H is for Happiness | 2019 | NR | – 2.4.3

Why is “H is for Happiness” rated NR? The MPAA has not rated this film. The Kids-In-Mind.com evaluation includes a few kissing scenes between adults and between teens, conversations about physical maturing and a pair of home-made breast enhancers, several scenes of a boy jumping from tall trees leading to a hospitalization, discussions of a child dying from SIDS and the resulting depression of a family member, a couple of kitchen accidents with a knife, a few arguments, a staged near-drowning, several scenes of bullying, vomiting, and some moderate language. Read our parents’ guide below for details on sexual content, violence & strong language.

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A 12-year-old girl (Daisy Axon) struggles with trying to keep her family together and helping them find happiness again, after a tragedy has changed their lives. Also with Miriam Margolyes, Emma Booth, Richard Roxburgh, Joel Jackson and Wesley Patten. Directed by John Sheedy. [Running Time: 1:38]

H is for Happiness SEX/NUDITY 2

 – A husband and his wife hug and kiss. A boy and a girl kiss several times in different locations. A boy and a girl kiss in school and a teacher stops them until the teacher moves out of sight and they kiss again. A boy tries to kiss a girl and she pulls away. A girl kisses a boy on the cheek.
► A boy and a girl hold hands. A husband and his wife dance briefly until she cries and leaves the room. People in a music club dance, and a musician onstage wiggles his hips toward the audience.
► We hear an adult voice say, “No kissing” in a schoolyard. A boy tells a man that he wants to marry the man’s 13-year-old daughter. A boy tells a girl that he loves her. A boy and a girl sing a Dolly Parton song that references, “…making love,” in a school performance. A girl talks about waiting for “progress in the chest department.”
► A woman wears low-cut dresses and tops that reveal cleavage in a few scenes. A girl dresses up like Dolly Parton and has padding in her blouse to resemble large breasts. A boy gives a girl “artificial breasts” that he made from small beach balls for her birthday and we see her wearing them later. A woman hugs a girl tightly and we hear the girl’s breast enlargements pop (they are beach balls).

H is for Happiness VIOLENCE/GORE 4

 – A girl remembers waking to find her infant sister dead and she screams in a dream about it. A girl talks about her infant sister dying from “cot death” and that her mother hasn’t been the same since.
► A girl jumps off a dock and into water after saying that she cannot swim, the girl’s mother faints on the dock after screaming, and two men dive into the water after her and bump their heads together (we see one man with a bloody nose later); the girl sinks under the water and a boy jumps in after her and pulls her to safety. A boy climbs a tree and jumps off; we hear a loud crunch but see no injuries. A girl cuts her finger in the kitchen several times (we see no blood and we see bandages on her fingers). A girl panics and rides her bike to a forest where she finds a boy high in a tree just before he jumps; he lands on the round and lies motionless as the girl screams (we see him later wearing a bandage on his head and recovering). A girl and her mother are shown sitting in a hospital after a boy has an accident and we hear monitors beeping. A girl yells at her mother about needing to start living their lives three years after her infant sister died; her mother yells at her and throws a cup that shatters on a wall next to the girl (she pulls a small shard of ceramic out of her neck and we see blood on her finger).
► A man and a woman argue and the woman says, “Get it together” as she pulls on his arm. A man and a woman argue behind a closed door and their daughter cries outside the door. A teacher yells at students in a classroom and a girl falls out of her chair onto the floor. A girl talks about her father and her uncle having had a big falling out over their business and that her father ended up with nothing and her uncle became very rich after the court case. A family goes to a cemetery to visit the grave of an infant and the man and the woman cry. A girl tells a man that she wants to hire him to help her divorce her parents. A girl talks about not living with her father and that her mother brings men home regularly. A man becomes frustrated and says that he is going to visit his estranged brother and “Give him a piece of my mind.” Two men argue bitterly in a restaurant and one accuses the other, saying, “You robbed me.” A girl tells a boy, “I might die a violent death.” A man holds a cooking pan that is in flames and he says, “Man the pumps.” A man talks about having been too late for his daughter’s delivery. A man grumbles at a girl and tells her, “Get off my lawn.” A boy talks about having had a blow to the head and that he has memory loss. A woman talks about her son undergoing personality changes after a blow to the head. A woman asks a girl if she is autistic. A boy tells a girl that he is from another dimension and that he is trying to work out how to get back; he says that his mother is a facsimile of his real mother. A man tells a girl that she is too young to make financial decisions.
► A woman has a condition that causes one of her eyes to move uncontrollably and children in her classroom tease her. Three girls are mean to another girl in school and one calls her names and yells at her in several scenes. Students in a classroom glare at one student when she asks questions. A man flies a remote controlled plane and it crashes into a tree. A boy sits in a garbage can while three other boys stand around him (it’s not clear if they put him in the can).
► We hear a horse’s hoofs in a forest and a girl says that she is afraid of horses; a small horse appears and disappears in several scenes. A boy and a girl go to a forest in several scenes and we hear tall trees groaning and creaking as the boy talks about climbing a very tall tree to jump back to his dimension.
► A girl says that she can’t swim and doesn’t like boating; we see her on a sailboat where she vomits into a bucket several times (a man with her gags but does not vomit) and she later vomits on a man’s shoes and we see more goo. A horse defecates on a stage during a performance and we see a pile of feces. A girl makes shrimp po-boy sandwiches with prawns that she did not peel or devein. A girl chews her gum loudly in several scenes. Three girls blow bubbles and pop them with their gum in several scenes.

H is for Happiness LANGUAGE 3

 – 7 scatological terms, 1 anatomical term, 3 mild obscenities, name-calling (funny little girl, miserable, ignorance, nasty, unforgivable, broken and broke, fruit-cups, cruel, foolish, freaktards, jealous, dramatic, stupid, eye-roller, pain in the [anatomical term deleted], fraud, weird, loser, stubborn mule, out of control, bad idea, outcast, unpredictable, sinister, SN [special needs], mad, idiot, weird, Douglas Benson from another dimension, Rich Uncle Brian, sweetie, pumpkin), exclamations (bugger off, focus, oh, shut-up, oh please, enough, so what, shh, ugh, ohhh, quick-sticks), 7 religious exclamations (e.g. Oh My God, Oh God, God Knows Where, God, Jesus). | profanity glossary |

H is for Happiness SUBSTANCE USE

 – A woman takes a pill and calls it a “happy pill.” A man and a woman drink champagne at a restaurant.

H is for Happiness DISCUSSION TOPICS

 – Death of a child, SIDS, bullying, happiness, friendship, secrets, delusions, guilt, trust, abandonment, mourning, fears, traumatic brain injury, string theory, mental health issues, hope, family schisms, alternate dimensions, patents, depression.

H is for Happiness MESSAGE

 – Families are fragile and you have to find your own happiness.