Quartile rating: 6.5/10 · 1 rating
Happy is a 2011 feature documentary film directed, written, and co-produced by Roko Belic. It explores human happiness through interviews with people from all walks of life in 14 different countries, weaving in the newest findings of positive psychology. Director Roko Belic was originally inspired to create the film after producer/director Tom Shadyac (Liar, Liar, Patch Adams, Bruce Almighty) showed him an article in the New York Times entitled "A New Measure of Well Being From a Happy Little Kingdom". The article ranks the United States as the 23rd happiest country in the world. Shadyac then suggested that Belic make a documentary about happiness. Belic spent several years interviewing over 20 people, ranging from leading happiness researchers to a rickshaw driver in Kolkatta, a family living in a "co-housing community" in Denmark, a woman who was run over by a truck, a Cajun fisherman, and more.
Happy is a competent and warm-hearted documentary that surveys happiness research and human stories across the globe. Its structure is accessible and earnest, though it follows a fairly standard 'talking heads plus scenic b-roll' documentary formula that was already well-worn by 2011. The positive psychology framing is interesting but not deeply interrogated, and the film skims across subjects rather than diving deeply into any one story. Cinematography is serviceable with appealing location footage but nothing visually distinctive. The ending wraps up neatly but predictably with an uplifting summary, offering little surprise. Acting is not applicable in a traditional sense, but interview subjects are authentic if unremarkable. The film lacks a singular cinematic voice or conceptual novelty to distinguish it from other wellness-themed documentaries of its era.