Cry Funny Happy has a great start - one of our main characters trying to get to the airport. The handheld camera captures the struggle and frustration in this little adventure. Dialog is sparse, just enough to keep the tension up.

And then we start meeting everyone else. They talk. A lot. The speech is very realistic, comes from character, and my guess is that it was improvised. The acting is borderline phenomenal, and with the mobile camera, the feeling is very voyeuristic, eavesdropping in on these people.

The individual scenes are great, but they don't add up to anything. Watching our three couples, and the 30th birthday party they all attend, are much like hanging out with a tight group of people you don't know. It's interesting for a minute, but soon you want to be on your own. Especially with the amount of yelling and crabbiness among these people, it's soon time to excuse ourselves politely and be on our way. Yes, relationships are tough. Yes, people have a tough time communicating. You don't need a feature to tell me that.

This feels a lot like The Anniversary Party, but that film actually went somewhere, the scenes leading to useful, interesting revelations. Cry Funny Happy only serves to make us as frustrated as the characters.