Directed by Michael Mayer
Written by Guy Ayal and Michael Mayer
Starring Stéfi Celma, Michael Aloni, Shani Atias
Runtime: 1 hour 33 minutes
Unrated
Available digitally and on DVD Feb. 9

by Gary M. Kramer, Staff Writer

Director/cowriter Michael Mayer’s ironically titled horror-comedy, Happy Times is set almost entirely inside a Brentwood, CA McMansion owned by Yossi (Ido Mor) and Sigal (Liraz Chamami). The couple have sent their kids away to host a dinner party for friends.

Hila (Iris Bahr) and her husband Avner (Alon Pdut) are already there—though Avner would rather not be. Ilan (Guy Adler) and his wife Noya (Shani Atias) soon arrive; but he is more interested in reviewing a business deal with Yossi than eating. Not long after, Michael (Michael Aloni), Sigal’s cousin, and his girlfriend, Aliyah (Stéfi Celma of Call My Agent!) enter—after Michael has a fight with another guest, Maor (Daniel Lavid), about parking.

The awkwardness between the characters extends to the meal itself. Michael does not want to wear a yarmulke or say the blessings. When Michael and Aliyah are asked about having kids, accusations of selfishness start flying. And when Michael goes to use the toilet, during dinner, he breaks it, planting a seed that is set up for a later payoff.

Meanwhile, Maor seeks a very personal form of revenge on Michael after the parking scuffle. And a bottle of water he brings in, is actually dosed—so, of course, folks unsuspectingly drink it, causing them to behave wildly. And when Maor is caught in a compromising position with Sigal in the kitchen, all hell breaks loose. Before long, a gun goes off, secret affairs and indiscretions are revealed, and revenge is served very, very cold.

Happy Times soon pivots from friendly to fiendly, and into an “and then there were none”-type chaos. People die through accidents or are killed on purpose. Mayer seems to be having giddy fun finding inventive ways of dispatching the guests. Characters employ crossbows, a kiln(!), and even a garbage disposal to commit murder. The violence is over-the-top—more funny than gory—which is in keeping with the film’s darkly comic tone. However, Mayer does not ratchet up the tension as things become increasingly bloodier. There should be some suspense regarding who will kill whom, when, and how. Alas, too much of the action feels manipulative, as when Sigal receives a call from her kids as she’s trying to stay alive.

Mayer’s lack of character development makes it hard to care who lives and who dies, but that may be its point. Are any of these characters likeable? The film pokes fun at Israelis, the nouveau riche, actors, social climbers, and more. But it aims at broad targets. The best scenes have the characters behaving politely when they are completely unsettled. Sigal’s gracious goodbye to a traumatized guest who is leaving the party early—she gives her food and says she hopes to see her again soon—is amusing, as is an anxious Hila’s exchange with a pair of cops who turn up to investigate a report of gunshots. The film’s sharpest humor has the uptight characters letting loose and telling their spouses what they really think of them. Hila’s dressing down her husband Avner is clever, and when Sigal fumes, “Nobody gets to kill my husband but me!” it is undeniably funny.

Mayer is not making any strong moral judgments, perhaps because all of the characters behave badly. Do they each get what they deserve? The film is less concerned with that, and more about its slighted characters seeking payback.

The cast leans into their characters with aplomb. Michael Aloni (who starred in Mayer’s previous film, Out in the Dark) plays Michael with gusto, acting manically as he becomes more bloodthirsty. Liraz Chamami is also a hoot as Sigal, who tries to be unflappable as her world collapses around her. Watching her walk the tightrope of being the perfect hostess while raging inside is terrific. In support, Iris Bahr gets a few choice moments when Hila gets her back up, and Daniel Lavid generates some smiles when he is being mischievous.

Happy Times is uneven, but it hits its stride once the bodies start piling up.