Ellie Kemper as Helen – Barbara Nitke/NETFLIX
The newest Netflix romantic comedy, Happiness For Beginners, is now streaming, however must you give it a watch?
Emmy-nominated actress Ellie Kemper (The Office, Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt) turns the amount down on her extra quirky, but pleasant character set she is understood for and heads to the woods for the brand new Netflix rom-com, Happiness For Beginners.
Based on the novel of the identical title by Katherine Center, the story focuses on newly divorced Helen (Kemper) who decides she wants a life reset and indicators up for the “adventure of a lifetime” within the type of a backcountry survival course climbing the Appalachian Trail with a bunch of oddball strangers.
From the outset, Helen’s plan to be the perfect hiker on the journey is examined with a shock look from her youthful brother’s finest pal, Jake (performed by “Yellowstone” actor Luke Grimes); add in a number of errors, accidents, and frustrations and you’ve got an especially rocky street to self-discovery.
The film is tailored for the display & directed by Irish helmer Vicky Wight, whose earlier movie, 2020’s straight-to-VOD effort The Lost Husband, was additionally an adaptation of a Katherine Center e-book primarily based round a feminine character who turns to nature as a way of placing her life again on monitor after a significant life occasion.
While The Lost Husband delves extra into the dramatic following the demise of a partner & father, Happiness For Beginners stays largely gentle on its toes because the story dances between snarky quips, eccentric accidents, petty disputes, & the occasional reveal of some main life tragedy that will ship most individuals over the sting. But when it’s delivered in a largely benign package deal of lovely individuals coated in Patagonia residing in a “beach read” novel, the drama will get sucked out fairly simply.
As for the romantic entanglements, Happiness For Beginners falls into an infinite show of style tropes & failed character arcs with compelled chemistry that hardly registers. Helen has identified Jake for a really very long time, however she barely acknowledges his existence. When he does a creep transfer and encroaches on her private journey, they largely nitpick and argue from one extraordinarily private, unearned assault to the following.
“He’s more of a quitter than a doctor … He’s a grown man studying whales. It’s like he’s 8 years old.” This is an precise quote from Helen with reference to how she sees Jake over a 3rd of the way in which into the film and it doesn’t get a lot better for almost all of the movie. The solely the explanation why these characters bond in any trend is over horrendous struggling in Helen’s previous and Luke’s unsure future, which isn’t a foundation for a relationship nor that compelling from an viewers perspective particularly when thrust upon in a thinly veiled exposition dump speech.
HAPPINESS FOR BEGINNERS (2023)
(L to R) Ben Cook as Beckett, Nico Santos as Hugh, Ellie Kemper as Helen, Luke Grimes as Jake and Shayvawn Webster as Windy
CR: Barbara Nitke/NETFLIX
While the rom & the com didn’t actually work for me, I feel probably the most baffling half is the true lack of self-discovery and private progress on the a part of Helen. She has large trauma and abandonment points in her previous which have drifted into her current along with her resentment of her brother. While her relationship with Duncan seems to be shifting ahead in a optimistic route in some half to Luke, it’s astounding that she spends extra time questioning why Luke is even at her climbing retreat and never spending extra time working with the character of Windy who has a Master’s Degree in Psychology and researches how and why individuals are pleased. We get 1 ½ conversations about this between the 2 characters they usually barely alter who Helen turns into. This film appears to be extra into having its audiences turn into higher hikers & campers than it does bettering the lifetime of its protagonist.
Overall, Happiness For Beginners works higher as surroundings than psychology. Helen and her journey appear to take a backseat to a really sluggish budding relationship with an individual with whom she has little or no chemistry and emotional connection. As an individual who has taken to the Connecticut wilderness many instances in my very own Walden approach to clear my thoughts and work on myself, I discovered this film wanting, skinny, and miscast. We can solely hope for a severe rebound within the rom-com division for Netflix as 2023 has actually not produced any winners on this style.
Watch Happiness for Beginners If You Like
- The Lost Husband
- A Tourist’s Guide To Love
- Eat Pray Love
- Falling Inn Love
- A Walk within the Woods
- A Perfect Pairing
MVP of Happiness for Beginners
Hiking Trips within the New England Wilderness!
As a local to New England who likes to go climbing, I’ll at all times be a sucker for luscious surroundings & autumn colours. While I received’t take a lot away from this story, I may at all times get misplaced within the expansive overhead photographs of lovely lakes & forestry. Taking a hike sounds nice after a stroll by means of mediocrity.
PLAY, PAUSE, OR STOP?
STOP.
With bland TV film high quality and only a few moments of connection or introspection, even probably the most die-hard rom-com fan ought to skip this one.