HAPPY HOURS

(director/writer: Katie Holmes; cinematographer:
Michael McDonough; editor: Ian Blume; music: Norah Jones; cast: Katie Holmes (Liz Jones), Joshua Jackson ( Andrew McCloud), John McGinty (John, mute), Joe Tippett (Charlie), Jack Martin (teenage Andrew), Johnna Dias-Watson (teenage Liz), Donald Webber Jr. (jazz singer), Chloë Kerwin (Amy), Constance Wu (Liz’s friend/agent), Mary-Louise Parker (Aunt Helen, ), Nathan Darrow (Michael); Runtime: 80; MPAA Rating: NR; producers: Celine Rattray, Trudie Styler, Peter Coleman, Paula P. Manzanedo; Maven Screen Media; 2026)

“The dialogue is trite. “ 

Reviewed by Dennis Schwartz

The actress Katie Holmes (“Rare Objects”/”All We Had”) directs & writes this charming but lightweight and under-written indie rom-com about the complications over love for the aging woman. Holmes reunites with her good chemistry co-star from the TV series Dawson’s Creek, Joshua Jackson. The story is about the reunion of two former high school lovers in 2006, who reunite in 2026.

It opens with a quote by the eastern philosopher Alan Watts about the past surviving through memory “You cannot compare this present experience with a past experience. You can only compare it with a memory of the past, which is a part of the present experience.”  

The Manhattan-residing 30-something photojournalist Liz Jones (Katie Holmes) is recently divorced and now craves to only meet ‘real people.’ By chance she meets again her high school lover Andrew McCloud (Joshua Jackson), for a work portrait. He’s a ‘real person,’ who is a successful and serious travel writer.

Flashbacks show their days as a teenage couple and it veers back to the present.

The dialogue is trite, the comedy is not funny and the story is forgettable. But those who liked Dawson’s Creek will probably look more kindly on this trifle than I did.

It played at the Tribeca Film Festival.

REVIEWED ON 6/15/2026  GRADE: C+
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