Why you can trust GamesRadar+
“Face the truth” sighs the lead character in Dark Horse , an overweight, thirty-something underachiever who still lives with, and off, his long-suffering parents. “We’re all horrible people and humanity’s a cesspool!” So far, so Solondz.
Yet those expecting another helping of misanthropic cruelty from the Happiness auteur may be surprised by his latest, which sees him season his blackly sardonic view of the world with a sprinkle of compassion for the unhappy schmucks who inhabit it.
Though he tries to hide it behind a veneer of chipper ebullience, Abe (Jordan Gelber) is probably the unhappiest of them all. Which might be why he makes a bee-line for Selma Blair’s melancholy Miranda at the Jewish wedding that opens the movie, charging through her indifference to get her digits.
A work-shy drain on testy dad Jackie (Christopher Walken) and soft-touch mom Phyllis (Mia Farrow), Abe is no one’s idea of a catch. But when Miranda unexpectedly accepts his offer of marriage, it seems this “dark horse” may finally make good – provided he isn’t sabotaged by fate, chance and his crippling feelings of inadequacy.
The latter manifest themselves in delusional dream sequences that have Walken’s mousy secretary (Donna Murphy) transformed into a lusty temptress who tells Abe straight he is “a cheapskate and a freeloader”. (“You’re like a cougar!” he replies admiringly.)
Yet this initially intriguing device suffers from overuse, the continual jumps between ‘reality’ and fantasy leaving us both confused and dissatisfied as the story dwindles towards its almost apologetic non-ending.
The saving grace here is the acting: Gelber bringing a bittersweet poignancy to Abe that offsets his boorishness and Blair finding mopey mirth in a character meant to be an older, sadder version of her Storytelling writing student.
But while that’s sufficient to make it deserving of a punt, this Horse is really more of an each-way bet than a dead cert.
Neil Smith is a freelance film critic who has written for several publications, including Total Film. His bylines can be found at the BBC, Film 4 Independent, Uncut Magazine, SFX, Heat Magazine, Popcorn, and more.

Ex Nintendo PR managers say the Switch 2 generation is likely to see the retirement of "several of the major developers at Nintendo who we have known for 40 something years"

Helldivers 2 CEO says industry layoffs have seen "very little accountability" from executives who "let go of one third of the company because you made stupid decisions"

Spider-Man: Brand New Day - How Peter Parker and Mary Jane's break up led to one of the wall-crawler's most transformative comic eras