Once Upon a River‘s Haroula Rose returns for her sophomore feature, Chicago-set dysfunctional family dramedy All Happy Families.

It was a bittersweet feeling watching the film on Monday afternoon after learning of John Ashton’s passing. In a perfect universe, I would have watched a screener or caught one of the premiere screenings last October at the Chicago International Film Festival. However, my headspace was not in the right place. Everything last October soon turned into a blur, making it hard to focus, let alone write. The film’s theatrical release came nearly a year after its Chicago premiere. The good news is that last year’s premiere means that Rose will not be one of the 84% (numbers from 2018 per Half the Picture) to be a one-time female filmmaker.

For better or worse, the Landry family is together under one roof for the weekend as they fix things up in their Chicago home. Graham (Josh Radnor) regrets that his life isn’t in a better place after seeing his former college crush, Dana (Chandra Russell). Sue’s life is heading towards something of a crisis as she retires from her job. You know things are bad when she starts questioning her marriage to Roy (John Ashton). And then we have the other Landry son, Will (Rob Huebel). Will is a TV star but a news story about his committing sexual misconduct ends up breaking while he’s with the family. Other family issues start coming to the surface as the weekend plays out. One starts wondering if they’ll be able to survive the weekend.

Coburn Goss and Haroula Rose’s script features the usual archetypes. But that said, they are able to set the film apart from other dysfunctional family films. To say that the Landry family is dysfunctional would not be an understatement. You’d have thought a war was going to bring out with how things were going through the weekend. That’s not to say that there aren’t thoughtful moments because there are a number of them. The theme of toxic masculinity is a big one in All Happy Families. It’s sad that John Ashton isn’t alive to read or know about this review. His character has a very touching gesture late in the film.

I like how Josh Radnor has been able to branch out from his previous role as Ted Mosby. He’s still doing other TV work but his post-HIMYM filmography is mainly indie films. Rob Huebel does a lot of comedy but the film gives him an opportunity to show his range. Sure, his character has some issues but so does everyone in the film. In any event, the cast has great chemistry together. In addition to the many Chicago locals behind the camera, Chandra Russell, Antoine McKay and David Pasquesi have roles in front of the camera. While it’s always nice to see Chicago locals on camera, it’s somewhat shocking–spoiler alert–to watch John Ashton deck David Pasquesi on camera!

All Happy Families will probably find a bigger audience after it gets digitally released–sadly, it is one of John Ashton’s final films–but this one has solid acting performances.

DIRECTOR: Haroula Rose
SCREENWRITERS: Coburn Goss and Haroula Rose
CAST: Josh Radnor, Becky Ann Baker, Rob Huebel, Chandra Russell, John Ashton, Ivy O’Brien, Antoine McKay, David Pasquesi, with
Colleen Camp and Rodney Crowell

Freestyle Digital Media released All Happy Families in theaters on September 20, 2024 and will release the film on Digital on October 18. Grade: 3.5/5

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