If you haven’t watched “Happiness for Beginners” yet, which landed on Netflix this week, and are looking for a thoughtful and non demanding movie experience then it’s not a bad way to go.

The film revolves around a group of beginner hikers who head out on the Appalachian trail for their own individual reasons. Their personalities are unique and because of the friendly tone of the story, they all get their chances to shine, and there is someone in the group that we can either directly relate with or have someone in our orbit that they remind us of.

One of the neat parts of the story is that they each get their own “trail names” or nicknames. The characters have that name picked for them. Graphics are involved and its a lot of fun.

Here are the characters, their trail names and why they probably got them.

And just for kicks, I’ve ranked them in the order I enjoyed them in, even though they’re all pretty good people at the end of the day.

Let’s begin

Helen aka “Speed Bump”: The main character, an English teacher who wants a reset and to “rise like a phoenix” was injured twice in the first two days.

Kaylee aka “Woody”: a character who’s impossible not to like that introduces herself with a horror story of growing up in a cabin with no water resistant wood, but is just so doggone sweet throughout the entire film.

Jake aka “Doc”: Yes, he’s a bad a** doctor who wants to study whales, but he also has a good heart allowing everyone to fall in love with him. All the hype is warranted.

Windy aka “Doomsday”: The name is ironic because she is a perpetual optimist who is kind and just too easy to rally behind. If you had to pick a team you would want as many Doomsdays as possible.

Sue aka Chaplin: A two time debate champion who has taken a vow of silence and named after the early movie star. When she takes break from her vow, she’s quite enjoyable.

Hugh aka Meryl (Streep) our wise insurance salesman who wanted to be an actor gets hurt during our journey. He was great when he was around though.

Beckett aka Doogie: We hear this cadence about our group leader “I don’t know but I’ve been told, our man Doogie is 12 years old”. He also slightly resembles Doogie Howser MD played by a young Neil Patrick Harris in the early 90s.

Mason aka Wall Street aka Big Deer: He’s the project who has a big revelation during the hike. The nicknames say a lot about his journey but this film is so kind that there is plenty of hope for him.

Did I miss anything? Let me know in the comments below!

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