Butler's Cinema Scene

Lena Dunham, Anna Kendrick and Jude Swanberg

“HAPPY CHRISTMAS”  My rating: B (Now at the Screenland Armour)

minutes | MPAA rating: R

Either indie auteur Joe Swanberg is hitting his groove or I’ve finally warmed to his low-keyed style .

Whatever the case, “Happy Christmas” is a genuinely good family comedy/drama that unfolds without either sitcomish excess or melodramatic improbabilities.

“Happy Christmas” is the 18th feature  Swanberg has directed in the last nine years, which may be some sort of American record. I’ve found much of his work underwhelming.

In the last couple of years he gave us “24 Exposures,” an erotic thriller about a sleep-around photographer that made my skin crawl, and “Drinking Buddies,” a modest dramady about two brewery workers (Olivia Wilde, Jake Johannson) who can’t quite admit they mean more to one another than just a few friendly after-work beers. “Drinking Buddies” now feels like a dry run for “Happy Christmas.”

The set up is ridiculously simple. Young marrieds Kelly and Kevin (Melanie Lynskey, Mark Webber) are preparing to take in his younger sister Jenny (Anna Kendrick), who is no the rebound from unspecified bad luck which most likely involves failures in both the man and career departments.

Jenny isn’t a bad person, but she has self-destructive tendencies. On her first night in town she goes to a party with her childhood friend Carson (Lena Dunham) and gets so blotto that Kevin must drive over in the middle of the night to retrieve her.

Well, anyone can have a bad night, right?  Except that Jenny makes a habit of it. She drinks, smokes pot and lolls around with a guy she’s met (played by writer/director Swanberg). It’s not like she’s mean or cruel — just thoughtless in a way that suggests either narcissism or, more likely, really low self esteem.

Trouble is, Kelly and Kevin have been counting on Jenny to care for their year-old son Jude (Jude Swanberg, the director’s child) and it becomes increasingly obvious that she cannot be trusted  with something so precious.

Melanie Lynskey, Mark Webber

Given the sort of emotional straightjacket in which he usually wraps his story, it’s amazing how much feeling Swanberg generates. “Happy Christmas” is stubbornly realistic and anti-dramatic.  And yet we really come to know most of these characters.

Kendrick is quietly spectacular as a self-absorbed woman whom you don’t know whether to hug or give a swift kick in the ass. Without actually revealing the sources of Jenny’s anxieties, she presents a compelling portrait of a young woman who is a mystery to herself.

As Kevin, Webber nicely negotiates the character’s conflicting feelings toward his sibling, since he clearly envies her party animal style and is all too easily enticed to share a joint.

Lynskey’s Kelly is the voice of reason, yet despite her demands that Jenny clear out, she’s a good heart and, in her own way, very fond of her sister-in-law.

Now attention must be paid to young Jude Swanberg, a scene stealing little butterball who — I swear to God — actually performs on cue.  Either that or the grownups around him are so good at tailoring their performances to his baby behavior that he seems like he’s actually acting.  Whatever the case, this isn’t even great child acting.  It’s great infant acting.

Those looking for a tidy ending will be disappointed. Understanding your situation doesn’t mean you’ve got a solution. But Swanberg’s characters do learn about themselves and each other. Sometimes you’ve got to settle for that.

| Robert W. Butler