Gravitas Ventures
In general there’s a storytelling issue I sometimes see where a movie literally ‘tells’ us something but also contradicts itself in the ‘show’ part. Normally it’s accepted that the whole ‘show don’t tell’ idea should usually be used, but sometimes a clever bit of narration or voice-over in some way can be done in a cute or entertaining way. When narration is intentionally contradicted by what we see on the screen, that can be fun… but it can also be used as a narrative crutch.
Are You Happy Now comes from writer/director David Beinstein and offers a weird little mirror story. The story is presented at the start as the tale of a manchild Adam (Josh Ruben) and his difficulties being mature in his life. He is attacked by a lot of people before the movie shows us him doing anything immature at all, mainly by his brother Leo (Blake DeLong) who doesn’t really seem like such a great guy.
Of course, once things start going wrong, Adam does start acting fairly immaturely, but a lot of this comes from a voice-over from Gina (Ismenia Mendes), someone who we eventually find out is Adam’s apparently very serious girlfriend. Very quickly, Adam wants to move forward and get married, but Gina is vehemently, philosophically opposed to the concept.
And then a few minutes later, she agrees to marry Adam, because I guess she isn’t really that opposed at all? At their wedding, Adam is a bit odd in some ways, but people continue to treat him worse than you’d expect. And then Gina disappears for most of the movie as Adam begins a weird adventure at a local restaurant called ‘Just Chicken’ which is one of the only legitimately funny jokes of the movie.
The odd manager of the restaurant Walt (David Ebert) immediately befriends Adam, and the two begin a long, very meandering tale of mostly pointless drives and talks. There are a few side characters that show up and sometimes cause drama, and there’s occasionally a dip back to the fraying relationship with Gina, which has a confusing timeline in a way that’s hard to keep track of.
The problematic nature of Adam and his brother is mirrored in an even more ridiculous way with Walt and his boss/brother Drew (Gregory Jones). It’s often pretty amusing but it also feels like it’s an even different movie altogether from the several that already exist. Overall it’s part of the problem with the movie in that’s not entirely coherent, despite a lot of the legit attempts by the actors to give more weight or fun to their performances.
The theme of the movie, this idea about a manchild maturing enough to be in a real relationship, doesn’t really seem to be what’s it about in the end — it really seems to be about a manchild finding friendship with another manchild as they waste a lot of time and make mediocre chicken together.
I can’t really recommend this movie except to those really in the mood for something meandering, as the movie isn’t dramatic or as comedic or resonant enough to really stand out from the indie movie pack. But at least at the heart of things, you can tell it’s really trying.
Want to see Are You Happy Now and judge for yourself? Click below to see the movie, and be sure to come back and tell us what you thought!
Are You Happy Now has a run time of 1 hour 35 minutes and is unrated.
Gravitas Ventures
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