Happy Place – Review and Summary
An engagement party would be the perfect place for someone questioning their sexuality to find their first same sex partner, right?
Spoiler Alert: This summary and review contains spoilers.
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“Happy Place” Film Details
- Director(s): Sara Monge
- Writer(s): Sara Monge
- Public Release Date (Film Festival – NewFest (More Coverage Of The 2025 Film Festival):
- Runtime: 0 Hour(s) and 11 Minutes
- Primary Language: English
- Genre(s): Comedy, LGBT+
- Content Rating: Not Rated
- Official Site Link
Movie Summary
Anna is invited to an engagement party of her roommate’s cousin, and things are awkward. Recently, Anna has been questioning her sexuality, thinking of dating women, so her roommate figured a lesbian engagement party would somehow be a good place for Anna to start exploring.
However, Anna is ignorant, in an innocent way, and it isn’t until meeting Kacey that it seems she may have met her match. But, between Anna feeling out of place, to the point of thinking of dating men again, and timing for Kacey, could it be too late for what could be between them?
Cast and Characters
Anna (An-li Bogan)
- Check out other productions we’ve covered starring this actor: [Link to Actor’s Tag]
- Character Summary: It isn’t 100% clear what triggered Anna’s recent interest in women, beyond giving up on men to a point, but fitting in with the queer community is hard for a girl whose understanding of being a lesbian is that of a straight man.
Kacey (Marta Piekarz)
- Check out other productions we’ve covered starring this actor: [Link to Actor’s Tag]
- Character Summary: Kacey is a smoker, has that too-cool-for-school look, and is one of the first people at the engagement party to give Anna the grace she so desperately needs.
What To Expect In “Happy Place” (Not Rated) – Content Overview
- Dialog:
- Cursing: Occasional
- Miscellaneous:
- Drinking: Yes
- Smoking: Yes
Review and Commentary
Highlight(s)
- This Is The Saddest Thing I’ve Ever Watched, And It Isn’t Even A Drama
Overall
Our Rating (83/100): Positive (Worth Seeing)
While Happy Place is a comedy, there is this sense that, when it comes to Anna’s storyline, it isn’t necessarily funny where she is at in life. Men have become like the adults in the Peanuts cartoons and the people she can understand, women, they don’t understand her, and she trips so often in her attempts to communicate that it is disheartening. In some ways, not to discount Anna is young and attractive, there is this sense of the struggle of coming out or finding yourself post-high school and college.
To me, what we see with Anna is what happens when you don’t have those built-in communities because you go to the same school, see each other around, and this leads to a level of familiarity where exploring seems safer. Never mind, you are younger, so no one really has much in the way of experience, so there is some form of grace in your interactions and ignorance.
Though this doesn’t mean we should discount Kacey’s struggle, who has been out since they were 13. While they have community, there is this sense that while they may have found peace, they may not be happy. It almost presents the idea that joy always feels like it is escaping you and even when you think you are somewhere you should be happy, comfortable, maybe thrive, there is always the next room, next person, and you have to question should you stay in this position you worked for, or is what you are used to, or keep on that journey in the pursuit of happiness, even if there is the possibility you’d end up in a similar room with different colors.
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