Ellie Kemper, who played Erin Hannon on The Office, stars in the Netflix movie Happiness for Beginners, which premieres July 27. She plays Helen, a newly divorced woman who joins a group of strangers on a survival course that promises the “Adventure of a Lifetime!” and involves hiking the Appalachian Trail.
“From the beginning, Helen’s plan to be the best hiker is tested and she finds more than just herself in the wilderness,” said Netflix.
Luke Grimes plays Helen’s new love interest, Jake. Nico Santos, Ben Cook and Blythe Danner are also in the cast.
The movie is based on the novel by Katherine Center, which came out in 2015. Vicky Wight directs. She also directed The Lost Husband, based on another Center novel. The Lost Husband is on Netflix as well.
Kemper also played Kimmy in The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt.
“I thought it was such a well-told story of one woman’s experience in getting to know herself better,” Kemper told the Netflix marketing arm Tudum. “I was immediately excited about the prospect of playing a woman whose outlook on life, when we first meet her, isn’t so sunny. I’ve played a lot of optimistic rubes, and Helen was neither.”
Geoff Linville and Berry Meyerowitz produce the movie.
A New York Times review called Happiness For Beginners “inoffensive to a fault.”
“Kemper and Grimes have enough chemistry to keep the plot afloat, when it doesn’t feel like it’s gingerly treading water,” it continues. “Rather than shooting for the fences in grand gestures or raunchy humor, as so many rom-coms do, Happiness for Beginners stays polite. It’s destined to be thrown on in the background of a well-kept Airbnb after a long day of hiking in the Northeast.”
A Hollywood Reporter review called the movie “listless.”
