Happy Ever Afters

Maura (Sally Hawkins) is an Irish single mother to Molly (Sinead Maguire), a bright and energetic twelve year old. But, alas, times are not good and Maura is losing her furniture and, perhaps, her lease as money has dried up. Therefore, Maura enters into a fake marriage agreement with African immigrant Wilson (Ariyon Bakare). He will get to stay in the country; he will pay Maura 9,000. Also getting married for the second time is Freddie (Tom Riley) and Sophie (Jade Yurell), resulting in much apprehension; are they really doing the right thing? As luck would have it, these two couples take part in a dual marriage ceremony and hold receptions in the same building. Also on hand are a bevy of mixed up guests, parents, and, ho ho, two immigration officers who doubt Maura's wedding is real. As Maura crosses paths with Freddie, a lot, and Wilson tries to pass his girlfriend off as his sister, poor Molly gets more and more fed up as she realizes she's not getting a new dad, not really. How will this all shake down? This great Irish comedy-farce has charms for most fans of laughter and romance. Hawkins, Riley, Bakare, Yurell, and especially Maguire give fine performances while the supporting cast will keep everyone in stitches. How lilting, too, is the Irish way of speaking English while sets, costumes, script and direction fulfill every expectation of quality. Hallelujah, wanna get happy? Happily Ever Afters is bound to please.

I rented this last night to watch with my partner and mother-in-law.

It is utter rubbish. From the corny music, to the very poorly executed 'comedy of errors' acting/editing, to the completely disengaging male lead (he spends a good deal of the film sighing and fumbling for words, but not in a well timed way) this film is completely egregious from beginning until about 20 minutes in when we turned it off and watched 'Everybody's Fine' instead (which by the way, is amazing).

We rented this from our Apple TV, and at one point I did consider penning an email to Steve Jobs to outline my disgust at it being added to the line-up on there.

Whatever one's cinema tastes are, I think it is impossible not to appreciate this movie, marked by that sound Irish feeling for sound fun, but never disregarding some serious reflections. Two odd, newly married couples find at the same restaurant for their wedding receptions, where things will get confused, giving rise to misunderstandings, crises and final catharses. One couple is made up by Sally, in desperate need for money for her and her daughter, who has married Wilfred, a black man, in need of a citizenship, the other is the marriage between Freddie who has married who had already been his former wife, Sophie, and after a divorce and some psychoanalysis went to the altar for the second time, as a sort of last chance, with good intentions but no convictions. It s an intelligent movie, in the way it poses some questions on the real nature of marriage: despite the two major stories, also the minor characters will gradually question their relations and the meaning of their lives, and the hours spent in that restaurant will be revealing. It is interesting in the way, in the end women make the definite and resolute decisions, knowing they have to come to terms with their destiny with courage and strength, even if without a man, even against family pressure, whereas men never show any single sign of courage and determination, and just act according to women's choices. There are also some moving, but never pathetic moments, to be enjoyed as truly genuine. And the girl playing the little daughter, acting as a trait d'union between all these interrupted souls, is great. This movie proves how a well cast (both main characters and secondary ones) together with an intelligent script can make out an intelligent product, although not original in content, but certainly worth seeing as feel-good, genuinely entertaining and honest.

I enjoyed Happy Ever Afters very much. We went to a mother's day preview screening and my mum loved it and wants to bring her friends now. I hadn't seen any trailer beforehand and had no idea what to expect but it really was a pleasant surprise. There was a good atmosphere in the cinema, plenty of laughing out loud. It's funny and touching at times too. Great acting overall, particularly from Sally Hawkins and Tom Riley. The smaller characters were good too and the little girl who plays Sally's daughter is hilarious, steals every scene she's in. We overheard other audience members after saying they enjoyed it too. I'd definitely recommend it to friends. A great feel good movie.

Wonderful, relaxing, a bit crazy. This movie is great. I can't believe how underrated it is. Normally, I'd have given it a 9, but I chose 10 to rise up it's mark a little.

The plot - twisted, crazy, chaotic. And this is exactly what makes this movie so great. The characters - I just fell in love with them. They're so witty and spiritual. At the end, I was thinking 'Oh common....no one acts like that; no one, after all that, keeps having fun; ...but actually, it would be SO nice if people were like that...'

I think beneath all the chaotic stuff that happens throughout the movie, there is a very simple idea: you just have to take life as it is and enjoy every second of it.