Happy Anniversary is a 2018 comedy about a couple on their three-year anniversary who need to decide whether to stay together or call it quits.
Adorable couples on the rocks trying to handle life together while everything around them is even further out of whack is part and parcel to the modern romcom genre. It ain’t easy being in love. Jared Stern‘s latest Happy Anniversary is another in a long line of these flicks, following pretty closely along all the slightly circuitous routes we’ve come to expect, and yet, like many in this crowd, is plenty cheerful with ups and downs that make this a pleasant and very satisfying little gem that does just enough to win the day.
Sam (Ben Schwartz) and Mollie (Noël Wells) are about to celebrate their third anniversary as a couple, though things are not totally on the up and up. They live together in a nice home, have a dorky dog named Donny Woofington and are constantly on each others nerves, even though they can’t stand to be apart. They quip and flirt and bite and bark as they deal with the fact that time has changed them. She misses the old romantic Sam and frets that they’ll end up like her own parents, Aldo (Joe Pantoliano) and Diane (Annie Potts), who sleep in separate rooms and rarely speak. Sam is content with the routines and habits, working with his friend Ed (Rahul Kohli) on a T-shirt printing company. When a breakup seem imminent, the two stroll through their past and must decide why they sparked in the first place.
Naturally, even as the film spins in comedy, it’s centered on the brutal truths of being in love. Stern, who also wrote the screenplay, keeps things talky, Sam and Mollie a rapid-fire team who trade barbs and charms like soldiers in a foxhole and for most of it, is pretty funny. It skips around in time as the couple reflect on their time together, from when they first met at a bar as he was meeting someone else, to living out their sexual fantasies, to buying their dog. We learn that Sam can’t make up his mind about anything and Mollie is pretty set on exactly what she wants. However, they have a terrific connection, one that keeps them funny even when they are fighting.
This eventually leads them to split for a whole day, with Sam spending that time with Ed, who does nothing but admit Mollie is all wrong for him, and Mollie visits with her parents, her mother barely listening and her father, who is dying of cancer, offering heavily-accented bits of wisdom. Naturally, the two reflect on what kind of people they really are, and well, things get complicated.
Never is Happy Anniversary ever believable, but I really don’t think it’s meant to be. In fact, it sort of has an off-off Broadway stage feel to it, with a Neil Simon slash Nora Ephron edge. It’s sappy, it’s corny, it’s romantic, and it’s almost always warm and inviting. You feel welcome in Sam and Mollie’s world and if you’ve ever been in any kind of long-term relationship, will feel relatable. It’s stronger in the start than it is in the end, losing a bit of steam in the last third as it drags out a few stretched out gags, but nonetheless remains a fun and entertaining watch.