HAPPINESS FOR BEGINNERS

Here's the honest tension. This is, by the numbers, a four-star film — a Netflix romantic comedy so well made, well cast, and genuinely touching that we'd happily recommend it, if it weren't for what comes out of its characters' mouths.

The story itself is mostly innocent and kind. A joyless divorcée takes a two-week hike to rediscover herself, and finds — instead of solitude — a colorful group of fellow travelers who teach her that living life alone rather than supporting others is the wrong path. The lesson lands without ever turning saccharine.

But the dialogue carries a heavy load of foul language, a hike leader leads a prayer to "Mother Nature," and one supporting character is homosexual. None of that makes this a film for kids or younger teens.

So: if you're an adult who can look past pervasive profanity to enjoy a warm, funny, beautifully shot romance, this one's an easy stream at home — where you control the room. Choosing for the whole family? Choose something else.

Helen is newly divorced, uptight, and joyless. So she signs up for a two-week hiking trip in rural Connecticut — solitude, fresh air, and time to figure out her life's next chapter.

Solitude isn't in the cards. Her goofy younger brother's best friend, Jake — a kind, good-looking doctor who's long carried a crush on her — hears she's going and joins the hike without telling her. Helen is not pleased. Then there's the rest of the group: an airheaded day trader, a Wall Street speed-walker, a woman who can't keep her vow of silence, and a tour guide who talks like a hippie. The trail does the rest.

Four stars, and they're earned. This is polished, satisfying filmmaking. The supporting characters are exceptionally well-drawn and acted — the audience laughs with them and finds them emotionally relatable — and each hides a deeper longing that surfaces in touching moments that never turn cloying.

The scenery is gorgeous. The music score is inventive and country-flavored. The funny lines come frequently and land. And writer-director Vicky Wight pulls it all together into a package that's both entertaining and inspirational — a filmmaker to watch.

That the craft is this strong is exactly why the content problems sting. The comedy, the warmth, and the emotional payoff are all here, working. It's a very good movie that spends its considerable goodwill unwisely on language it never needed.

At heart, this film believes something true: that we aren't meant to go through life alone. Helen's whole arc is a movement out of isolation and toward other people — learning that supporting others, not walling herself off, is the path to real joy. That's a moral instinct Scripture affirms, and the film delivers it with kindness rather than preaching.

But the worldview underneath is mixed. Alongside its moral and romantic elements runs a pagan streak: the tour guide, played mostly for comedy, leads the confused group in a prayer to "Mother Nature," bowing their heads to creation rather than the Creator. It's treated lightly, but it's there.

The film also includes a homosexual supporting character — a warm, funny man who says he finds another man attractive. The movie presents him affectionately as one of its most likable figures; viewers should know the film treats his orientation as simply part of the group, and weigh that as they will.

The longing this movie names so well — for connection, for a way out of loneliness — is real, and it points past the trail. We were made for one another, yes, but first for the God who "sets the lonely in families" (Psalm 68:6) and who declared from the start that "it is not good that the man should be alone" (Genesis 2:18).

This is the frustrating kind of film: genuinely well made, genuinely warm, and genuinely worth an adult's evening — held back by language it didn't need and a worldview that wanders. For grown-ups who can look past all that, our answer is wait for home — adults only, where you set the terms. Planning family movie night instead? Start with our latest family-friendly picks.