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Luke Grimes considers Hugh Grant his North Star when it comes to acting in romantic comedies.

Grimes, known for his role as Kayce Dutton in “Yellowstone,” stars as Jake in Netflix’s romantic comedy “Happiness for Beginners,” adapted from the novel of the same name by Katherine Center. The film, which is currently streaming, marks a shift in genre for the drama actor.

“[Hugh]’s absolutely incredible at the genre, and I could never be as good as him at that. But, you know, that was where I was trying to land the plane,” Grimes told TheWrap in an interview conducted before the SAG-AFTRA strike. “I just think he’s so good at being the straight guy, also being sort of quirky and funny enough in himself to carry it. He also lets the funny people be funny. A lot of my favorite rom-coms have Hugh Grant, and I talked to Vicki [Wight] the director,...

Adapted from the 2015 novel by Katherine Center, Netflix’s “Happiness for Beginners” largely takes place in the wilderness, where different kinds of people are forced to bond while braving the elements as they hike the Appalachian Trail. Led by “Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt” and “The Office” alum Ellie Kemper, the gaggle of goofballs provides laughs of all kinds as well as some heartfelt moments.

Zealous camp guide Bennett (Ben Cook) keeps everything interesting, especially when he scolds Helen (Kemper) for her careless mistakes on the hike and praises Jake (Luke Grimes) for all of his perfect moves in setting up and taking down camp. Nico Santos and Gus Birney even more humor to this romantic comedy story.

Here’s who plays who in “Happiness for Beginners”:

Helen (Ellie Kemper)

Ellie Kemper portrays Helen, who wants to start over after she divorces her husband. She experienced infidelity and a miscarriage during their marriage.

Plot: Helen has always lived her life as far from the edge as possible. Finding herself newly divorced and a little lost, Helen decides she needs a reset and signs up for the “Adventure of a Lifetime!” The adventure is a backcountry survival course hiking the Appalachian Trail with a group of oddball strangers. From the beginning, Helen’s plan to be the best hiker is tested and she finds more than just herself in the wilderness.

Review: Call them schmaltzy, cheesy, dopey, or whatever other of Snow White’s pals you like, but romantic comedies tend to earn a bad rap. For every classic romcom like When Harry Met Sally or Notting Hill, there are countless of cliche and rote takes on the genre out there. With the popularity of Lifetime and Hallmark original movies, it has become increasingly challenging for quality romantic films that are also funny to...

The premise of Vicky Wight’s Happiness for Beginners sounds like a promising invitation to indulge in an offbeat romantic comedy. It’s a Netflix offering with Hallmark Channel roots: A 30something woman embarks on a journey through the woods to recover from her divorce. What will she find on her sojourn? A renewed sense of hope? Confidence? Romance?

If we stick to the rules of the genre, our heroine Helen (Ellie Kemper) will have it all. Peace lies in the towering trees of upstate New York, where her wilderness survival course takes place. Hope looks like the bonds she makes with her fellow campers. Love takes the shape of a familiar face who helps her remember a past self. In exchange for our attention, we will be rewarded with a couple worth rooting for and learn some truths about life. We might even consider checking out Katherine Center’s novel,...

Sitcom star Ellie Kemper gets the chance to subvert her usually chipper screen persona in “Happiness for Beginners,” writer-director Vicky Wright’s third feature and — following 2020’s Leslie Bibb starrer “The Lost Husband” — her second adaptation of a Katherine Center novel. Kemper plays dour divorcee Helen, who as the film opens is about to head off on a group hiking vacation, in the hope that it might snap her out of her post-split blues. Unbeknownst to Helen, her brother’s hunky doctor friend Jake (Luke Grimes) has booked himself onto the same trip, for reasons that are crystal-clear to the audience from the moment an exasperated Helen tells him, “God, you’re so annoying!”

We can tell immediately that we are operating under the jurisdiction of romantic comedy rules from the fact that Helen does not find Jake appearing unannounced on her trip — with only a thinly sketched excuse for...

"If you like him, just tell him." Netflix has revealed the official trailer for a romantic comedy "adventure" called Happiness For Beginners, made by an Irish filmmaker named Vicky Wright. Netflix will release the film streaming starting at the end of July, if anyone needs something light and fun for an emotional boost nowadays. Helen has always lived her life as far from the edge as possible. Newly divorced, she joins a quirky group of strangers on a survival course for the "Adventure of a Lifetime" with the hope of learning how to live - and love - again. She discovers through this experience that sometimes, you have to get really lost in order to find yourself. Happiness For Beginners stars Ellie Kemper, Luke Grimes, Nico Santos, Blythe Danner, Ben Cook, Shayvawn Webster, Esteban Benito, Gus Birney, and Julia Shiplett. This looks nicely easy going & uplifting to watch, especially with Kemper brightening up every frame.

Luke Grimes as Jake and Ellie Kemper as Helen in ‘Happiness for Beginners’ (Photo by Barbara Nitke / Netflix)

Netflix has released the first official photos from the upcoming film adaptation of Katherine Center’s bestselling novel Happiness for Beginners. Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt‘s Ellie Kemper and Yellowstone‘s Luke Grimes star in the comedy premiering on July 27, 2023.

Kemper and Grimes are joined by Nico Santos, Blythe Danner, and Benjamin Cook. Shayvawn Webster, Esteban Benito, and Julia Shiplett also star.

Describing her attraction to the project, Kemper told Netflix’s Tudum she believed it “was such a well-told story of one woman’s experience in getting to know herself better.” Kemper added, “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.”

Vicky Wight adapted Center’s book and directs.

