The young director is Andrew Lancaster, for whom this is his first feature film. It is based on an autobiographical screenplay by Brian Carbee, and has two stars that stand out. The first is Geena Davis, the tall, thin, angular beauty (1.83 metres), a daughter of Massachusetts, famous for her roles in Beetlejuice (1988) and Accidental Tourist (1988). In all, she has appeared in only a dozen and a half films. Now 56 years old, she is the mature woman fit to star in a dark comedy about a dysfunctional family.
The movie is actually about two dysfunctional families, neighbours in suburbia, the Conways and the Posts. Aren't all families dysfunctional by definition?The other actor who carries the film is Harrison Gilbertson, born 20 years ago in Adelaide, Australia. In 2009, he was selected to play the 15-year-old Billy Conway, the glue that holds his troubled family together. He does this amazingly well. Mrs Smolensky (Wendy Playfair) does nothing to interfere in the combustion and fiery end of her flagrant, abusive, alcoholic husband. Billy, playing in a sprinkler, thinks he should have done something to save Mr Smolensky.Accidents Happen opens when Billy Conway (acted by Karl Beattie) is six years old. A car accident causes the death of his favourite sibling, Linda Conway (Ivy Latimer). He feels responsible for it.
