The Netflix Rom-Com We’re Totally Obsessed With
Who doesn’t love a good romcom? Hot on the heels of the Reese Witherspoon starring Your Place or Mine, Netflix is giving us more romantic comedy goodness in Happiness for Beginners, an adaptation of the novel by Katherine Center. Led by Ellie Kemper of The Office and Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt fame, the upcoming movie centres around the actor as the recently divorced Helen, who takes up a survival course as a way to meet new people- and potentially find love again.
Here’s everything we know about Happiness For Beginners
Center’s 2015 novel was a best-selling success and is finally being adapted into a movie following her other book The Lost Husband shooting to No.1 on Netflix back when it was released in 2020. Feeling lost following her divorce and wanting to get back into the world, Helen is encouraged by her brother to sign up to a backcountry survival course billed as “The Adventure of a Lifetime!” A backpacking hike through the Appalachian Trail, her new venture provides a chance to prove herself and push her limits, as well as potentially find someone new to get to know. Starring opposite Kemper is Luke Grimes (Yellowstone, the Fifty Shades Trilogy) as Jake, a fellow backpacker who might just be the man Helen is looking for.
Unlike the similarly backpacking-themed Wilderness which is all about a relationship on the brink, Happiness for Beginners is definitely a romcom, with Hannah trying to move on and find a positive new leaf in life, not unlike her characters of Erin in The Office and Kimmy in Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt. In the book, Helen’s hiking expedition takes her to Wyoming, swatting mosquitos, weathering a blizzard and dealing with some of the oddball characters she meets along the way. But she starts to find a new appreciation for her annoying brother, and as the show’s synopsis puts it: “Sometimes, you have to get really lost in order to find yourself.”
Also set to star are Nico Santos (Crazy Rich Asians) as Hugh, Ben Cook (West Side Story) as Beckett, Alexander Koch (Under the Dome) and Mary Neely (Valley Girl). There’s no definitive release date yet, nor a trailer, but it’s set to arrive on the streaming service this summer.
For more exciting new Netflix releases, check out our list of what to stream on 2023
