Writer-director Joe Swanberg, as he did the previous year with “Drinking Buddies,” delivers a slice of life in “Happy Christmas” (2014), titled with purposeful inaccuracy. He contrasts a poor young family — Swanberg’s Jeff, Melanie Lynskey’s Kelly and their baby — with Jeff’s slightly younger sister (Anna Kendrick’s Jenny) who is reeling from a breakup and is notch behind on the maturity meter.
A light Yuletide touch
Despite the stellar cast, it’s perhaps one of the most low-budget, low-key Christmas movies ever, featuring guerrilla-style filmmaking with improvisation and handheld cameras and a primary setting of a homey little house in Chicago. Christmas lights are prominent, and there are presents opened, but it’s not laden with holiday spirit or themes – at least not in an overt way. Some viewers will appreciate the light touch, others will feel it’s too insubstantial; I’m somewhere in the middle.
There’s no arguing with the down-to-Earth believability of every scene in “Happy Christmas.” The relationships all ring true. Kendrick, a movie star by this point, ably dresses down to play across from Jenny’s best friend Carson – played by “Girls’ ” Lena Dunham, a master of appealing (or unappealing, if need be) naturalism. Lynskey likewise has real-world charm with her New Zealand accent and her tired-but-pretty mom look – something the other women comment on, and to which Kelly responds with shy thanks.
“Happy Christmas” (2014)
Director: Joe Swanberg
Writer: Joe Swanberg
Stars: Anna Kendrick, Melanie Lynskey, Mark Webber
I admire Swanberg’s knack for telling a story without ever being blunt. Jenny gets into a relationship with Kevin (Mark Webber), a run-of-the-mill pot dealer and musician, basically because he’s the only person other than her family and Carson that she knows in Chicago. Their intimate scenes are awkward and mildly amusing.
This contrasts with Jeff and Kelly, who are totally comfortable in their marriage (what might be fights for other couples are something to laugh about for them) but who have standard logistical problems. As Kelly explains to Jenny and Carson over a beer – something she rarely indulges in nowadays – she just didn’t realize taking care of baby Jude was an all-the-time thing that would wipe out her writing-career dreams.
Youthful enthusiasm
A viewer can feel the excitement when the three women get together in an office space to plot out a romance novel, with the idea that Kelly will get rich and her problems will be solved. They all sense the absurdity on some level, but Kelly benefits from Jenny’s naïve, youthful enthusiasm.
Jenny has the most cinematic problems: drugs, alcohol and immaturity. The 27-year-old lives in the basement as she decides whether to permanently settle in the Windy City. It’s both a cozy cave and a symbol for how she’s removed from the mature family life going on upstairs.
As with “Drinking Buddies,” Swanberg is totally uninterested in presenting crisp solutions to the problems he presents. He only cares about showing us the way life is for these five people. In capturing reality, Swanberg is a master, and he has a strong cast at his disposal – including himself. When Jeff and Jenny get high and giggly in the basement, I believe it.
But in giving us a holiday movie to cherish, Swanberg falls short of masterful. “Happy Christmas” is engaging enough in the moment – indeed, in all the moments of its 82-minute runtime. But the topic is so common and the message so slight that it’s more ephemeral than memorable. The film is an advanced-level dissertation on improv acting, but it’s not a full story.