Accidents Happen

The movie “Accidents Happen” is a brash and moving comedy about family, friendship and fate in 1980’s American suburbia. At the age of six, in suburban Connecticut, Billy Conway witnesses his elderly neighbour Mr Smolensky die in an accident involving beer, a barbeque, and a large can of accelerant. When his mother, Gloria, Queen of the Comic Putdown, suggests a trip to the drive-in movie to take Billy’s mind off seeing Mr Smolensky barbequed, the Conways’ night out ends up worse than it began with another major accident. Over the ensuing eight years, the ripples of that fateful night have thrown the remaining family members into disarray. Billy has settled into an accident-prone existence and does his best to bolster his mother since his father moved out. But when he befriends the neighborhood troublemaker in acts of delicious delinquency, he learns that when accidents happen there is no choice but to take chances.