Solemplex To me, this movie is perfection.

Tacticalin An absolute waste of money

CrawlerChunky In truth, there is barely enough story here to make a film.

Fairaher The film makes a home in your brain and the only cure is to see it again.

Movie_Muse_Reviews One thing's for sure – anyone who expects "Happy Christmas" to be some kind of indie Christmas movie is going to be sorely disappointed. Joe Swanberg's follow-up to "Drinking Buddies" has the same naturalistic style and relationship focus as that breakout film – both are short and seemingly aimless movies exploring different interpersonal dynamics between characters."Happy Christmas" centers around a young husband and wife (Swanberg and Melanie Lynskey) and their 2-year-old (Jude Swanberg) and what happens when the husband's 20-something sister (Anna Kendrick), who's in a much different place in life and coming off a break-up, moves in. The film is very much an experiment in how the younger sister's presence in the home shakes up dynamics and behaviors, especially when she engages in her own irresponsible behavior.Swanberg's goal is to capture the subsequent interactions with as much authenticity as possible, which means a lot of improvised dialogue. Each conversation in the film probably only had one or two necessary scripted moments. What's beautiful about this approach is that relating to these characters takes no effort, especially those of us who count ourselves as young adults. That naturalism makes Swanberg's films so refreshing, even when it doesn't seem to have a point other than to be natural.To some extent, the casting really makes a difference. One could argue that without established talents in this movie and "Drinking Buddies" that both films would flounder. To see a big star and talent like Kendrick appearing in a super grounded film playing a character that has none of her stuff together matters; Jenny is not Kendrick's usual type and this role showcases her raw acting ability in a way no other has. Lena Dunham, on the other hand, is right at home playing Jenny's friend Carson, and seems to have only been cast to help facilitate the improvisational style.Of course the best casting of all is Swanberg's son, who easily gives the best performance by a 2-year-old in a movie ever. Presumably the presence of his dad made it easy for him to just behave naturally with all the other actors, but he accounts for a majority share of the film's entertainment value."Happy Christmas" is not a bad movie, but we usually don't watch films just to watch characters have realistic interactions with each other. Swanberg crafts these really touching moments when two characters seemingly at odds with each other find a moment of mutual understanding and appreciation, but the fact of the matter is these moments don't serve any large purpose or narrative, so they fall flat. Tack on the film's anti-climactic ending, both in terms of plot and themes, and it feels like all the good work Swanberg does is for naught. For his films to be special and resonant, he's going to need to give audiences a little more of what they want and expect. It would definitely be possible for him to achieve this without compromising his style and vision. For starters, don't put "Christmas" in the title if Christmas has minimal relevance to your movie.~Steven CThanks for reading! Visit Movie Muse Reviews for more

Florin Gaidaenco This review can't contains spoiler because is nothing to be spoiled in this movie.I don't necessarily dislike this kind of movie, because life itself can be boring and pointless, but when you do that, at least try to create strong characters, thrilling and interesting dialogues. From time to time we need a pointless slow pace movie about the recklessness of life and art, but here these things come from poor directing, lack of inspiration, dull camera work and bad acting. When an artist improvises the secret is to not let the audience to feel his struggle , otherwise is like feeling your dentist not knowing what he is doing to your teeth. So in this movie we have a director (played by the real director of this movie, who acts like a carpenter) and his wife, she is writer (but acts like a '50 suburb housewife). Those two artists look like an amish family giving moral lessons to a blacksheep.The bkacksheep si Anne Kendrick who acts like a disoriented teenager, having recreational drugs. Very evil indeed....the amish family must save her soul. At some point, the blacksheep commits the ultimate act of irresponsibility, she forgots a pizza in the owen, so the entire house is full of smoke. The carpenter-director and the housewife-writer are shocked, yelling at blacksheep, blaming for her behavior. The blacksheep disappears just on Christmas Eve.She will be found by the housewife-writer and the film ends in a stupid state of happiness.During the movie the housewife-writer try to writes an erotic novel with the blacksheep and another girl. Their storm-braining session are full of stupid dialogues about how to name genitals or intercourse in a mellow way. It seems in this movie everybody is waiting for inspiration.....the characters, the crew, the cast

