The “After” series of books started out on Wattpad (a website/app that allows anyone to write their own stories and books). This Wattpad-turned-best selling series of novels has turned into best selling movies. The fourth movie installment of this series, called “After Ever Happy,” was released to theaters for two nights only, Sept. 7 and 8. Those two days sold out instantly.

I was fortunate enough to claim a ticket for one of the showings before they sold out completely. Each of the movies seem to have little connection to the books that they were adapted from, but the major events survived the adaptation into the movie. Buying tickets for this movie was well worth it.

In this movie, Hardin and Tessa are working through many difficult problems. Hardin is extremely thick-headed and stubborn and Tessa is the strong-yet-very-naive girl that is trying to “fix” Hardin’s life problems. The overall execution of the characters were very well thought out and connected well to the characters within the books. The cinematic appeal was also very aesthetically pleasing. Each scene and character was well constructed.

After a very stressful and eventful time visiting Hardin’s mother in his hometown of London,Tessa and Hardin are on their way back to Seattle. This is when Hardin tells Tessa that he is ready to move in with her before she starts her new job. Tessa is very happy about this until tragedy strikes and Hardin was not there to comfort her. In the end, they wind up taking a break from each other.

The overall movie was great. There was not a single part where the audience was not glued to the screen. Everyone in the theater reacted when something surprising happened in the film; a good sign for any movie.

The movie leaves off on a cliffhanger, being a major let down. The movie felt very stagnant and did not progress like it should have. Tessa moves to New York with her friend Landon, but the relationship between her and Hardin is on a break. This break seems to last throughout the whole movie. There could have been so much more added to this part.

There is a surprise fifth movie anticipated which will be part two of the fourth book. The movie has already been filmed and will be called “After Everything”. Will Hardin and Tessa make it through or will all of the hard work put into their relationship fall apart?

Rating: 8 out of 10 kernels

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