Happy Anniversary

I had just watched Woody Allen's Wonder Wheel a day earlier (another romance film) and I have to say this movie was so much better than that.

The chemistry between couple was superb (unlike the other film where they had none). The acting from Noel Wells (1st time seen her in something) and Ben Schwartz (he was the reason I watched the film, I really liked him in other shows I have seen him in) was very good. They worked together well. Bounced off one another. Looked and felt like a real couple. The friendship between Ben Schwartz and Rahul Kohli was high quality too.

I wasn't expecting much from this film. I was hoping for passable and wasn't even truly expecting that. So to get a film that was watchable and enjoyable was a nice surprise.

I liked the characters. I liked their chemistry together. I liked the dialogue in the movie. The pacing was good. Kept it short and that worked well. I liked how the movie told the story of the couple's 3rd anniversary but also included flashbacks to give you an idea of what their relationship was like (the good and the bad) to let you the viewer understand how they arrived at this point. And how hard it was for them to figure out whether this relationship was simply good or marriage worthy.

A pleasant surprise. Worth a viewing.

'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.

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.

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

Good film, good acting, decently funny, nothing ground breaking, nothing which makes it particularly stand out, probably won't be something I remember or ever come back to but if you have nothing else to do and you want to watch a shortish film, why not give this one a try?

Though there are some faults with this film I can't say that I would say you shouldn't watch it, if someone asked me should I watch this film? I would defiantly say yes but I wouldn't out right tell anyone that this is a great piece of cinema that they should watch.