Happy Holidays Review
By David Kempler
Not a Holiday to be Celebrated
At this time of year we are inundated with holiday flicks. Thanksgiving and Christmas have become marketing gimmicks in film just like in the rest of American society. These movies can be touching, sarcastic, joyous, slapstick, or dead-serious. Every possibility has already been covered. With Christmas being celebrated earlier every year, we can surely expect Santa-related films opening on July 4th in the near future.
"Happy Holidays" is an Indie attempt that tells the tale of Patrick Donovan (Paul Hungerford), a homosexual man in the Northeast who cancels his trip with his life partner at Christmas time in order to help his old buddy, Alden J. Winslow III (John B. Crye) who is coming back to their hometown after his relationship with his wife has crumbled. They are joined by another old buddy, Kirby Chase (Thomas Rhoads), who is also back in town, to attend his father's funeral.
We learn that all of them are experiencing some problems (who isn't?) and the entire film is spent on each character revealing and having revealed to them what it is that is ailing them. Interestingly, "Happy Holidays" manages to accomplish something that you don't see every day. There is not a single character that you will either like or dislike, never mind love or hate. They are just caricatures floating through a snow-white background where nothing very important ever occurs. The characters feel otherwise, acting as if they are all experiencing life-defining moments. On paper, perhaps; on-screen, definitely not.
Eventually the characters all achieve an epiphany of sorts. Patrick's epiphany makes him out to be a nitwit, totally unaware of everything that he has ever experienced, and he is supposed to be the "normal" one who is in touch with his inner self. His final scene with his father makes one wonder if he has ever even met his father before, let alone had a father-son relationship with him.
"Happy Holidays" is shot in black-and-white and, while the story and acting are weak, the film's direction isn't as bad. Many of the scenes are well-composed and perhaps the writer/director, James Ferguson has a future as a director. Judging by this effort, it won't be as a writer. He will certainly need a more gifted cast next time around, too. Hope for coal in your stocking rather than a DVD of this waste of time.
