Angsty movie about an upper middle class woman who is unhappy with her life and tries to start over. I watched it mainly because I really like its theme song (What Are You Doing with the Rest of Your Life). Jean Simmons is lovely and even compelling as the woman looking for her "happy ending" and not really finding it. But my goodness, she and nearly all the characters come across as whiny, self involved social drinkers whose drinking passed "social" long ago. It's hard to think of a movie where you will find more navel-gazing and self-finding. Perhaps it came across as more edgy in the late 60s. The most honest moment of emotion is when Jean Simmons' character confronts her somewhat abandoned daughter (whom you've almost forgotten about) late in the film. The teenager is sad, angry and confused. It's a good reminder of how much children can suffer for their parents' psychological malaise.
Review of The Happy Ending
