Missed opportunity. Great potential for a sweet story. Instead it's a lot of exposition and useless dialogue. I genuinely feel bad for the actors. The characters are all very clearly defined and had so much potential for comedy and heartfelt relationships but it all fell flat. The main character played by the otherwise wonderful Ellie Kemper, was especially unlikable which made the romance something I found myself not rooting for... like, I didn't understand what this Jake guy felt so compelled by. I haven't read the book this is based on, but the screenplay is weak by all accounts. The actors could not save the bad writing. This feels like a beginner's screewriting class exercise that would have gotten a C- at best.
Review of Happiness for Beginners
