Directed By Castille Landon

Starring – Hero Fiennes Tiffin, Josephine Langford, Louise Lombard

The Plot – The relationship of Tessa Young (Langford) and Hardin Scott (Fiennes-Tiffin) has gone through many difficulties that, on the other hand, have managed to strengthen their union and their love. When the truth about their families has come out, they have both discovered that they are not as different as they thought. Tessa is no longer that sweet, good girl who made it to college, and Hardin is no longer the cruel boy she fell in love with. She is the only person capable of understanding, understanding and calming Hardin, but the secret he hides is so great that it causes her to withdraw from absolutely everything. Even her soulmate.

Rated R for adult language throughout, some sexual content and brief drug material

After Ever Happy | Official Trailer | Prime Video – YouTube

POSITIVES

The fourth time is the charm for a few coveted aspects of production that easily make this the most tolerable of the “After” franchise, for my money. For starters, the cinematography and editing are greatly improved, with lavish splashes of color decorating the backdrops of the New York scenery, as well as scenes unraveling through a natural progression that never feels abruptly halted or prolonged while in the heat of the engagement. To further extend the gratuity towards the latter, the movie’s pacing, while clocking in at a brief 90-minute run time, constantly keeps the narrative moving, all the while leaving much of the unnecessary padding that has crippled the previous films completely off of the table this time. In addition to this, Langford is once again a captivating presence in the depth of her dramatic diatribes that outline the vulnerability and anguish of her disparaging relationship with Hardin. Langford feels like the only actor on set who is energetically investing a nuance to the respect of her character, and not just reading heavily intentioned lines of dialogue that outline her internal struggles. Because of such, Langford is a versatile performer with no shortage of potential, and in the right project could elicit awards consideration for the young actress that she can’t even sniff in a film this emotionally vapid. Finally, “After Ever Happy” is the best in the franchise because it’s the culmination of four films of storylines being built to one cohesive blowout, with tensions feeling at an all-time high for Hardin and Tessa. Not all of the developments register accurately and appropriately, but the ones that do provide credible stakes to the engagement, giving us what feels like the third act in any film, but for 90 minutes of a chapter in its own.

NEGATIVES

Though a few aforementioned aspects of creativity do elicit a superior fourth installment, “After Ever Happy” is ultimately more of the same from what is easily the worst franchise of the Young Adult subgenre of film and books alike. On a framing perspective, it takes a thoroughly documented toxic relationship between two people, encourages audiences to somehow invest in their plights despite their lives being obviously worse when they’re together, then all but conveys that sex can cure everything problematic to their dynamic. This is made all the more bewildering with the promise of change in the constructs and personalities of Tessa and Hardin from the plot but abandoned at the concept with an execution that doesn’t even scratch the surface of character development. Tessa is still a moron driven by love, and Hardin is quite literally the worst person walking the Earth, emoting a selfish, emotionless black hole of devastation that continuously destroys everyone and everything in his path. The script tries to attach sympathy for him in ways that make him a victim from sins of the father, but quite often he is the cause for the chaos that wreck his various relationships, materializing rage spontaneously in ways that feel characteristically tied to a child panting and moaning in a store because their parents wouldn’t buy them the toy they wanted. Tiffin’s performance as the jaded Hardin lacks any subtlety or nuance, trading in logic for these loudly obnoxious outbursts that continuously made me groan, and when combined with the magnitude of monotony that stems from the worst kind of unintentionally hilarious dialogue, cements a protagonist that never for a second earned a shred of empathy or intrigue in ways that make him even remotely tolerable. On the subject of these leads, the lack of chemistry between them elicits these cold and loveless sex sequences that not only materialize during the strangest times in occasionally the strangest places, but also are directed boringly for the moments that should faithfully represent Hardin and Tessa’s unbreakable bond. The musical score during such is so over the top and meandering that it virtually renders the visuals meaningless by how forceful it imbeds the sentiment, and the camera work alters between disjointedly claustrophobic and stagnantly catatonic to craft an uninspiring tempo that continuously disconnects us the longer the scene persists. The problems with the depiction don’t just lend themselves to the steamy splendor, but also to the entire concept of the storytelling itself, which with this fourth and initially intended final chapter spreading itself thinly toward a textually promised sequel, creates more problems for this particular installment. For starters, the material is minimal, stalling the necessary advancements and ensuing character arcs in ways that directly undercut the momentum of the climax, leading towards a premature (Alright, enough with the sexual metaphors) resolution that on its own merit creates enough problems of its own for the integrity of this opportunity. From there, the momentary conflicts materialize and vanish in the blink of an eye, with little to no circumstances or ensuing stakes between, leaving this feeling like a series of episodic conflicts instead of one monumental mishap that could rock the very foundation of this once prosperous relationship. This leaves this film not only feeling incomplete, with an inevitably unfulfilling emphasis towards the finish line of its own respective narrative, but also deduces its value further by plaguing the pivotal moments with an abundance of shameful sequel-baiting for a film that it never even remotely earns, with an ending that on its own could serve as the lasting final impression for a series and protagonist that has grown from past immaturity.

OVERALL
“After Ever Happy” is morally just as backwards as its ridiculous title, with a toxic romance and unfulfilling character growth, that like Hardin, never lives up to the extent of the empty promises that they both continuously shell out. While this is the least offensive effort of the bunch, with some alluring artistic merit and Langford giving her all towards an A’ for effort, the finished product is mostly more of the same: A sparkless, soulless slumber of the Young Adult subgenre, and one that no one over the age of 25 will find even remotely stimulating.

My Grade: 3/10 or F