Happy Christmas

Writer-director Joe Swanberg follows up his terrific Drinking Buddies with this fun vehicle for Anna Kendrick and Melanie Lynskey. Kendrick plays Jenny, who has recently broken up with her boyfriend and goes to live with her brother and his wife (played by Swanberg and Lynskey) in Chicago. Once there, she commences partying with her pal (Lena Dunham of TV’s Girls) and disrupting her brother’s household, which includes the nephew she is supposed to be babysitting. The movie feels as if it has been mostly improvised, especially when the amazingly funny toddler is on screen. The stars, and Swanberg, handle the freewheeling nature of the film well. Kendrick and Lynskey shine in their scenes together, while Mark Webber is decent as Jenny’s new love interest. Swanberg is an interesting director for sure. Many of the stars in this film, and the likes of Sam Rockwell, Ron Livingston and Rosemarie DeWitt, are slated to appear in his next film, Digging for Fire, a movie I will be eagerly anticipating.