Happy Christmas (2014) Reviews

• Dull, depressing and pointless.

  estronbase2015-04-02

  This is a film I would like to forget, a complete waste of time. The only entertainment I found in this came from watching the performance of the little boy, Jude Swanberg, who was very cute and amusing. Also, while I was trying to keep track of the number of times Lena Dunham was using the word "like", Anna Kendrick started trying to outdo her. I just stopped counting. I was like, is she like making like fun of her like, or like just like unconsciously like copying her like way of like talking? I saw an old interview with Lena Dunham and she really did talk that way all the time. I've just checked out a more recent interview, and she seems cured now, thank goodness.

  More

• not even as good as a home video

  brookecee314-869-2728552017-12-21

  Camera work is ... did they use a fourth grader? Colors are bad, long moments of nothing (dark black room) for no reason, long shot of woman doing laundry. dialog....they didn't even try, I'm going to look up the name of the screen writer and run from that in the future. I can't imagine who they got to direct, but RUN if you see the name again! I couldn't make it passed fifteen minutes and I only hung in that long because it was clear that the actors were giving it their best shot. What a waste! In a sea of garbage produced by the industry, this wasn't interesting enough to hate.

  More

• Drink every time Anna Kendrick says "like"....

  loadfiltz2016-01-18

  Crappy movie but great drinking game = drink every time Anna Kendrick says "LIKE"!!! "I was like..." "She was like...." "He was like...." "We were like..." Totally horrible dialogue in a boring movie. It's like viewing other people's boring life but it just happens to be during Christmas. She's irresponsible and the brother's an enabler. That's the movie. I'm not sure why some critics liked this movie? Maybe they had seen too many good movies and this was different just because it was bad. I'm not anti Anna Kendrick, I just think she played a part in a bad movie. So to some degree, she is responsible for this flick. There are a ton of better Christmas movies to spend your time watching so disregard this on.

  More

• Happy Christmas, is neither Happy or About Christmas.... Discuss.

  Matt-144-7920092014-12-12

  In Happy Christmas Anna Kendrick plays Jenny a young twenty something who comes to stay with her brother for the holidays after a break up. The director Joe Swanberg casts himself as her brother Jeff. His wife Kelly (Melanie Lynskey) is reluctant to have Jenny stay with them and their infant son, knowing her "wild" behavior. Her first night there Jenny goes to a party with her friend Carson (Lena Dunham) and gets hammered drunk. So much to where she needs to be picked up and is unable to babysit like she promised the following day. Stepping in for the babysitting we meet Kevin, (Mark Webber) your friendly neighborhood babysitter, musician and small time pot dealer. Jenny and Kevin soon spark up a romance. Jenny then tries to repair her earlier wrongs with her sister in law, Kelly by helping her get back into writing and shaking off the doldrums of being a stay at home mom. Together with her friend Cason, the three girls try to collaborate on a trashy romance novel. I liked Drinking Buddies, the director Joe Swanberg's previous film. If anything it was fun to see a little behind the scenes of a craft beer business and see Ron Livingston in an indie film. Happy Christmas is a disappointing follow up. The title is incidental, this is not a Christmas movie. Unless you like to watch unfunny, non-irreverent holiday family dysfunction. The film is very low budget, think early 90's independent films. Grainy film stock and a ton of unfunny, what seems like ad-libbed dialog. The director takes to the old indie film look like a hipster listening to vinyl records. Just to be pretentious. I appreciate independent film as much as the next guy, this just doesn't have anything to be enthusiastic about. Lena Dunham tries to add her own bit of irreverence to this movie. But as each disappointingly unfunny new season of HBO's Girls comes out, I am becoming increasingly aware that it was Judd Apatow's influence in season one that gave it good, not Lena. If you are fan crushing on Anna Kendrick or you are looking for a new Christmas classic, don't bother. Anna Kendrick's usual adorable charming spark is dulled to a faint glimmer like that of a tiny Christmas tree light on the saddest of Charlie Brown trees. Even for the minimal effort this film takes to watch on Netflix it isn't worth the time. If you enjoyed this review, please check out my blog at yourturntopick.com

  More

• You will love or hate it.

  toby-brace2014-06-29

  OK it's mumblecore. You knew that before you hit the pay button. What did you expect? There is no script. It is actors improvising trying to be natural and create real drama out of pure inspiration. It's an interesting idea at least, especially for actors I imagine. You are not going to get bloody Shakespeare are you. But what you do get is a real sense of being present in the lives of the people involved. I feel like I know Joe Swanberg, or the gorgeous wife, or Lena Dunham... but most of all, and praise be to Jesus, it's like I know Anna Kendrick. She gives a superb performance of a very funny dysfunctional character with some very funny scenes and for me it was worth it just to watch her. The baby is hilarious too. It's about as entertaining as watching a real family fight going on if you are just a spectator. But hey, sometimes that is a lot of fun.

  More