{"id":225,"date":"2019-01-15T14:31:00","date_gmt":"2019-01-15T19:31:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/jru.twr.mybluehost.me\/happy-anniversary-2018-review\/"},"modified":"2026-04-25T19:06:13","modified_gmt":"2026-04-25T23:06:13","slug":"happy-anniversary-2018-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theromcomcatalog.com\/staging\/happy-anniversary-2018-review\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Happy Anniversary’ (2018) Review"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

On the morning of their third anniversary, Mollie (No\u00ebl Wells<\/a><\/b>) decides she’s not happy in her relationship with Sam (Ben Schwartz<\/a><\/b>). This sets off a day of mutual frustration as Sam and Mollie sort through their relationship via flashbacks while they struggle to determine whether they have a future together.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Happy Anniversary<\/em> never really explains why Mollie is suddenly unhappy. The flashbacks show us they’re simply an average couple with typical problems. Are their arguments and conflicts relatable? Sure. Can couples be indecisive about where to eat or what color paint to buy? Absolutely. Everyone has flaws. Sam can be a jerk, and Mollie can be difficult to get along with. But then she whines about her ‘biological clock’ and uses her dad’s cancer as a means to ‘take a break’ from Sam for a while. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Meanwhile, Sam gets frustrated with Mollie for having emotions and laments that the next time he’ll be truly happy is when she’s dead<\/em>. Of course, he says he didn’t mean it, but jeez, toxicity runs rampant through their relationship. Some sweet moments are shown as well, but they seem overwhelmed by the underlying resentments the two feel towards each other.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“I see the glass of water as half full. She sees the water as poisoned. Also, there is a chip in the glass. So, when you drink it, it’s gonna cut your esophagus; you’re gonna bleed everywhere.” <\/em> – Sam<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In my opinion, Happy Anniversary’s<\/em> balance between comedy and drama was uneven, creating a somewhat incoherent narrative. I understand that many flashbacks were designed to make us understand the nature of their relationship and realize, as they do, that they love one another and should stay together. Honestly, though, all I could think about was how I really couldn\u2019t care less what they decided to do, and in reality, they would probably be much happier apart.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Regardless of my personal sentiments towards the characters, Schwartz and Wells delivered commendable performances, effectively portraying individuals grappling with their personal and romantic desires. The issue was that their chemistry didn’t resonate with me all that strongly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rahul Kohli is a bright spot and much-needed comedic relief as Sam’s friend and colleague, Ed. Kristin Bauer van Straten\u2019s no-nonsense investor is very reminiscent of her role as vampire Pam in True Blood<\/em>, though I couldn\u2019t quite figure out what her purpose was other than inserting herself into Sam\u2019s romantic problems and then acting annoyed by the entire fiasco. Sadly, Joe Pantoliano and Annie Potts are wasted as Mollie\u2019s parents. With their talent on screen, I was expecting much more than what was given.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Happy Anniversary<\/a><\/i> is only 78 minutes long, but it feels longer. The movie is well-acted, but I didn’t feel the connection between Mollie and Sam that was needed to make me care whether they stayed together. Happy Anniversary<\/em> describes the couple as ‘quirky’, but they’re both difficult and unhappy. It’s two miserable people ultimately deciding to be miserable together. I wish I had more positive things to say about it. The premise had a lot of potential, but it simply fell short due to poor execution, an uneven narrative, and two leads with very little to no chemistry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Watched:<\/strong> 01\/14\/2019
Notable Song:<\/strong> Trying My Best to Love You by Jenny Lewis<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rating:<\/strong><\/div>
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<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Happy Anniversary: A couple on their three-year anniversary need to decide whether to stay together or call it quits.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":59013,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"cybocfi_hide_featured_image":"","footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[468,1],"tags":[425,1262,1263,1264,1265,1266,1267,1268,954,1269,4096],"class_list":["post-225","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-reviews-h","category-reviews","tag-425","tag-annie-potts","tag-ben-schwartz","tag-david-walton","tag-happy-anniversary","tag-jared-stern","tag-joe-pantoliano","tag-kristin-bauer-van-straten","tag-noel-wells","tag-rahul-kohli","tag-1-5-stars"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/theromcomcatalog.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/225","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/theromcomcatalog.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/theromcomcatalog.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theromcomcatalog.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theromcomcatalog.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=225"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/theromcomcatalog.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/225\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":82153,"href":"https:\/\/theromcomcatalog.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/225\/revisions\/82153"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theromcomcatalog.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/59013"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/theromcomcatalog.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=225"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theromcomcatalog.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=225"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theromcomcatalog.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=225"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}