Legend of the Happy Worker Review

Legend of the Happy Worker is too slight for what it wants to say, but cheery performances and production mean it’s likeable all the same.

The fabled nature of Legend of the Happy Worker is on full display when Goose (Thomas Haden Church) enters a Monument Valley-like landscape in the days of the American west (albeit with a car rather than a horse), stopping at a turtle crossing on the way. He plunges his golden shovel into the ground to begin digging a hole, while a solitary Native on horseback (Michael Horse) observes. While the usurpation of Native American ground is thematically fertile, that particular territory has been well mined (Pun intended). Instead, Legend of the Happy Worker finds other concerns onto which it can hang its cheery outlook.

Cut to 105 years later, and the hole is now a whole lot bigger. A horde of workers are digging by hand, though we never find out if they’re digging for anything in particular. We’re never even told what year we’re in, with the film revelling in silly anachronisms. The hole is still being dug with shovels and pickaxes, but the townsfolk use cars and televisions. The script has a definite tongue-in-cheek tone that keeps it light. The characters are rarely less than brimming with optimism. Even the third generation of the Goose family (also played by Thomas Haden Church) isn’t the antagonist you’d expect, driven by self-belief rather than pure greed (How can anyone be greedy when nothing appears to be extracted from the ground anyway?)

The focus of Legend of the Happy Worker is Joe (Daisy Jones and the Six’s Josh Whitehouse), a chirpy chap with as content a life as anyone can ask for. He’s good at digging, he’s got a charming home, and a beautiful wife (Meagan Holder’s Joanne) and young son. From the perennial sunshine to Joe and Joanne’s interracial marriage, the image of Americana in Legend of the Happy Worker is wilfully heightened. Though the film was shot on location in Utah, DoP Reed Smoot gives the sandy vistas an overlit and overdesigned look, as if to say that nothing about this setup can be taken seriously. Joe’s smile is rarely less than beaming, even when ominous change comes to the community.

Legend of the Happy Worker is Dunham’s first feature as director in two decades. His directorial career has been solid (Homeward Bound, Little Giants), but too inconsistent to be identifiable. He’s better known as an editor, particularly on several David Lynch projects. Lynch, who’s credited as an executive producer and to whom the film is dedicated, is a considerable influence on Legend of the Happy Worker. He was always upfront in his themes and characterisations, but made them work in his unique way of looking at the world. Dunham’s film doesn’t boast anything like Lynch’s imagery (Few films can), but he does borrow that very Lynchian sense of absurdism. Joe’s goofy chirpiness could be a well-meaning ancestor of Twin Peaks’ Dale Cooper, while Goose’s golden shovel could be a prop fresh out of Twin Peaks: The Return, one of the projects Dunham edited. 

The actual villain of the piece ends up being Colm Meaney’s Clete, who returns to the hole promising to uplift the community with knowledge acquired from his travels around the world. His intent is signalled by his black hat and attire, and he’s never less than enjoyably menacing. His plan is very simple, so much so that it’d be very easy to spoil it in a review, but Dunham is more concerned with conveying the theme of encroaching capitalistic modernity than maintaining narrative momentum. This means Legend of the Happy Worker feels overextended, with scarcely enough plot to support 100+ minutes.

Legend of the Happy Worker feels slight, but that’s part of the point, and part of its appeal. Dunham doesn’t want to besiege you with morals you’ve heard before, so he keeps things floating on goodwill and cheer. The cast and crew are onboard, inviting the audience to go with its happy aura. Whether they will or not is down to individual taste, but Legend of the Happy Worker’s distinctive energy makes it hard to dislike.

Legend of the Happy Worker had its World Premiere at the Locarno Film Festival on August 7, 2025. The film will be screened again at the festival on August 8-12.