All drugs and alcohol are illegal except on the day of the Binge. Several years after their first Binge, best friends Hags, Andrew, Sarah, and Kimi face the realities of young adulthood as the annual Binge Day is moved to Christmas Eve. Amidst the chaos, Hags plans a proposal to Sarah while Andrew deals with his rocky relationships with his family and his girlfriend Kimmi. Will they survive this holiday season? Like the original film, the sequel is set in a near future where all drinking and drugs are banned except for on one glorious day known as The Binge. This year, that day happens to miraculously land on Christmas. The new holiday adventure will feature magical storybooks, catchy songs, stop-motion animation… and drugs! Lots of them! Merry Bingemas! Cast: Eduardo Franco, Dexter Darden, Zainne Saleh, Marta Piekarz, Danny Trejo, Tony Cavalero, Nick Swardson, Kaitlin Olson, Tim Meadows, Paul Scheer,...

The new holiday comedy feature "It's A Wonderful Binge" is written and directed by Jordan VanDina, starring Eduardo Franco, Dexter Darden, Zainne Saleh, Marta Piekarz, Danny Trejo, Tony Cavalero, Nick Swardson, Kaitlin Olson, Tim Meadows, Paul Scheer, Patty Guggenheim, Esteban Benito, Eileen Galindo and Karen Maruyama, streaming December 9, 2022 on Hulu:

"...all drugs and alcohol are illegal except on the day of the 'Binge'. Several years after their first Binge, best friends 'Hags', 'Andrew', 'Sarah' and 'Kimi' face the realities of young adulthood as the annual 'Binge Day' is moved to 'Christmas Eve'. 

"Now amidst the chaos, Hags plans a proposal to Sarah while Andrew deals with rocky relationships with his family and girlfriend. Will they survive this holiday season...?"

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The mystery continues to thicken on Hulu’s hit comedy Only Murders in the Building and we have an exclusive sneak peek at what’s ahead in Episode 6, “To Protect and Serve… Tamales.” Picking up where the last installment left off, a clip featuring the first few moments of the show’s next chapter teases a deeper dive into the evidence Mabel (Selena Gomez) unveiled at the tattoo parlor. Standing around the parlor’s pool table where she dumped out a bundle of jewelry she found in Tim Kono’s (Julian Cihi) apartment, she, Charles (Steve Martin), Oliver (Martin Short), pal Oscar (Aaron Dominguez), and cousin Tavo (Esteban Benito) evaluate the goods. (Credit: Hulu) “We continued staring at the jewels for what felt like a beat too long,” Oliver says, beginning to narrate the moment in live time, no doubt in hopes of using it for the podcast he’s...

Stars: Skyler Gisondo, Dexter Darden, Vince Vaughn, Eduardo Franco, Grave Van Dien, Zainne Saleh, Esteban Benito, Tony Cavalero, Hayes MacArthur | Written by Jordan VanDina | Directed by Jeremy Garelick

You’ve heard of The Purge, now here’s The Binge, a satirical teen comedy with a similar set-up to the horror franchise, only focused on drugs and alcohol. As such, it has a great comic cast and delivers a number of decent laughs, though there’s also a strong sense of missed opportunity.

Set in the not-too-distant future, The Binge imagines a world where drugs and alcohol have been outlawed, except for one 12 hour period each year, a night known as The Binge. Over footage of real-life drunken incidents, a narrator who sounds a lot like Morgan Freeman (but is actually Josh Robert Thompson) tells us that the science is sound – after binging on drugs and alcohol for the first time,...

Hulu has released the trailer for The Binge, which premieres this Friday. The footage is booze and drug-fueled spoof of The Purge with some hints of Superbad for good measure. In the movie, the not-so-distant future finds that the world is sober and the United States is thriving, due to its sobriety. However, one day out of the year, it is legal to do drugs and drink alcohol for 12 hours, which is like a far-less violent version of The Purge.

This Hulu original stars Skyler Gisondo (Booksmart), Dexter Darden (The Maze Runner) and Eduardo Franco (Blockers) as teens at American High who are about to become Binge legends, though they don't know that yet. Vince Vaughn stars as American High's Principal Carleson, who is also the father of the girl Gisondo's Griffin character desperately wants to ask out. While the boys get invited to the main party, it's going to...

Full disclosure: I dislike The Purge film franchise intensely. In particular, the sequels have expanded on a potentially good genre idea and just become absolute dreck. So, a comedic satire of the whole thing contained strong possibilities for me. I’d 100% be on board with something of the sort. At the same time, to only partially tackle the concept would just lead to a mess, and that’s where we are with The Binge. At times, this is an amusing lowest common denominator comedy. At other times, however, cringingly unfunny, almost disregarding its own premise in the hope of capitalizing on a joke that’s never going to work. Dropping this weekend on Hulu, it’s far too hit or miss to recommend. The movie is a comedy that satirizes The Purge and its central conceit. Here, a time period in the near future has descended into such chaos that...

A weirdly tame, let’s-all-get-wasted riff on “The Purge” from the team behind such solid youth-focused comedies as “Banana Split” and “Big Time Adolescence,” Hulu original “The Binge” imagines an alternate America where all drugs and alcohol are illegal, except during a 12-hour window each year, at which time anything goes. , treating intoxication as the punchline rather than the setup for what should have been a more subversive satire.

If only the country’s Puritan forefathers, or the teetotalers behind Prohibition, could see where their influence has steered us! Screenwriter Jordan VanDina (who’s also working on the “Animaniacs” reboot) has a few genuinely rowdy ideas up his sleeve — including an epic case of a driving under the influence and a shootout involving the world’s smallest crossbow — all of which is heightened by some reasonably inspired improvisation, especially from Mvp Vince Vaughn as a wildly inappropriate high school principal.