Accidents Happen (2009)
Average Rating: 5.5/10
Reviews Counted: 9
Fresh: 5 | Rotten: 4
No consensus yet.
Release Date: Apr 22, 2010 Wide
liked it
Average Rating: 2.9/5
User Ratings: 621
My Rating
Movie Info
A dysfunctional New England family relies on the son prone to witnessing horrible accidents to get them though the hard times in this wry period comedy drama set in the 1980s. Billy Conway never set out to see the gruesome side of life, he just always happened to be around when it presented itself. One day, a terrible accident befalls the Conways, leaving one child dead and another severely brain-damaged. In the aftermath, Billy's dad leaves home. Caught between his troubled brother and his
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Cast
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Geena Davis
Gloria Conway -
Harrison Gilbertson
Billy Conway -
Joel Tobeck
Ray Conway -
Harry Cook
Larry Conway -
Sebastian Gregory
Doug Post -
Sarah Woods
Dottie Post -
Erik Thomson
Bob
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All Critics (10) | Top Critics (1) | Fresh (5) | Rotten (4) | DVD (3)
Star power helps Happen immensely, giving this dreary, confused picture a lift when it needs it the most. Too bad Davis couldn't fill all the roles. The film could've benefited with a little more of her personality.
What emotional life there is in this set up - and with so much is going on, there isn't much - is crushed by dreadful narration.
The main appeal of this modest and rambling slice of life is writer Brian Carbeeâ(TM)s delicious dialogue, which provides Davis with a string of amusing and acidic verbal put-downs.
It's as if Carbee and Lancaster were unsure themselves: were they making a bitter-sweet, ironic memoir of adolescence? Or were they making a melodrama? Both tone and pace jerk all over the place...
This take-no-prisoners family flick is not your average suburban trip.
It's left to Davis to rise above the limitations of the material, and she does so valiantly, but the scenes lack the wallop of the intended emotional payoff.
Accidents Happen quite easily commits the menu of sins that have long dogged Australian films: bad direction, unfocused story, thin characterisation, emotional incoherence and almost no idea what type of film it is supposed to be.
I think this is an extraordinary film, it's like no other I can think of in this country's history.
It's cloaked in dark humour, but has a profoundly moving core, and while grief is one of its themes, it's not remotely depressing. It's cathartic. It aims at the sorts of emotions that many of us have carefully kept buried, only to release them.
Audience Reviews for Accidents Happen
Super Reviewer
Super Reviewer
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- Billy Conway: Sometimes, bad things happen for a good reason. And, sometimes, bad things just happen.
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