An advocacy drama that doesn't forget it needs to tell an interesting story in order to win viewers over, Alexandre Franchi's Happy Face sometimes risks going too far in its tale of a support group for disfigured people: Though Franchi and cowriter Joelle Bourjolly have thought their metaphors through, they might have picked, say, either Cervantes or Dungeons & Dragons as a window into the trials of those who feel like monsters.
The occasional screenwriting surplus aside, this modest production largely succeeds, making the most of performers —some established actors, some first-timers —who come as they are: Instead of FX makeup, they wear the real results of disease, birth defects and violent mishaps; if we're surprised by their ease in.
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