Director: BenDavid Grabinski
Writer: BenDavid Grabinski (Screenplay)
Starring: Kerry Bishe, Joel McHale, Al Madrigal, Natalie Zea, Paul Scheer, Billie Wolff, Stephen Root, Natalie Morales
Plot: A dark romantic comedy. Tom and Janet have been happily married for years. But a visit from a mysterious stranger leads to a dead body, a lot of questions, and a tense couples’ trip with friends who may not actually be friends at all.
Tagline – A killer romantic comedy.
Runtime: 1 Hour 36 Minutes
There may be spoilers in the rest of the review
Story: Happily starts as we meet the happily married couple Janet (Bishe) and Tom (McHale) who have a very positive way of looking at their lives, being the envy of all their friends, who are getting sick of just how happy the couple are together.
When the couple get a visit from a mysterious man, accusing them of being fake, the couple’s life is turned upside down forever, as they try to figure out if it was real or a prank.
Thoughts on Happily
Thoughts – Happily is a romantic comedy with a twist, as it shows the perfect couple that are always happy together, never fight and will strike up jealousy from their friends. The couple get a visit, which says they might not be as perfect as they seem and order needs to be resolved, which will lead to a couple weekend taking a dramatic turn. This is a comedy that does take a strange turn along the way, into a sci-fi style film. The problems with this film come from how unrealistic everything that happens are, the couple don’t feel natural in anyway, the comedy does fall flat for the most part, leaving us wanting something more than we get. The performances are strong enough, nobody is terrible to watch, just some of the characters lack a natural chemistry. This is a film that does look to get a bigger message, but falls flatter than it wants to, leaving us wanting a lot more than we got.
Final Thoughts – Happily is a rom com that wants more than it delivers.