HAPPILY
A happily married couple (Joel McHale and Kerry Bishé) discover their friends are resentful of their lustful relationship. When a visit from a mysterious stranger leads to a dead body, they begin to question the loyalty of their so-called friends.
As a 40-year-old woman who has always had her relationship categorized as Janet and Tom, this film spoke to me in a completely different way. I felt the animosity that they receive in a visceral way. The dialogue was genuinely funny in an adult way. The kind of dialogue that actually comes out of our mouths at a certain age and comfort level. The things we say when we just don’t GAF anymore, and honestly, I respect the hell out of it. The plot seems simple enough but the thriller aspect ramps up along with the funny. This cast is superb. They’re sexy, blunt, hilarious, weird, and the kind of eclectic personalities you need to pull this off. This set is cool as hell. I want to go to there. You think you know where this script is going but you really don’t. It’s much darker. It’s much twistier. Do. Not. Get. Comfortable. At the heart of it all, HAPPILY is about communication and trust. It’s about the facade of happiness we feel like we have to portray to the world. This interaction of that theme is told through terror and humor and a bit of WTF. Congrats to writer-director BenDavid Grabinski on a true standout film in 2021.
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In Theaters, On Digital & On-Demand March 19th, 2021
BenDavid Grabinski’s Happily is a dark romantic comedy from producer Jack Black, with an all-star powerhouse cast including Joel McHale, Kerry Bishé, Stephen Root, Paul Scheer, Breckin Meyer, Natalie Zea, Natalie Morales, Jon Daly, Kirby Howell-Baptiste, and Charlyne Yi.
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Need to get away? Seth Green‘s directorial debut, Changeland, might be just the ticket. The film stars a gaggle of actors that first made a name for themselves in some of my favorite films and television shows; Clueless, Can’t Hardly Wait, Home Alone, and Buffy The Vampire Slayer. Guys, Macaulay Culkin is in this. And he’s sheer perfection. So let’s break it down. Brandon (Seth Green) hops a flight for a vacation to Thailand, meeting up with a longtime friend, Dan (Breckin Meyer). It was supposed to be a wedding anniversary trip, but that’s not the plan now. Honest confessions, lingering regrets, tested intimacy, and it all feels 100% authentic. It’s that thing that occurs in even the closest of friendships. You get older, life happens. Dynamics, jobs, marital status, all change. But what better place to mend fences and mull over the future than a tropical oasis? These guys grew up together and it shows. The natural pace of dialogue is fantastic. It’s actually easy to forget the iconic roles that I usually associate them with, and I do mean that as a compliment. Oh, and the soundtrack is amazing.
But it’s also an advertisement for Phuket, Thailand. It has gorgeous sweeping shots of mangrove forests, caves, resort restaurants, pristine beaches. It does not suck to look at. Green explores ideas of growth and insight without a hint of pretentiousness. It simply works. The perfect cast meeting an exemplary script. Changeland is not grandiose. It’s fun, charming, honest, and funny in both genuine and weird ways. For those of us who grew up with this cast on their favorite films and television shows of the 90s, this all the more age and stage relateable. Bravo, to Green and the entire cast for a wonderful film.
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