Improvisational filmmaking is a strange animal, as its
existence defies standard critical conventions.
Stories can often feel loose and lacking in traditional narrative arcs,
but that’s because the cast and crew made this film without a script and only a
broad outline of plot and characters.
Dialogue often isn’t catchy, memorable, or even especially dramatic, but
the trade-off is naturalistic, overlapping exchanges that seem to mirror real
life, largely because the actors are being about as real as possible. So by what metric does one measure a film
like Happy Christmas when the
characters, script, and direction were purposely handled without any real sense
of care, and that was part of the whole point of the production?
Well, starting with what semblance of story there is, Jenny
is an irresponsible 27-year-old, prone to drinking and passing out, who moves
in with her brother Jeff, his wife Kelly, and their two-year-old son. And beyond that basic premise, there isn’t so
much a narrative as decently realized character moments. Kelly wanted Jenny around to help care for
the child, but upon seeing Jenny’s immature habits is concerned. Jeff is afraid to confront his sister about
her faults because he still wants to be the cool older brother. Jenny convinces Kelly to pursue her
novel-writing profession more vigorously by writing a trashy romance novel to
bring in the money. The film moves from
point to point with a fluidity that resembles real life, and these people seem
real and believable enough where nothing feels out of place or especially
extraordinary. This, however, is a
double-edged sword, because it also means that most of the film is devoid of a
central conflict, and when the film finally does find its defining moments, it
doesn’t dwell and promptly ends before it meanders into incoherence.
However, improvisational films have generally had these
limitations, but make up for it by being visually interesting. Take Shortbus
for example. That was a film that
combined its improvisational style with a thematic purpose and some interesting
camerawork and post-production special effects for its bizarre finale. While there is a theme of family support and
growing up in Happy Christmas, the
technical side of things feels lacking, rarely rising above the level of a
three-camera sitcom. There are no
close-ups, no tracking shots, nothing to make the mundane suburban setting
visually interesting, leaving the actors to carry the film like it was a stage
production. And while the performances
are serviceable and even likeable, they aren’t really good enough to stake the
whole production on.
I can recommend this film for pretty much one thing:
background noise. The prime situation
for watching movie is something to have on as family members begin to arrive for
the holidays, something that you can start watching while you wait, ignore as
people start filtering in, and jump back in at any point without really caring
what happened in between and still be mildly entertained, even while distracted
by real-life banter. However, this is
not a film that works well as a complete artistic work, and while thankfully
short at only eighty minutes, it is not worth the time to watch in its
entirety. A holiday classic this is not.
Huzzah obligatory holiday film review! Let’s move on to the remainder of the year’s
home video releases so we can get to awards season. Thoughts in the comments below.
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