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Nice effects though.

Admirable film.

Absolutely brilliant

This movie was so-so. It had it's moments, but wasn't the greatest.

Kaja is an unrelenting cheerful person. She's a teacher. Her husband Eirick is a jerk. For example, he and their son play a silent-treatment game which they know infuriates her. Couple Elisabeth and Sigve move in next door with their adopted African boy Noa. One night, Sigve brings out a box called The Couples Game. Kaja and Eirick have a tough time with the game. Kaja reveals to Sigve that they haven't had sex for a year. Sigve tells her that Elisabeth cheated on him. Sigve and Kaja start a secret affair.This indie is a little bit slow at times. Kaja is a great character. The actors are all good. There is some relationship fun. Then there is one too many reveal twist with Eirick. Instead of emotional intensity, it becomes a sudsy endeavor. I can do without that final twist. The humor doesn't always work.

Norwegian movie called "Sykt lykkelig" ("Happy Happy") tells the story of two couples. Kaja and Eirik rent a house to Elisabeth and Sigve. And madness ensues. Kaja and Eirik don't have the greatest relationship. They haven't had sex for over a year, Eirik wipes his lips after kissing Kaja and prefers watching men wrestle to spending time with his wife. It pretty soon becomes clear that he is gay but isn't able to admit it to her, or to himself. In spite of it all Kaja wants to be happy and tries as much as she can. When Elisabeth and Sigve, seemingly perfect couple, arrive, it makes Kaja more happy and more miserable at the same time. But things aren't as they seem. Elisabeth cheated on Sigve and their relationship is in a crisis too. Next thing you know, practically everybody tries to hit on everybody and at the end of it all they're back at the beginning. Almost."Sykt lykkelig" is a movie that celebrates love and happiness. It shows us how people can connect through time in ways they didn't even thought possible and that there are bonds which can hardly be broken. Elisabeth and Sigve cheated on each other more than once but realize that no one else can give them what they have with each other. They've been through so much together that they've become more than just a husband and wife. They are each other's past and present, they know one another the way no one else can know them and they are still in love. It's different with Kaja and Eirik. Although they're connected by strong bonds as well, Eirik never loved Kaja in a romantic way, and Kaja has never been happy as she can be. Nevertheless, she tried. And that optimism and wish for happiness were rewarded, albeit in a strange way. Eirik finally admitted his sexual orientation and enabled her to seek someone who can respond to all that she has to offer.There's also a subplot involving the sons of two pairs. Kaja and Eirik's son Theodor, and Elisabeth and Sigve's adopted son Noa. Noa is an African boy, and the subplot involves Theodor forcing him to pretend to be his slave and, however strange that may sound, boys bonding through master-slave game. I must admit I'm still not sure what's the purpose of that subplot. To me it seems useless, but maybe I'm missing the point.All in all it's a good movie trying to show what is insurmountable and what's not, in a romantic relationship. It also shows you that no matter what, you shouldn't lose your faith in happiness. If for no other reason, you should watch it because of that.http://onlineimpressions.blogspot.com/

HAPPY,HAPPY (dir. Anne Sewitsky) The film is an off-beat examination of two failing marriages in a very isolated, wintry, and picturesque area of Norway. An urban professional couple have fled the city with their adopted African son, and they are trying to reestablish their marriage after the wife's infidelity. Their new neighbors are another couple with a young boy, and the husband is a repressed homosexual, and his wife is in denial. This leads to an illicit sexual affair, and the the film documents the couples' dramatic realignment. Several times during the film a 'Greek Chorus' of singers interrupt the drama with Country- Western inflected Negro Spirituals, and both genres are singularly American, and this made me wonder about the director's attitude towards Americans. Is the director asking Norwegian audiences to view the universal problem of sexual infidelity through American eyes? The songs seemed to be selected to suggest 'lost love' or 'longing' which reinforce a major theme of the film, and reminded me of Lindsay Anderson's surrealistic film, O LUCKY MAN, in which Alan Price's combo provided random musical commentary. Another strange or unusual aspect in the film is the treatment of 'Race'. The African child is asked to play a slave by the other young boy. This is rather inexplicable, yet it might be an attempt to demonstrate the child's confusion over his father's sexual identity. This is a thought provoking and strikingly original film, and I highly recommend it.

Sykt Lykkelig (in English translated to "Happy Happy") is a black comedy where a couple with an adopted kid move to a very rural part of Norway in the winter, after a decision from the husband. She has had an affair. They are overly welcomed by the main character Kaja, which is helplessly stupid when it comes to deal with her own problems, having been a girl with a troubled parent-less background. That seems also to be the reason she has married a high school boyfriend which obviously is the wrong match for her. These two couples, living in two neighboring houses soon is to ruin what is left to mess up in the new relationships. "Sykt lykkelig" is the debut of director Anne Sewitsky, well played by all actors. The film is chosen to attend Sundance Festival 2011, where it's likely to get praise due to it's oddness. It resembles some of the awkward moments in Sundance-acclaimed Little Miss Sunshine, though this film has less charm and is a much blacker comedy.A lot of comedy's love to give you awkward moments, though they often tend to be severely over-done. In Sykt Lykkelig the awkward moments pile up so that you hate it, while wanting to laugh. Funny? yes! But with a severe undertone. The film is light hearted, but is so often seriously meant, so it actually is a little problem for the viewer. I found myself mostly the only one laughing in the theater seeing it, in a crowd surprisingly mainly male, whilst the trailer seem to tell us this is more of a woman's movie.The film is advertised as a comedy about adultery, cottage cheese, blow jobs and elk-meat. Not a very good tag-line, if you ask me. I, however, choose to see the film as a black comedy taking up the problems of adultery, homosexuality, racism, love, loneliness, marriage-problems as well as the lack of understanding between men and women.A male gospel quartet gives us both the deeper thoughts, as well as giving an uplifting feeling when the characters in the movie pile up problems along the line. Thank God this is film. In the end the film gives hope, but loses track in it's own try of giving credibility. Even though this film gives mixed feelings, I can't help see some great acting here, as well as an interesting director. It has been a difficult film to act for the six persons. A kind of understatement humor, with a very black edge, giving a need for serious touch all the way. Sykt Lykkelig is a different film, and a film for those who'd like to be a fly on the wall, or a Peeping Tom.