Thirteen Conversations About One Thing is indeed true to its title. It consists of thirteen conversations, or narrative sections, all dealing with the same thing – happiness. Thirteen Conversations explores the lives of four different characters, each of them searching for peace and happiness in some way. Much in the style of The Hours, Thirteen Conversations weaves in and out of these lives, spending ten to fifteen minutes on each character before moving on to another and back again in no real order.

One of the characters is Troy (Matthew McConaughey), a city prosecutor who has great convictions as to the importance of justice and finds joy in sending law breakers away to jail. One night after a few drinks, he accidentally hits a girl while driving home and, in fear, takes off and leaves her for dead. Troy then finds himself trying to deal with the guilt and eventually does what he must to ease his conscience and find peace again.

Another character is Beatrice (Clea DuVall), who is single and works as a housecleaner, but is content with life because she believes that God has a purpose for her. Things change when she is hit by a car (by Troy). She begins to second guess her belief that God is watching over her and searches for a reason to be happy.

A third character named Walker (John Turturro) is a college science teacher, unhappy with his marriage and mundane life, and is actively searching for happiness. He turns inwardly though, towards adultery and shutting others out, and eventually discovers he has turned the wrong way in search for happiness.

The fourth character is Gene English (Alan Arkin), a divorced middle-management insurance agent who’s not very happy with his life. He is especially frustrated by “Smiley” Bowman, one of the agents who works under him, because he is constantly, unconditionally happy and loving. English decides to fire him to see if it will break him and is surprised by the response. This leads English to reflect on his own life, on how he treated his former wife, and how he treats others now.

One thing I would recommend, were the film to be redone, would be – in the words of Elvis – “A little less conversation a little more action.” True to its title, the film manages to be largely a collection of conversations. We never are convinced, however, that these people really have been changed as much as they many claim to, because we never really see it.

I appreciate, to a certain extent, the understatement of the lessons learned. With a subject matter in which it’s very easy to be heavy handed, Thirteen Conversations allows us to reflect on subtleties of action to suggest changes in the characters attitudes. The understatement, however, is dangerous because it verges on superficiality. You have to wonder how deep or sincere the change really is.

Even still, the stories’ implications are sweet. The character of Smiley Bowman, though he doesn’t get much screen time, is absolutely lovable and I think we are as touched by him as the other characters whose lives he affects.

Thirteen Conversations About One Thing is well written and thought provoking, with many more underlying ideas about happiness then I have mentioned above. It succeeds, for a large part, in getting across the messages it wants to send and manages to be an honestly uplifting conversation about happiness.
  
 
 

Year:

 MPAA Rating: Running Time: Date Written:  
2002 R 1:34 08/03  
film | music | books | links