Happy Anniversary

I really enjoyed this movie a lot. I love Noël Wells & Ben Schwartz and they are great with what they were given. while at times it does feel like being jostled around when they cut to a flashback, you get the idea of what's going on without feeling like you're being left behind. It's hard to sell a relationship in an hour and a half, but it was believable. Their characters do seem to have some chemistry which is nice, cause not every Rom-com can do it well. It's easy enough to relate to, and has some genuinely funny lines and moments that made me laugh.

It's a believably romantic story told over a weekend or so. Good movie, funny, doesn't take itself too seriously.

I started watching this and couldn't get past the first 10 minutes. The characters are boring. Not enough to keep you hooked.

While it did nail the volatility of these kinds of relationships, it unfortunately lacks the depth that could have made it so good. Basically it follows the story of an unhappy relationship on its 3rd anniversary, where the couple reminisces and decides whether they should break up or not. So the plot is paper thin, but that wouldn't have mattered with a solid set of characters and a deep story. But unfortunately it just didn't keep me interested. I initially was interested because have been in a similar volatile relationship, but I found it to be very shallow, mostly focusing on the volatility rather than the deep character related emotions that cause it, also not focusing enough on why they loved each other in the first place, which plays a large role in such immense relationship related decisions.

The characters were not necessarily one dimensional, but each of them had qualities that should have been more fleshed out, fleshing them out would have led to a much more interesting and compelling story. The chemistry was slightly there among the couple, the chemistry among the cast as a whole is nothing special and not really there. The film just wasn't deep and compelling, and it failed to keep me interested, and to be honest I didn't watch the ending, because I simply just wasn't invested in the story or characters. I wouldn't really reccomend this one.

'HAPPY ANNIVERSARY': Four and a Half Stars (Out of Five)

The new indie comedy from writer/director Jared Stern, in his feature film directorial debut. It tells the story of a couple that's struggling to decide if they should stay together or not, on their three year anniversary. The film stars Noël Wells and Ben Schwartz, and it was released by Netflix through it's streaming site. I really enjoyed it.

Mollie (Wells) and Sam (Schwartz) are celebrating their three year anniversary, with breakfast in bed that Sam prepared for Mollie, when Sam announces that she's not happy. This is a big surprise to Sam, who thought things were going great in their relationship. They argue about it, and reminisce on past experiences together, before Mollie suggests a temporary split. The two spend the rest of the film evaluating how they feel about each other, and whether they should stay together or not.

I love relationship studies, with lots of character development, and clever dialogue; like most notably the majority of Kevin Smith's work, or 'SILVER LININGS PLAYBOOK' (my all-time favorite movie). This film does all of those things well, and the two leads are really likable and good in their roles too. I think Stern definitely impresses as a writer and first time director also. It's a feel good film, that's also a pretty honest examination of both the positives and negatives of relationships. I think it's definitely well worth a watch.