Highlighting the drama behind the for-the-camera-smiles of the 1970s variety show, Kate McCarthy‘s The Hicks Happy Hour is a moment-in-time short feature that escalates with a certain tension, before it ultimately pivots for a more cathartic climax that speaks to one woman’s eventual truth.
“Stars stay smiling” is the Hicks family motto, something mother Jill (Phoebe Kuhlman) reminds her trio of children, son Davey (Tristan Wilder Hallett) and daughters Val (Charley Rowan McCain) and Susan (Ella Victoria), before each of their filmed segments for “The Hicks Happy Hour”, a variety show that’s evidently managed its success off the back of their wholesome family image.
As much as Jill is holding her own, it’s clear that audiences – and management – want the whole Hicks package, so when dad Richard (Adam Marchand) doesn’t show up for the latest taping, panic sets in for production. There’s a brief air of intrigue as to what could have possibly kept Richard from the show, but Jill seems unbothered, with McCarthy’s script leaning into the mentality that the facade of their “perfect” union is slipping; when she calls Richard’s phone and another woman answers, Jill barely bats an eye and, instead, just hopes he fulfills both his professional duties and being a good father.
As it juxtaposes the happy sheen of the television broadcast with the more cinematic lacing of when it shifts to the backstage melodrama, McCarthy keeps the drama tight as Jill’s professional life starts to fall apart, which, in turn, threatens her personally. As a season renewal doesn’t seem guaranteed, Jill starts to internally spiral, and showing a surprising amount of restraint, McCarthy, though she flirts with a certain explosion of emotion on Jill’s end, allows Kuhlman’s understated performance to speak volumes.
Given that we are dropped into the middle of the Hicks family situation, The Hicks Happy Hour does have a certain air of unfinished business about it, but there’s enough detail peppered across its 17 minutes to inform us of what type of life this family has lived. And though the final frame leaves us wanting to know what repercussions it’ll hold, there’s an undeniable sense of completion for Jill, who appears to finally honour what it is to be a mother first and a performer second.
Grounded by a committed, steering-the-ship turn from Kuhlman, McCarthy’s drama is the type of short that has clear cinematic intentions, The Hicks Happy Hour may not have a certain hook or exciting bridge, but it generates an interesting conversation around perceived public personas and the very real human behind it all.
THREE STARS (OUT OF FIVE)
The Hicks Happy Hour is screening as part of this year’s Tribeca Film Festival, running between June 4th and 15th, 2025. For more information, head to the official site here.
