After Happily Ever After

Kate Schermerhorn's documentary has a wonderful idea at its center: namely, trying to understand why people want to marry, especially when more than half of all marriages in the U.S. end in divorce. Schermerhorn brings in a slew of experts (matchmakers, psychiatrists, a divorce lawyer, even Elvis imitators who perform in a Las Vegas chapel) who discuss the appeal of matrimony. She also gathers input from long-married couples who reveal their secrets for staying together—including a lesbian pair and an Indian couple who were wed in an arranged marriage 10 years earlier—and interweaves a witty collection of vintage clips that offer yesteryear's cartoonish definition of wedded bliss. Unfortunately, Schermerhorn also insists on being the center of attention: a divorced single mother when production began, she married for the second time as filming progressed. But the relationship was rocky, and when the arrival of a daughter failed to provide much-needed stability, the union ultimately ended in divorce. As a result, After Happily Ever After feels like two hopelessly entangled tales: one an intriguing overview of contemporary challenges wedded couples face, the other a solipsistic home movie in which Schermerhorn hams it up for the camera with her kids and bickers with her soon-to-be ex-husband. The result is disjointed and disappointing. Not a necessary purchase. Aud: C, P. (P. Hall)