Küssen und andere lebenswichtige Dinge

I did find it kind of funny that nature wasn't "pretty" enough, so they had to add in flowers artificially.

Ellie Kemper plays the school teacher divorcée Helen, who decides to get out of her comfort zone and go on a wilderness hike to find herself. She goes on an excursion package with a handful of other misfits. Filled with dry humor, this was anything but a sad film. Her brother's best friend Jake shows up, initially clashing with Helen but then finding some common ground.

Ellie Kemper's dry delivery was perfect and contrasted nicely with her genuine smile. She had wonderful chemistry with Luke Grimes, who played Jake, and Nico Santos, who played the character Hugh. Luke Grimes was wonderful in this film, warm and steadfast. Nico Santos stole scenes right and left.

I had set the bar low for this film and was genuinely surprised that I enjoyed it. There is some great camping humor and a sweet story along with some gorgeous wilderness backdrops. I think true romantics will like this film.

Enjoyed this movie.. there was nothing special about this movie other than it felt almost like a real life "find yourself" kind of movie. Casting was great - acting was bleh at times. The story line was a bit predictable but I thoroughly enjoy these simple low budget films. There were some good laughs, emotional moments (but not too emotional) and good advice to utilize in life. I mean what more could you want. I think it would be fun to take a hiking trip with strangers and end up making life-long friends. I appreciate they didn't just throw sex and perversion everywhere. All-in-all real simple watch.

Making an interesting rom-com is hard, simply because of how familiar the subject is. Happiness for Beginners doesn't really break new ground, but it's a lighthearted watch that manages to keep you interested. The characters are grounded and realistic, each with their own quirks. The leads keep you absorbed in the story. The side-characters bring their own unique perspectives and motivations. The romance grows slowly and organically, and never feels forced into the narrative. The visuals of the Appalachian trail are beautiful. All of this is done with a light touch that makes the movie easy to watch, and the overall result is something sweet that I think I'll be coming back to.

I'm starting to think no book adaptation should be less than 2 hours long. Especially a slow burn romance. There just wasn't enough time to flesh out their relationship. It felt forced and unearned (even more so because we only got one scene from their collective past to support Jake's undying love.)

And why did they age up the actors so far?! Ellie is almost 10 years older than the book character and Luke is almost 20 (!!) years older. It made some of their childish bickering even harder to watch.

The side characters were a hoot and well developed (but it came from a book so duh!) Something about the dialogue or maybe the pacing was just off. Maybe another 20-30 mins could have filled it out more.

I thought this was a really cute movie! I had no idea that it was a book so I really comment on that.

It didn't have to have complex characters or or political opinions or obvious social issues being pushed. Anything that was included in this movie seamlessly moulded with the characters which made it extremely easy to watch.

Just a lovely simple story to relax to...

Overall I think I'd there were more of these being made tv would be less stressful to watch lol I'm all for movies with a message but not ALLLLL the time it's exhausting and I feel like just scrolling the menu increases my anxiety levels.