What Happened Was... (1994)

Wow! Such a good movie.

How sad is this?

Good movie, but best of all time? Hardly . . .

Clever, believable, and super fun to watch. It totally has replay value.

So that is how it ends? I love it. I just watched What Happened Was… so that I can dwell more into the icy depths of lonelinesm. Tom Noonan is a "G" for writing this. I believe it was first adapted into a play and then later turned into a feature film. I like it so much because it is so different and so simple, yet complex in a very disturbing sort of way. The relationship between the couple on their so called "date" is so awkward that even the audience is lost in a trance. I LIKE THAT FEELING. It is neither a good, nor bad feeling, but it is LIVING and a psychological game we as humans play with one another that always has the same rules/outcome. Always; You hide. You hide who you are and what you do to PROTECT this person from figuring out who you really are. Which is a boring, unmotivated vessel. Their is a scene towards the end when, after Tom Noonan pours his heart out and says how pathetic he is, our main actress, Karen Sillas' character, mentions:"It's funny, you know? You finally GROW UP. You know, you finally figure out who the hell you are. And just when you got something interesting to give, they're not interested anymore."See now these are one of those lines that make me filled with utter jealousy when I hear them, and say to myself, "why didn't I think of that?!" "It has been right in front of me the whole time but I've just been too stupid to figure it out!" I believe strongly that what she is saying is true "you know?" It is saying (in my opinion), that you do not know what you got till it is gone. A little bit of that, mixed with the lonesomeness of not fitting-in in with the world. You wait so long for something to come. Something to make it all right. And when it finally does, then you realize that you actually are useless and won't receive anything from anyone until you go out and get it yourself. - One has to make their own self worth something, even if it takes pretending (which, I know, I shouldn't be the one talking since I cannot even pretend myself). - Misery; And doing things wrong is good. It's alright! You think you are digging yourself deeper in a hole, when actually you are building yourself higher than most individuals. It is not a piece of cake, let me tell you that, my friend. It is a disease and a curse. What is that QUOTE? "Curiosity killed the cat." Well, I was a curious-George myself, and, even though I am learning to accept my depression, I had to go through a lot of unnecessary pain. And the worst part is that from this curiosity, I am going to have to deal with this hurt for the rest of my life. It is going to affect my children, and their children. It is going to mess with my siblings relations and my parents' reputation. Yes, and I have to deal with it. Everyday.I gave this beautiful film a 5/5 and wish to hear more from Tom Noonan in the future.-- Michael Mendez

Taking place entirely in the Soho loft of a young secretary played by the remarkable, seldom-seen Karen Silias, What Happened Was is an excursion in date torture, pitting a self-conscious paralegal (played to perfection by director/writer Tom Noonan) against Silias' lonely, easily impressed young woman.What I found most fascinating about this film's script is that it introduces two people who are not at all what they seem to be at first...and we don't know this until the film progresses. We witness their veneers slowly stripped down and they are alternately weird, ugly, frightening, and hilarious.It's an uncomfortable film to watch, especially the last third, but it's richly rewarding. The ending is plausible, appropriate, and heart-rending. Its sheer rawness is marvelous. A great ride.

6 out of 10 Stupid title belies a otherwise interesting experiment. There are shades of MY DINNER WITH ANDRE here except it's not two men getting together for dinner and conversation it's a man and women on a date. The whole film takes place in the women's apartment and simply follows their date and course of conversation. It scores a bullseye when it comes to modern day dating and all the elements that come with it. Anyone who has done a lot of dating or is heavily into the dating scene will most assuredly relate. These are indeed two very real people. Sillas is a women typical to the dating scene. She is rather plain looking with a boring job and rather dreary overall existence. She looks for a relationship as a way to escape the blandness. Her nervous laughter and gestures are completely on target. Noonan, as her male counterpart, is indeed the culmination of a typical male lost in the dating jungle. He is balding and gawky. He is smart and amiable, but still limited in his interactions. There ninety minute dialogue is both painful and funny. It is clear that these two people, like in a lot of first dates, are in two very different worlds. They never really talk or connect. They try to force something to work that really can't simply to avoid their own loneliness. The concept is terrific, but the overall visual style is not. The color is too washed out and the effect is too grayish and bland. The pacing is all right, but there is a odd segment involving the reading of a childrens story that the Sillas character had written. The story is very ghoulish in nature and seems like something that would not have been written by that type of character. The reading of the story goes on too long and there are some subtly strange supernatural elements that happen during it that doesn't make any sense and certainly doesn't fit with the rest of the picture. Overall though it is a nice try. It can be both entertaining and amusing in it's observations. Yet it's approach is bit too honest and oppressive. It may hit too close too home for some reminding them too much of their own bad dates and their own situation. Viewing this could ultimately become just one big depressing experience.

I've been in some pretty uncomfortable situations. There was one time I wanted to escape my present company so desperately that I pretended my water broke (amazing they bought it, as I was only five months pregnant). But nothing compares to the painful evening the couple in this film endure. It's almost voyeuristic as we observe, in real time, the lulls in conversation, forced laughter, and embarrassing confessions of these two losers.Two things that are praiseworthy: (1) Tom Noonan, who plays Michael (and is also the writer/director) is completely believable in his role, and (2) the movie's pretty short.One more thing - I've seen, read, and dreamt a whole lotta of scary things in my life, but apparently I'm a nightmare lightweight compared to the stuff going on in Noonan's mind. The segment where Jackie reads her "children's story" aloud is, quite possibly, the most disturbing sequence on film.