would KNOW that I would probably not publish a film review; much less, on a film titled, "Happy". In my opinion, I am not "grumpy" but "Happy" really brought a smile to my face. Reason being, the film is 110% accurate; I cannot say that about much of anything these days but "pure", "fresh", and "authentic" (along with, the aforementioned, "accurate") ruminate in my head as brief descriptors. It is well worth the seventy-five (75) minute run time, guaranteed. In closing, this film is not what I expected it to be (I rated it a 10 out of 10) but much, much more. For this I am grateful (and happy). Enjoy!

Its got zero proof, it offers no scientific data, it leaves out "sex", in fact it implies sex but won't go there.. It tries to claim that happiness from taking care of people can equate to a drug like cocaine, which is a load of crap, if that were true people would find it easy to get off drugs.. The truth of the matter is that once you do an addictive drug you have a tingling feeling, sort of like an itch, that never goes away, and once you've done the drug a lot, it shuts down your ability to experience pleasure.. Now for someone who is addicted, if dopamine response is diminished due to long-term drug use, the dopamine response to the drug makes you feel "normal" whereas not having the drug makes you feel "depressed", in that case I would say that doing any activity equates to the happiness in a "addicted" drug addict doing something like cocaine. But the movie only plays chicken with the idea, it doesn't really have any proof. It could be regarded as a Buddhist conversion tape because it doesn't cover any other religions, in fact it implies that those who practice Muslim, Jewish and Christian faiths "are less happy".. Normally I like liberal documentaries, but this one leaves you thinking "that was nice, oh wait, I just got rick rolled"..

Tom Shadyac, the director of the Nutty Professor read in a NY times article that although the US was one of the richest countries it was nowhere near the happiest and also noted from his own experience materially successful people he knew were often less happy than their gardeners. Intrigued he funded director Roko Belic to make this movie investigating what makes people happy. He goes to Denmark, Namibia, Scotland, China, Kenya, Brazil, Japan, Bhutan and India and interviews a bunch of people and the result is quite an interesting movie on how things play out. They start with a guy in India living in poverty in one of the worse slums but he's about as happy as the average American partly because there is a lot of community involvement. In Japan he meets the Okinawa islanders who generally have a cheery simple life and live to about 100 and also the family of a pressured salary man who dropped dead in his thirties from stress and overwork. It's interesting to see the contrasts and it may well give some inspiration for your own life.