Stream It Or Skip It: ‘Have a Nice Day!’ on Netflix, a Mexican Dramedy That Delivers on the Promise in the Title

Have a Nice Day! (now on Netflix) is the story of a heartbroken ex-radio personality who, well, pretty much just exists like we all do. This is a very light dramedy about nice people who go about their whatnot at a relaxed pace, and there isn’t much suspense or tension or anything in their story – and that’s just fine, because this is a gol dang hangout movie with the modest goal of simple pleasantry.

HAVE A NICE DAY!: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?

The Gist: Some old codgers sit in a barbershop over booze and a game of dominoes, shooting the shit. Their pal Enrique (Alvaro Guerrero) – or Queque if you’re close to him – isn’t there, so he’s the topic of conversation. Queque was a famous DJ on the Music Universe radio station, and his co-host and romantic partner was La Bomba. They were quite the thing, and they’re about to be honored at an anniversary gala for the station. Cut to: Queque’s house. He’s got a vintage hifi with a sexy Technics turntable and lots of vinyl, and it’s not all in the basement, so he’s obviously not married RIMSHOT. 

Queque is, in fact, alone. He’s maybe 70ish. An air of sadness around him. An old beat-up Mustang in the garage. A dingy kitchen. Lots of cigarettes stubbed out in bread butts. An old leather jacket, cuffed jeans, two-tone shoes, a silver pompadour on his head. Looks like he fell out of 1957 and landed in amber. He drives his dusty heap into town and applies for a job at the corner supermarket, where the manager recognizes him and begs him to recite his catchphrase. Queque rolls his eyes. He retired from the radio gig years ago, and now he needs some scratch to fix up the car and head to Mexico City for the gala. Gotta be looking sharp for his reunion with La Bomba. His one and only. His lost love. He surely has regrets, but he doesn’t voice them. Too cool. Too aloof. Too painful.

He gets the gig, and trains beneath a sweet dorkwaddish kid, Picho (Eduardo Minett), in the art of bagging groceries, while bubbly, smiley Amanda (Andrea Chaparro) runs the register. Queque immediately starts dishing out compliments to customers – he’s a bullshit artiste – and he and Picho split the tips. But when he lays the charm on Amanda, Picho bristles. It’s a classic situation: Picho nurses the crush, Amanda is fine being Just Friends. Well, maybe, sort of. She’s definitely flirty, but Picho clams up in the face of opportunity. Dummy.

Queque gets promoted to security guard, and starts palling around with Picho. Queque sees an opportunity: They’ll come back after the store closes and swipe the cardboard from the back lot and sell it for a little extra coin. They split the earnings, and come back for more the next night, and so on. They listen to records at Queque’s house; they chill at the barbershop and listen to the ol’ farts jibber-jabber; Picho gets a haircut straight outta 1961, and Amanda compliments him on it. So far, so good. Will Picho and Amanda break the sexy tension between them? Will Queque win La Bomba back at the party? Hang out some more with these folks and you might find out.

What Movies Will It Remind You Of?: Last time a movie spent so much time in a supermarket, it was that Dane Cook/Jessica Simpson thing, Employee of the Month. Or maybe it was The Mist.

Performance Worth Watching: Guerrero’s standoffishness masking deep pain is positively Bill Murrayesque, so we’re obligated to like it even if we don’t. (Note: We do.) 

Memorable Dialogue: The old guys say so many old guy things, e.g.: “I have to take Viagra when I go to pee” and “I don’t believe in cancer.”

Sex and Skin: None.

Our Take: Have a Nice Day! is… slight. Featherweight. Wispy. Vaguely consequential. If its story was any smaller, an ant might accidentally crush it under its toe. These are compliments, by the way. There’s a gentle allure to the relationship between Queque and his much younger co-workers, who surely find the old guy fascinating. He’s not stuffy or boring, and seems to have cultivated a mystique over the decades, an air of rebelliousness implying that he doesn’t commit non-petty crimes or do blow with rock stars, but might’ve back in the ’70s. He’s not perfect and sometimes says hurtful things he doesn’t mean, but who, tell me, is perfect and always says the perfect things? Besides people in other movies, that is.

Guerrero is consistently charismatic in the way he carries himself, playing Queque as someone quick to a cynical quip or a teaspoon of smarm, but is ultimately an earnest guy who’s heart has been long – too long – to mend. Minett finds some subtle complexity in his character’s bashfulness, and Picho’s reticence to pursue his heart’s desire is a smart foil to Guerrero’s if-I-knew-then-what-I-know-now air of regret; this dynamic isn’t aired out like laundry for all to see, but rather, exists unspoken between them, because who wants to listen to whining or a lecture? Chaparro’s airy presence in the film is significant, and even though the screenplay doesn’t give her much of an inner life, we can see why people might gather to her like bees to a rose garden. 

These people and the folks in the periphery (supermarket coworkers, the barbershop fellas) are a joy to be around. What happens to them doesn’t rupture the earth or even shake it a little – it kicks up some dust and leaves a few footprints and we feel better having known them for 90-odd minutes. Maybe the film stirs up an inkling or two about the poisonous potential of nostalgia, or paints a lightly tragic portrait of staid personal growth. But beyond that, it’s a simple and modestly nutritious slice of life.

Our Call: Have a Nice Day! is a quiet charmer. STREAM IT.

John Serba is a freelance writer and film critic based in Grand Rapids, Michigan.