Quirky Love.
Happy Anniversary is a Netflix original movie written and directed by Jared Stern and stars Ben Schwartz and Noel Wells. Jared Stern has been a writer on a few movies such as Wreck-It Ralph, The Internship and the Lego Batman movie. This is his first directing role and watching this film you would not notice that it was someone’s directorial debut. This film is a brutally honest depiction of a couple struggling to decide if they should stay together or call it quits. Happy Anniversary is based on a young couple on their three year anniversary and Sam (Ben Schwartz) seems to be madly in love with Mollie (Noel Wells). Their anniversary hits a speed bump when Mollie tells Sam that she is no longer happy. This then leads to a big fight that threatens to end their relationship.
This movie is genuinely funny and there were many moments I burst out into laughter. I also love how quirky the film is. This is a brilliantly written story and the comedic performances are perfect. I am a fan of Ben Schwartz and his brand of comedy and this film gives him many chances to shine and shine he does. The dialogue in this film is extremely authentic and feels like things couples in this situation would feel. At the beginning of the film I kind of hated Noel Wells’s character Mollie as I felt she was just being selfish but as you watch on you start to relate more to both lead characters and how they are feeling. I think this is because at some stage in everyone’s life they go through similar issues in their relationships. We all at times question our relationships, whether we are with the right person if we should commit or quit and this film highlights these feelings.
The film also does a great job of telling the main story and jumping back to ‘flashbacks’ of moments in Sam and Mollie’s relationship. This is not as jarring as I thought it would be and does not get confusing to the main part of the story. These flashbacks also really help flesh out both characters, their feelings, motives and desires. The chemistry between Ben Schwartz and Noel Wells is very cute and you find yourself wanting them to figure their shit out and stick together. The performances of Ben Schwartz and Noel Wells is nothing short of impressive. At first, I thought they were going to be an unlikeable couple but through the film, I found myself immensely invested in their characters and found them to be really endearing. This film had much more emotional depth than I was expecting and was actually rather raunchier than I was expecting too.
I thoroughly enjoyed this film and felt a great emotional connection to the characters. I cannot single out exactly what it is that made this film work for me, but I like to think it is a combination of the writing, directing, acting, comedy and depth that is in this fun and quirky film. I highly recommend this film for your next date night.