Review: Are You Happy Now?

Synopsis: Adam thinks marrying Gina will save his life, but to her, true love might mean divorce.
Director: David Beinstein
Stars: Josh Ruben, Ismenia Mendes

For years the social norm has been, you meet someone . . . date for a while . . . maybe move in together . . . and then get married. Getting married is the goal . . . isn’t it?

Leaving my own skepticism of that order out of it, that seems to be the basis of this film. Josh Ruben plays Adam who is in a relationship with Gina (Ismenia Mendes) and he decides to propose. She reluctantly agrees and then the two of them get married.

Happy Ending? Not quite. After the I do’s things change and not necessarily for the better.

This film is full of quirky characters, including a character who seems to be dealing with mental health issues and an overarching commentary on relationships.

Put together, this film didn’t work for me. I really enjoyed Ruben the last time I saw him on screen in the movie Scare Me, a film he also directed, and Mendes is the best part of this film but overall, the editing of this film was poor.

The film had strong scenes and then there is a chicken fast-food restaurant with a subplot that just didn’t work for me.

It’s as if instead of letting some storylines die in the creation room, this film was treated like a big pot of gumbo where the director said, ‘put it in . . . PUT EVERYTHING IN!’

Some gumbo is delicious, Are You Happy Now is not that kind of gumbo.

Considering that Beinstein edited15 films before making his directorial debut, my expectations for the film editing were higher.

The film disappoints. To borrow from online dating vernacular, when it comes to this film, swipe left.

Grade: D

Watch the movie trailer: