North Shore Holiday Film 'Merry Good Enough' To Screen At Cinema Salem

SALEM, MA — When Massachusetts native Caroline Keene wrote the script for "Merry Go Round" in 2016 she said she always envisioned it taking place in her home state.

Seven years later, Keene — who now lives in Los Angeles after growing up in Marion — will screen the movie that was shot last year across the North Shore and MetroWest in a special event at Cinema Salem on Thursday night.

"To an actual local they are going to be smart enough to say: 'That's the Peabody hockey rink,'" Keene told Patch on Wednesday. "That's the (Lucky Dog) bar in Beverly. We found locations all over the North Shore and it became a North Shore movie."

The film also includes scenes shot at the Peabody police station, the Portside Diner in Danvers, a house decorated with lights for Christmas in Woburn, a Christmas tree farm in Wayland and the main location of a home in Lynn.

"We were driving all over Massachusetts to film and we wanted to have a special screening in the community for people to see it," Keene said.

The screening will be at 7 p.m. Thursday and will include a Q&A with co-director Dan Kennedy and Boston actor Kevin O. Peterson.

Keene calls the story of a woman who has a complicated relationship with her family when her mother disappears on Christmas Eve and she has to bring her family together whether she knows it or not "fun but not fluffy."

"It's not a Hallmark movie but I don't think it will alienate those who watch those movies," Keene said. "It's more grounded. I call it a dark comedy with a warm heart."

Thursday is the movie's Massachusetts premiere. It will be released nationally on Dec. 19 to rent or buy on Apple, Amazon, Dish, Comcast and other popular streaming services.

It's definitely a movie that's great to see with an audience," Keene said of Thursday night's event in Salem. "It's a special chance to see it on the big screen."

(Scott Souza is a Patch field editor covering Beverly, Danvers, Marblehead, Peabody, Salem and Swampscott. He can be reached at Scott.Souza@Patch.com. X/Twitter: @Scott_Souza.)