Really Happy Someday

Directed by J Stevens, Really Happy Someday follows a recently-transitioned singer (Breton Lalama’s Z) as he attempts to regain a foothold as a performer – with the narrative detailing his relationship with partner Danielle (Khadijah Roberts-Abdullah) and eventual decision to take a job at a local bar. It’s small-scale stuff that’s employed to periodically-compelling yet mostly uninvolving effect by Stevens, as the filmmaker, armed with a script written alongside Lalama, delivers a sluggish and often disastrously uneventful drama that’s rarely, if ever, as engrossing or compelling as one might’ve anticipated – with the picture’s arms-length sensibilities compounded by a central character that remains barely-sketched-out from start to finish. And while the picture admittedly deserves credit for approaching its tough subject matter head-on, Really Happy Someday‘s plodding atmosphere ensures that it grows less and less interesting as it progresses – which, in turn, prevents the viewer from wholeheartedly connecting to the protagonist’s ongoing exploits and endeavors. By the time the agreeable, satisfying conclusion rolls around, Really Happy Someday has cemented its place as a rather half-baked first feature that feels like it could (and should) have been so much better.

** out of ****