Relative Happiness
I don’t know what it is with Canada but they are like, the capital of cheesy movies. Did you know most Hallmark movies are filmed in either Georgia or Canada?
Relative Happiness is another novel that was made into a movie, and honestly, I hate/love this movie so much I’ll probably read the novel, just for kicks.
Overview:
Plus-sized 30-year-old Lexie Ivy is a feisty Bed-and-Breakfast owner who desperately needs a date to her sister’s wedding. That’s not an easy quest in small-town Nova Scotia, especially when the most eligible bachelor is Joss, the rough handyman fixing her roof. When handsome, charming guest Adrian arrives, he seems to take an interest in Lexie, but she misreads the situation and soon believes her romantic dreams have slipped away forever. After a series of hilarious mishaps and a few reality checks, Lexie opens her heart and eyes to see that love may be a lot closer than she thought.
This movie took me on a journey. It starts with Lexie, the typical plus-sized girl who loves to bake set against her tall, thin blonde mom and sisters. She’s fun, she’s quirky, but she’s still searching for love. Her best friend, Susie is again, tall, thin, and blonde but from the rougher side of the tracks with a biker boyfriend Ernie, who may or may not have spent time in jail for auto theft. Then, you meet Joss, the rough-around-the-edges construction worker fixing her roof, for a hefty discount thanks to being friends with Ernie. Joss tracks dirty boots into the B&B, drinks from the faucet, and makes a racket first thing in the morning. Lexie’s mom is adamant she has a date to her sister’s wedding, for some reason and Lexie is running out of time.
Enter Adrian. Tall, dark, handsome, and a photographer, Adrian is Lexie’s dream guy. A friendship ensues, but Lexie wants more.
In most rom-coms, this is when hilarious hijinks ensue. Not here, there are multiple cases of infidelity, marriages on the line, death, and disaster throughout this film. At one point, I was laughing and less than 20 minutes later, I was crying. I love that Lexie in no way feels pressured by her romantic interests to change anything about herself. Her fire-red hair, her weight, her niche style, or her love of baking. It’s a refreshing take on an all-too-common plotline.
The main actress is fantastic, she brings Lexie from a potential 2-dimensional stereotype to a real, relatable woman. Susie and Cynthia, Lexie’s best friend and mom respectively create a strong triangle of women that carry this film. The dialogue is choppy but well-intended. While I don’t plan on reading the source material, Relative Happiness is a rom-com that brings a lot of real-world issues into its idyllic little town.
