Happily Ever After

Struggling Toronto documentary filmmaker Heather (Janet Montgomery) goes home on the request of her father's hospital doctor. The doctor asks her to move home to take care of her father and she refuses. She can't get out of the small town fast enough but he won't take no for an answer. Former friend Sarah Ann (Sara Paxton) runs into her and pushes her to videoing her upcoming wedding. It's the bland suburbs hiding many secrets.

I like Montgomery and Paxton but they aren't really supported. The production looks cheap. The filmmaking is generally lackluster. The two leads do try to inject some charisma. Most of the jokes fall flat. This is a small town story about secrets. It's a little indie which somehow managed to snag a couple of Hollywood actors to play the leads. The film may be better off spending some money on music or get a more imaginative filmmaker. The suburbs are filmed in a flat lifeless way like a flat TV movie. It's all flat without the charms of a small indie. The story could work if the directing is better. As for the climax, it feels out of place. It's too long, visually static such as much of the movie, and tonally unhinged from the other parts. It's a bridge too far.

Rarely does a movie come along that defies all typical storylines of a comedy drama romance(?). This film...well...pretends to be a rom-com in sheep's clothing turning dramatic and then well it becomes the eye of the beholder. To accomplish even a decent movie that somehow balances the comedy with the drama in this instance without shattering on the wedding floor only provides a glimpse as to how the direction and scriptwriting carefully and delicately tread among the almost crazy goings on in what normally would be one of the insane, ordinary, humdrum rom-coms. Directed and co-written by Joan Carr-Wiggen, a Canadian Independent filmmaker, who began her career in her 40s in the 1990s after being an economist, this movie has the female perspective well infused throughout with a chilling authentic but quite entertaining solidity about it. The real way to truly appreciate this movie is to throw out any expectation and forget about the rom-com label and just experience this movie as the director intended instead of relying on the deception movie preview that distorts what Joan Carr-Wiggen wanted its audience to really become aware in regards to life's complications but ultimately happily ever after and in a good way too. If you don't ignore this cautionary statement, you will definitely be disappointed as the low ratings indicate. Well worth seeing, if you follow my strong suggestion.

I got about 30-40 min into it and just tuned out, the acting is good, despite what the other review (s) say.

The huge problem for me with the movie si that everything kind of revolves around sex, in one way or another. its actually pretty brainless script writing.

The 'conflicts', the 'surprises' the 'humor' and so on, it all has the same underlying theme, as do many cheap comedies. I was disappointed that these two actresses agreed to play the roles in something with no originality, I guess maybe gals go for these kind of linear movies. Some variety to the story line and differential humor would of kept me hooked in