Terribly Happy
Metascore
74 out of 100

Generally favorable reviews - based on 18 Critics

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 15 out of 18
  2. Mixed: 3 out of 18
  3. Negative: 0 out of 18
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  1. The New York Times
    Reviewed by: Stephen Holden
    90
    Not a horror movie but a witty, expertly constructed psychological thriller.
  2. Austin Chronicle
    Reviewed by: Marc Savlov
    89
    Terribly Happy isn't, but it is wonderfully unhinged, and a painstakingly constructed meditation on a place where good and evil meet, mate, and make sour times sublime and, dare I say it, beautiful.
  3. Portland Oregonian
    Reviewed by: Shawn Levy
    83
    Inventive, droll and sharp, the film is rich in comic darkness but quite humane and genuine as well.
  4. The A.V. Club
    Reviewed by: Noel Murray
    83
    This is a smart, melancholy crime picture, which takes its cues from the title of the perverse old standard Christensen plays on her stereo at night: “You Always Hurt The One You Love.”
  5. The Hollywood Reporter
    Reviewed by: Ray Bennett
    80
    The film gets seriously weird as it goes along, but without losing its sense of direction or taste for offbeat humor.
  6. Arizona Republic
    Reviewed by: Bill Goodykoontz
    80
    Terribly Happy must surely be the greatest Danish Western ever made.
  7. Village Voice
    Reviewed by: Nicolas Rapold
    80
    Cedergren is a little too bland, but that works with Hansen's air of haplessness and sets him apart from the colorful locals. His self-inflicted reckoning is a horizon visible throughout the movie, and the bog outside of town is a thudding but effective metaphor of willful repression.
  8. Variety
    Reviewed by: Allisa Simon
    80
    Entertaining and full of surprising twists, this highly cinematic tale of a Copenhagen policeman working punishment duty in the provinces plays with genre in a manner that can be compared with the Coen brothers or David Lynch.
  9. Chicago Sun-Times
    Reviewed by: Roger Ebert
    75
    I've only been to Denmark twice and have no idea if this is even remotely a Danish situation, but it could fit right fine in the Old West.
  10. New York Post
    Reviewed by: V.A. Musetto
    75
    The actors are charmingly low-key, and the lensing, by Jorgen Johansson, adds to the offbeat aura. Whatever you do, don't miss the booze-guzzling showdown.
  11. San Francisco Chronicle
    Reviewed by: Walter Addiego
    75
    It may not sound funny, but there's a bleakly comic air about the story, and a bit of surrealism, suggesting the most caustic side of the Coen brothers.
  12. St. Louis Post-Dispatch
    Reviewed by: Joe Williams
    75
    This deadpan police story produces unexpected chills.
  13. Christian Science Monitor
    Reviewed by: Andy Klein
    75
    Genz and Erling have constructed a story so clever that the pleasure of following its twists is enough in itself.
  14. Los Angeles Times
    Reviewed by: Gary Goldstein
    70
    An enjoyably involving mystery-thriller.
  15. Chicago Reader
    Reviewed by: Andrea Gronvall
    70
    Lurid and stylish, this 2008 Danish feature plays like a cross between "The Postman Always Rings Twice" and "High Noon," with a dash of Gothic thriller.
  16. New York Daily News
    Reviewed by: Elizabeth Weitzman
    60
    Such dark doings won't be for everyone, but fans of similarly dry Nordic fare -- like the works of Aki Kaurismaki -- will be happy to have found it.
  17. Time Out New York
    Reviewed by: Joshua Rothkopf
    60
    The film is vigorous exercise for those who prefer their mysteries knowing and knotty.
  18. Boston Globe
    Reviewed by: Wesley Morris
    50
    The characters are intended to be slightly stupid, but the writing isn’t necessarily smarter.

User Reviews

All reviews »
User Score
8.4 out of 10

Universal acclaim- based on 8 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 1 out of 2
  2. Mixed: 1 out of 2
  3. Negative: 0 out of 2
  1. Nesbitt10
    9
    "Terribly Happy" may be the best pseudo-western film that Denmark has ever sent our way. It's as if David Lynch had directed a fantastic western. A perfectly executed psychological thriller that takes place on the soggy plains of southern Denmark.
    It is relentless and expressionless film noir, and constructed with great skill. Robert Hanson (Jakob Cedergren) is a Copenhagen police officer who, following a nervous breakdown, is transferred to a small provincial town (where cows and problems disappear in the mud), to take on the mysteriously vacated Marshall position. He quickly learns that the town bully, Jørgen, beats his wife, and subsequently gets mixed up with the women he is trying to protect. Robert's big city temperament makes it impossible for him to fit in, or what to make of the bizarre behavior displayed by the towns people. Robert's situation begins spiraling out of control, and when someone dies, and Robert knows the prime suspect is innocent, and he exercises vigilante justice. He wants to protect himself and the daughter of Jørgen, and he also wants to reconnect with his own daughter back home in Copenhagen.
    As the storyline unfolds, it grows increasingly desperate. The unease is undisguised -and you, like the marshall will fight it all at first, but eventually we will be forced to accept and just give in. The film's most eerie detail involves Jørgen daughter. When she parades alone down the abandoned main street with her baby buggy and its squeaky wheels, everyone knows domestic violence is taking place at Jorgen's house. Genz is perfectly paired with cinematographer Jørgen Johansson who captures the essence of trepidation and misery. To call this a dark comedy may be misleading because you won't be laughing out loud, but the humor keeps a strong undercurrent. An offbeat modern noir... is a weirdly compelling portrait of a town that has its own sense of justice.    … Full Review »
  2. JimF
    5
    I was impressed at first by how well this Danish drama understood the psychological elements of film, but when it came time to lay the cards on the table, it came up short. What some critics have called surrealism strikes me as implausibility, a quality that escalates to sheer lunacy by the film's end.… Full Review »
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