Happy Christmas (film)

Happy Christmas

Theatrical release poster
Directed by Joe Swanberg
Produced by Joe Swanberg
Alicia Van Couvering
Peter Gilbert
Written by Joe Swanberg
Starring Anna Kendrick
Melanie Lynskey
Lena Dunham
Joe Swanberg
Mark Webber
Music by Dominic Lewis
Cinematography Ben Richardson
Edited by Joe Swanberg
Production
company
Lucky Coffee Productions
Distributed by Magnolia Pictures
Release dates
  • January 19, 2014 (Sundance)
  • July 25, 2014 (United States)
Running time
 88 minutes
Country United States
Language English
Budget $70,000
Box office $30,312[1]

Happy Christmas is a 2014 American dramedy written, produced and directed by Joe Swanberg. It stars Swanberg, Anna Kendrick, Melanie Lynskey, Lena Dunham and Mark Webber. Like most of Swanberg's previous features, the film's dialogue was entirely improvised.[2]

The film premiered at the 2014 Sundance Film Festival (where it was nominated for the Grand Jury Prize in the U.S. Dramatic Competition)[3] on January 19, 2014.[4] Magnolia Pictures and Paramount Pictures jointly acquired the international distribution rights prior to the film's premiere screening.[5] It was released theatrically on July 25, 2014 in the United States.[6] The film is currently available for streaming on the Internet service Netflix.[7]

Synopsis

Irresponsible 20-something Jenny (Kendrick) arrives in Chicago to live with her older brother Jeff (Swanberg), a young filmmaker living a happy existence with his novelist wife Kelly (Lynskey) and their two-year-old son. Jenny's arrival shakes up their quiet domesticity as she and her friend Carson (Dunham) instigate an evolution in Kelly's life and career.

Cast

Reception

The film has been met with positive reviews. On Rotten Tomatoes, the film currently holds a 78% "fresh" rating, based on 58 reviews. The site's consensus reads: "Intelligent, well-acted, and satisfyingly low-key, Happy Christmas marks another step in prolific filmmaker Joe Swanberg's creative evolution."[8] On Metacritic, the film has a score of 70 out of 100, indicating "generally favorable reviews."[9]

References

  1. ↑ http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=happychristmas.htm
  2. ↑ "Joe Swanberg Talks HAPPY CHRISTMAS". Retrieved July 21, 2014.
  3. ↑ "Sundance: Paramount & Magnolia Team For ‘Happy Christmas’". Retrieved January 16, 2014.
  4. ↑ "Sundance: ‘Happy Christmas’ With Anna Kendrick, Lena Dunham Picked Up by Magnolia, Paramount". Retrieved January 18, 2014.
  5. ↑ "Pre-Sundance, Magnolia and Paramount Scoop Up Joe Swanberg's 'Happy Christmas'". Retrieved January 20, 2014.
  6. ↑ "CLIP AND POSTER OF HAPPY CHRISTMAS STARRING ANNA KENDRICK". Retrieved July 30, 2014.
  7. ↑ http://www.netflix.com/WiMovie/70299164. Retrieved July 30, 2014. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  8. ↑ "Happy Christmas". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved 2014-07-30.
  9. ↑ "Happy Christmas Reviews". Metacritic. 2014-07-25. Retrieved 2014-07-30.

External links