Rotten
Hall does what he can, but Michael Knowles' film does such a thorough job portraying the ennui and aimlessness gripping its protagonist that the feeling is contagious.
Bill Goodykoontz, Arizona Republic
The Trouble with Bliss
Find your bliss. Then follow it.
2011 · 1h 37m · PG-13
Comedy, Drama, Romance
Directed by
Michael Knowles
Overview
35-year-old Morris Bliss is clamped in the jaws of New York City inertia: he wants to travel but has no money, he needs a job but has no prospects, he still shares an apartment with his widowed father, and the premature death of his mother has left him emotionally walled up. When he finds himself wrapped up in an awkward relationship with Stephanie, the 18-year-old daughter of a former classmate, Morris quickly discovers his static life unraveling and opening up in ways that are long overdue.
Director and cast
- Michael Knowles Director
- Michael C. Hall as Morris Bliss
- Brie Larson as Stephanie Jouseski
- Peter Fonda as Seymour Bliss
- Glenn Kubota as Mr. Charlies
- Lucy Liu as Andrea
- Brad William Henke as Steven "Jetski" Jouseski
- Chris Messina as NJ
- Mary Goggin as Mrs. Cruxo
- Melanie Torres as The Cindi
- Sarah Shahi as Hattie Skunk / Hattie Rockworth
Critics on Rotten Tomatoes
Top critics, in their words
29%
Tomatometer
Fresh
The difficulties of adapting idiosyncratic literature to the screen are all too apparent in The Trouble With Bliss.
Dennis Harvey, Variety
Rotten
Striving mightily to be the indie equivalent of a wacky sitcom, "The Trouble With Bliss" fails to draw much humor from farcical situations.
Kyle Smith, New York Post
Rotten
The kind of movie that gives a bad name to the concept of "quirky."
Stephen Holden, New York Times
Rotten
Without much actual character to latch on to, most of the actors seem lost and awkward, even the usually dependable Hall.
Ian Buckwalter, NPR
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