After Ever Happy – movie review
It seems to be a film a year in the “After” teen-romance franchise, and now we’re onto the fourth. Unless you’ve seen the others you might find it difficult to follow the threads because the action just starts with a presumption of character knowledge. The series began with After in 2019, followed by After We Collided, then After We Fell and now After Ever Happy. The movies chart the tumultuous relationship between American good girl Tessa Young (Josephine Langford) and moody Brit Hardin Scott (Hero Fiennes-Tiffin). They’re based on the popular series of books written by New York Times best-selling author Anna Todd.
This one picks up where After We Fell left off, namely at the London wedding of Hardin’s mother, Trish (Louise Lombard). Still coming to terms with the bombshell that Christian Vance (Stephen Moyer) is his father, Hardin struggles with anger and addiction issues. So, he is in a bad way and makes a series of decidedly questionable choices. Try as she does to get through to him, he pushes Tessa away. He stays in London and she returns to Seattle, where she suffers a tragedy. That’s when he realises he has been a selfish jerk and attempts to right his wrongs.
Problem is she doesn’t trust him and is not sure if she can save him without sacrificing herself. He is determined to win her back, even when she decides to move to New York. For him it is about biding his time and choosing his moment to step back into her life. But even when he does, it is never going to be smooth sailing.
The writer Sharon Soboil and director Castille Landon of the third film have returned for this fourth. The scripts in these movies have always been the stuff of soap opera and After Ever Happy is no different. It is strictly lightweight fare, which would be more at home on a streaming service than on the big screen. The constant on-again, off-again on continuous loop wears thin pretty quickly.
The acting is hardly top shelf either; mind you both the leads have their roles down pat. Josephine Langford plays sweet well enough, while Hero Fiennes-Tiffin’s pout really grates, although that is clearly the way his persona was created.
There’s undoubtedly an audience for this kind of pap, otherwise the producers wouldn’t keep churning them out. The best way to enjoy After Ever Happy is to simply let it wash over you, without trying to be critical. Familiarity with what you’re in for will help.
Alex First
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Alex First is a Melbourne based journalist and communications specialist. He contributes to The Blurb on film and theatre.