Happy Christmas

Although it is not for the person who loves "in your face" obvious filmmaking, Happy Christmas is one of those movies that, when you finish, you either cry or laugh because it is over. The past few years have been a wonderful time for independent filmmaking. With films like The Spectacular Now and Short Term 12, the art of subtle storytelling has started to gain entrance into mainstream society. Happy Christmas builds upon that trend.Joe Swanberg is known for his loose scripts, allowing the actors to fill in the blanks and create present and natural dialogue. This works magnificently here, especially with Melanie Lynskey (Kelly). Lynskey plays the role of a stay at home mother desperate to rediscover her passion for writing. Lynskey's charm and love for the work shines through in her performance; most of all in intimate scenes with Swanberg (Jeff), who plays her husband, and when she is working with Anna Kendrick (Jenny) and Lena Dunham (Carson).Kendrick plays Swanberg's younger sister who, after ending a relationship, comes to Chicago to live with Kelly and Jeff to help take care of their child, Jude. Kelly is a bit of a mess, and this causes all sorts of tension in the household. Kendrick's character starts a relationship with a babysitter/guy in a band played by Mark Webber. The two have excellent chemistry and their scenes are very dynamic. Kendrick's performance really soars when she interacts with Lynskey. The two are incredibly honest and very generous with each other, presenting the audience with the tools necessary to fall in love with these characters.Swanberg really delivers on all accounts with this film. It proves to be his most honest and beautiful work yet. However, even though this film's leads and supporting actors drive Swanberg's story to be as wonderful as it is, the real gift of this film is Swanberg's toddler son, Jude, who played himself. Jude steals every scene that he is in, and will elicit many "awes" from whoever is watching.Watch this film if you enjoy present and honest work. Watch this film if you enjoy really great filmmaking.

One of the worst movies I’ve ever seen. Should not be in the Christmas movie category. The baby was extremely cute, though.

There was nothing “Happy” about this Christmas. It wasn’t a Christmas movie at all so don’t watch if you want something festive. Nothing happens in the movie other than a bunch of people talking stupidly and getting aggravated with each other. Surely no one actually wrote this movie because that would require a plot and thoughtful dialog. This felt like a bad ad lib exercise. I want to escape reality when I watch shows but this was too realistic in a really depressing way. Like a long , boring phone call you can’t get off kind of way.

I came for the Anna Kendrick and I stayed... well, because I paid and I didn't want to get out of bed this morning. It's a cute movie, but there's many frustrated plot lines that don't really evolve... maybe this is because the story requires your imagination to fill in a ton of what else is going on to complete the movie. I would say it's okay and you'll probably think it's better going into it knowing that. Very realistic drama and I actually think Mark Webber had the strongest showing on screen in the movie. Now contemplating whether to get out of bed or watch Pitch Perfect to get my fix...

It's a odd little movie. Not much spent on production values. Lighting was dim, editing was bad, but the story line was decent but quirky. I'm not sure I'd watch it again though. I like both stars of this movie, so though I would like it.

I'm a big fan of both Melanie Lynskey and Anna Kendrick so I was predisposed to liking this movie, and it didn't disappoint. It's an indie relationship story with a relaxed, natural feel. If that's not your cup of tea then stay away, but if you can appreciate a movie that's more about the characters' interactions with each other than big plot twists and turns, I definitely recommend it. It's relatively short, but it felt like just about the right length.I have to make special mention of the fact that Melanie Lynskey uses her seldom-heard natural Kiwi accent in this movie, which I could listen to all day.

Oy. This is a very very very slight film. After loving Drinking Buddies, and Ana Kendrick's performance in that, I had high hopes for this film. Look, I like all the performers, but bloody hell, if you're not going to write a script, at least outline some plot. When every scene starts with someone walking into the room going "Hey" and "Hi" and "How are you..." and then saying "Hi" again, you know actors are just treading water with bad improv.That being said, I found the last quarter of this movie infinitely more enjoyable than the first hour... Things actually started happening, but it was too little too late. I would suggest that maybe the movie would have been better if some of that action was shifted earlier, but my feeling is that if that was done, this movie would have only been about 30 minutes.But the great thing about Joe Swanberg is that he'll probably have 29 other movies to watch in 2014. :)

Before she really became a big star, she made a bunch of quirky stuff. Later she got into the deeper things and musical materials. This movie gives you a fuller spectrum to her work.

It was alright.

Cool bud

The one star is for the kid. The rest of the movie is horrible.

Gekauft habe ich den Film wie wohl die meisten wegen Anna Kendrick. Doch auch sie konnte diesen Film leider nicht retten - er ist enttäuschend langweilig! Es gibt kaum Handlung und die ganzen Dialoge im Film sind zum größten Teil nur nervig und übertrieben. Einen richtigen Sinn hat der Film auch nicht und allzu viel mit Weihnachten hat er auch nicht zu tun. Nur was für echte Fans!

Diesem verunglückten Drama kann man immerhin zugute halten, dass seine Szenenabfolge der Handlung einen recht ordentlichen Fluss verpasst. Angesichts des Inhalts ist dies aber doch eher nebensächlich. Wenn sich die Figuren nicht gerade über Belanglosigkeiten unterhalten, werden sie beim Drogenkonsum gezeigt. Im Prinzip reicht die Geschichte nicht aus für einen Spielfilm, seine Möglichkeiten nutzt sie ohnehin nicht.Anna Kendrick versucht hier wohl gegen ihr Sauberfrau-Image anzuspielen. Es gelingt ihr nicht. Selbst als verantwortungsloses, zugedröhntes Wrack wirkt sie noch sympathisch und sieht bezaubernd aus.