HAPPY ANNIVERSARY: An Honest & Engaging Look At Relationships

Happy Anniversary, written and directed by Jared Stern, is an honest depiction of the struggles and comforts of relationships. The film follows Mollie (Noël Wells) and Sam (Ben Schwartz) as they question their relationship on their third anniversary. The anniversary comes after spending a night with their friends Lindsay (Kate Berlant) and Hao (Leonardo Nam), a couple who seem happy, but don’t feel real. Later on in the film, Sam describes a past relationship as feeling safe, but like something was missing, and I felt this also worked to describe the Instagram filter relationship between Lindsay and Hao.

Happy Anniversary does a wonderful job of showing the good and bad moments of the central relationship between Mollie and Sam. Even though this is the relationship in question, this relationship feels the most real and honest from the very beginning moments of the film. The perfectly planned moments of Lindsay and Hao’s relationship offer a good balance to the more spontaneous moments shared by Mollie and Sam.

I enjoyed watching their relationship unfold, which I was a little wary about, going into a film based around the problems in a relationship that come with being together for a few years. The use of flashbacks and intimate, personal moments made Happy Anniversary a memorable entry into the romantic comedy genre.

An Appropriate Use of Flashbacks

Happy Anniversary relies on flashbacks, which is not always the best option, but I felt they were masterfully done here. The flashbacks and current timeline were not stylistically different, and I think this helps the film. Nothing felt like we were being taken away from the main action. Every moment in the film felt necessary to tell Mollie and Sam’s romance.

I especially loved a scene involving Sam passing by Fry’s Electronics, and being remembered of a past time when he went there with Mollie. The film naturally shows us the night Sam is remembering without feeling forced. There were so many moments in this film where the changes between the current and past were not drawn out, letting the audience get pulled along with the characters, wherever their memories take them.

Utilizing flashbacks to build up their relationship worked so well, because of how little the film relies on the audience being told by filters and color-schemes that we are entering a flashback. Naturally flowing from a current moment into a past moment the characters mentioned kept me invested in their relationship.

Budding Romance and the Natural Struggles of Relationships

Happy Anniversary wonderfully combines the sweetness of a budding romance with the realistic struggles which romantic comedies normally ignore. Deciding to focus a romantic comedy on a relationship after the meet-cute of a typical romantic comedy helped give Happy Anniversary the reality it deserves, while still giving the audience those sweet moments of a couple finding each other and discovering their feelings.

Happy Anniversary utilizes flashbacks to make the moments of re-discovering their love that much stronger. I felt the structure of Happy Anniversary helps the audience see how much the characters care for each other, through a combination of moments of discovery and moments of overcoming their current relationship struggles.

Happy Anniversary gives the best of both worlds in its depiction of romance in its beginning stages, as well as showing the struggles that come with continually making that relationship work. Seeing the moments in which Mollie and Sam fell in love mixed naturally with their current struggles made their story more interesting. Seeing the good and bad moments gave the characters and their relationship the nuance it needed to keep me invested in whether or not they would make it.

Romance Through Personal Moments

Happy Anniversary makes a relatable and memorable romance by never being too broad with its main characters. One problem in some romance films is making the moments of romance too broad, when crafting extremely specific moments, rather than the cliche ones, makes a film even more relatable.

Everyone has their own odd moments of romance and love, so seeing Mollie and Sam joke about her cat breath in the morning, wash their dog in bloody mary mix, and share a romantic moment inside Fry’s Electronics reminds audience members of their own, unique romantic moments.

Ben Schwartz and Noël Wells give life and personality to their characters, making their relationship that much more intriguing. Even in the moments of sadness, you can still see how much Sam and Mollie care about each other. I was a little nervous going into a film about a couple deciding if their relationship is worth it, but Happy Anniversary makes you root for this couple to make it, even in the moments where it seems they are done.

Happy Anniversary: Conclusion

Happy Anniversary blends comedy and drama well, creating a film which never feels like one genre is more prominent than the other. Schwartz and Wells give memorable performances, balancing the comedic and dramatic moments of their character’s journey. Happy Anniversary is a memorable film, exploring the nuance that makes a relationship worth saving.

If you have seen Happy Anniversary, did you enjoy it? Which other romantic films do you think manage to capture the nuance of relationships?

Happy Anniversary is a Netflix Original film, released on March 30th.