A decidely offbeat blend of mystery-thriller and British regional character comedy, "Happy Now" reps an interesting feature debut by Irish-born, Welsh-raised helmer Philippa Collie-Cousins, who shows a good grasp of atmosphere and setting, and draws fine perfs from most of her large cast. A prologue, set in 1988, describes the accidental killing of a beauty queen in Pen-y-wig, a small coastal town in southern Wales. Flash forward 14 years, and hairdresser Tina Trent (Susan Lynch) returns to town with her teenage daughter, Nicky (Emmy Rossum), who bears an amazing resemblance to the long-dead girl and sets tongues wagging. Film is flavored with all kinds of quirky touches, and the tone becomes increasingly gothic-comic as strange things start to happen in Pen-y-wig and a new cop in town, Max (Ioan Gruffudd), investigates. Derek Elley