Jayne and Laura play sisters helping their crude but endearing father Joe deal with age-related health and mental problems.

The site's consensus states: "Replete with quirky indie clichés, Happy Tears wastes some fine performances from Demi Moore, Parker Posey, and Rip Torn on stale formula".

[8] In an interview for The New York Times, Manohla Dargis said that "writer and director Mitchell Lichtenstein struggles to find the humor in a host of horrors".

[10] Slant Magazine's Nick Schager gave the film a half star explaining his reasoning for it as "[Happy Tears] succeeds only at suggesting the incompatibility of returning-home dramedy and surrealistic flights of fancy".

[12] Melissa Anderson of The Village Voice wrote "Other than the guest-starring appearance of Cy Twombly canvases, nothing distinguishes this poor relation of The Savages from all the other emotionally fraudulent Amerindies about familial dysfunction and reconciliation".