:
Stan Barrett,
Denny Peirce,
Ernie Orsatti,
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Don Roos,
Don Roos
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: Lions Gate
: Independent, Gay & Lesbian, Features
: 128 min.
: English
: English, Spanish
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Three loosely interrelated stories of dysfunctional relationships are played for edgy laughs in this dark comedy drama from writer and director Don Roos. An unexpected assignation between stepsiblings Mamie and Charley results in Mamie becoming pregnant, with the child being put up for adoption shortly after birth. Twenty years later, Mamie (Lisa Kudrow) is approached by Nicky (Jesse Bradford), an aspiring filmmaker with an abrasive personality who claims to know where her long-lost son is living. However, there's a catch -- Nicky wants to shoot the reunion for the student film he's working on, and won't tell her about her child unless she agrees, though her lover, Javier (Bobby Cannavale), attempts to work out a compromise. Meanwhile, Charley (Steve Coogan), now out of the closet, has a longstanding relationship with Gil (David Sutcliffe), and the couple are involved in a legal battle over whether or not Gil's donated sperm produced a baby who has been adopted by a lesbian couple they know (Laura Dern and Sarah Clarke). And finally, Jude (Maggie Gyllenhaal) is a bohemian malcontent who becomes involved with Otis (Jason Ritter), a sexually ambiguous rock musician. Otis has a difficult relationship with his father, Frank (Tom Arnold), but when Jude meets Frank, she likes him fine -- in fact, she soon falls in love with him and leaves Otis for his dad. Happy Endings had its world premiere at the 2005 Sundance Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
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| Crap Warmed Over
by JRichmond
January 3, 2008 - 11:33 AM PST
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0 out of 1 members found this review helpful
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| This could be easily one of the worst movies ever made. Hopefully is went directly to DVD. If you work from home (as I do) and like to have a movie on in the office to keep you in your seat, this isn't the flick for you. You won't care about the characters, the dialog, the script, the sets, or the ending. Tom Arnold is the only entertaining piece of work in this whole mess. Even the "Gay" subtext will not excite you. |
| Togetherness
by talltale
November 15, 2005 - 1:11 PM PST
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6 out of 7 members found this review helpful
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Don Roos' HAPPY ENDINGS continues the smart, special work he did in "The Opposite of Sex," before moving more mainstream with "Bounce." Clearly, his place is as an independent; in fact, he seems even MORE independent than many of his peers. If you are going to flout the rules ("exposition is bad"), you might as well break them altogether, so Roos gives us a plethora of title cards explaining the characters, their relation to each other, and sometimes their inner thoughts.
Instead of weighing his film down, this device actually enlarges it, offering added humor, poignancy and depth. What starts out light, charming and ironic, moves ever gradually toward the rich, dark and sad. By the end you'll care more than you can imagine for all the characters--even and especially the young woman portrayed so well by Maggie Gyllenhaal.
Roos is a wonder with dialog and casting: Tom Arnold as a kind, gentle and even sexy lover? Yes, and he's great. Lisa Kudrow, Steve Cogan, Bobby Cannavale, Jason Ritter, Laura Dern, Jesse Bradford (and many others) work together so very well. By film's end, I felt that had just witnessed a pro-life movie (I am hugely pro-choice) that bothered me not a whit. "Happy Endings" is FOR LIFE in the larger sense, without being preachy or didactic but by allowing us to see and make the important connections (along with some whopping mistakes) that help bind society. We're all in this together, don'cha know. |
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GreenCine Member Rating
(Average 6.51)
111 Votes
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