Larry Silverstein Joe Swanberg who wrote, directed and played one of the leading roles in this his latest film is known for his improvisational independent films. Although I liked, as other reviewers have noted his recent movie "Drinking Buddies", I felt this film's improvisations failed in that the dialogue was too stilted, awkward, and filled with what appeared to be inside jokes that the cast would laugh at, ignoring basically the viewers that were watching. Thus the whole thing just got more and more annoying for me as it progressed.The plot centers on the loving couple of Kelly (Melanie Lynskey) and Jeff Spelling (Swanberg) and their adorable son Jude welcoming to their home, in Chicago around Christmas time, Jeff's sister Jenny (Anna Kendrick), after she just broke up with her boyfriend. Once Jenny enters the scene, they'll be a lot of scenes involving pot smoking, drinking, sex, and explicit sex talk. They'll be other plot elements involving Jenny's irresponsibility and her attempts along with her friend Carson (Lena Dunham) to convince Kelly to devote more time to her writing and to get help with the raising of her son.All in all, as mentioned, I just felt the improvisational approach here just didn't work, and the movie ended up having little entertainment value for me.

Amari-Sali Not since Drinking Buddies have I seen an Anna Kendrick film and this saddens me in such a way. For, while she may not have the profile of some of her contemporaries like Emma Stone or Jennifer Lawrence, just she has carved herself a nice niche in the film industry. Mostly with her being in quality indie films, or just films which come out of nowhere like Pitch Perfect. Leading to the question if this film is another one of those under the radar films worth watching?Characters & StorySomewhere in Chicago lives a well-adjusted family comprised of Jeff (Joe Swanberg), Kelly (Melanie Lynskey), and baby Jude (Jude Swanberg). Jeff is some sort of film maker, and Kelly is a homemaker who has a book published. But as she watches Jeff go outside the home and work, and she has but Jude and the house to tend to, there rises this almost envy of needing to get dressed and go somewhere on a daily basis. So when Jeff's little sister Jenny (Anna Kendrick) needs somewhere to stay after breaking up with her boyfriend, she seems like a god send. However, with Jenny not mature enough to really take on the load Kelly would like her to, it does bring to question what can she bring to the table? Something Jenny struggles with as she tries to find her place in what already seems to be a tight-knit little family.PraiseWhen it comes to this film, it is more certain scenes than the film as a whole which deserve praise. Such as a conversation Jenny, Kelly, and Carson (Lena Dunham) have in which Kelly speaks on her issues with being a stay at home mom and how complicated her feelings are about the job. And also there is another good scene which deals with Jenny and Carson helping Kelly write her next book.CriticismBut, as a whole, this movie keeps things relatively low key which makes the film really boring. For one, nobody is that interesting of a character. Albeit Jeff has this sort of Marshal, from How I Met Your Mother, type persona, but with no one getting any sort of back-story to liven them up, it becomes far too set in realism to be appealing. Then, on top of the characters being dull, the story itself doesn't invigorate things. For not only does nothing seriously happen, but even in the few prized moments which help push you toward finishing the movie there aren't any performances which truly liven up either the characters or the movie.And really, it is sad how only two scenes actually get your attention in a film a little over an hour. Making it seem so strange that the same person who made this film directed and wrote Drinking Buddies. For while Drinking Buddies was so good it should have been a pilot to a series, this feels like an indie short which somehow got the funding to be extended until a full-length movie. One which probably only die-hard fans of those involved will know about for this film highlights why Video on Demand exists. Because the names maybe recognizable, and usually trust worthy, but theaters know they won't make any real money off this.Overall: Skip ItWith this film, there aren't a lot of redeeming values to it. For while I liked the conversation Kelly has with Jenny and Carson about the issues she sometimes has with being a stay at home mother, as well as a conversation about writing erotica sans the words penis and pussy, the film as a whole just doesn't have a selling point besides Kendrick and Dunham's name. Hence why this is being labeled as a "Skip It" for it really does feel like Swanberg probably used bits of his life to create a movie which maybe could have worked as a short, but instead became a full length motion picture extended past the capabilities of its premise.