When you are young and in love sometimes its hard to see the wood for the trees. In this particular case when 21 year old Tracy (Amanda Bauer) comes home unexpectedly the wood she sees is on her movie star boyfriend Mark (Jack DePew) who is naked and making out with another man in their bed. After running off in horror, she sleeps the night in her car, to only come back in the morning with an ultimatum. She makes Jack swears that this was a one-off-time to ‘experiment’ and he agrees to her demands that it will never happen again.
It’s clear to us …. and probably to both of them too …..that it’s a promise that will be impossible to keep. They were childhood sweethearts back in Wisconsin for years and have only just arrived in L.A. for Mark to pursue his acting career so they think they just go back to how things were. The situation is not helped by the fact that Tracy has no job and little life beyond fussing over Mark. She spends all her days aimlessly wandering around her new neighborhood trying out all the different delights of fusion food trucks which seems to be her one genuine passion.
This area of Loz Feliz is known by the locals as The Happys for some unknown reason, and with a real sense of irony as this whole cast of quirky characters is anything but that, as Tracy soon discovers. She befriends Luann (Janeane Garofalo) a free-spirited ex-actress who has invested her residuals into property and now is the landlord of seemingly half the neighborhood including the house where the reclusive Sebastian (Rhyrs Ward) lives. When a very intrigued Tracy learns about Luann’s obsession with the mysterious Sebastian who hasn’t left his house for years, she starts to stalk him, and eventually inveigles her way into his house. She somehow seems to think that if they commiserate together about their own miseries, this will somehow make them both happy.
Then there is Ricky (Arturo del Puerto) the owner of the least successful food truck on the block which is about to go out of business, plus Patrick (Brian Jordan Alvarez) a somewhat resentful actor working alongside Mark who complains that as an out-gay actor he gets typecast with small minor roles. At the center of all the drama is Mark who is dealing with the knowledge drummed into him by nearly everyone that he cannot be a movie star and gay too, and that he must make a choice.
There are no real surprises as to how all the plot lines of this engaging wee drama will pan out, but the journey there is made that much more enjoyable as, odd that it may seem, all their unhappy scenarios are imbued with some real neat comic touches. Good performances all round by this talented cast, with special mention to Bauer for her refreshing portrayal of the very earnest fish-out-of-water Tracy.
The Happys, the feature film debut of writer/directors John Serpe and Tom Gould, is an amusing look at how happy a bunch of unhappy people really are, plus it does also make you curious to wonder how good those sushi burritos really were.
