"Happy Endings" is one of those movies where several different stories are told at once. One story is about a depressed abortion clinic therapist Mamie (Lisa Kudrow) and her secret life with Javier (Bobby Cannavale), another story is about her gay brother Charley (Steve Coogan) who is trying to prove to his lover that his best friend's child is actually his, the third story is about a documentary filmmaker Nicky (Jesse Bradford) who wants to blackmail Mamie to make a documentary about her, and finally the last story is about a father and son (Tom Arnold & Jason Ritter) who fall for the same girl (Maggie Gyllenhaal.) There are some other little stories in between but these are the main ones. The film focuses on all these characters and their lives. The results are sometimes humorous, sometimes depressing, but in the end lead to a happy ending.
I didn't know much about this film only hearing it was big at Sundance and seeing the trailer which was intriguing. I liked the film because it really was interesting to see how everything got connected. The director and writer Don Roos (The Opposite of Sex) did a great job with the beginning of the film by immediately grabbing everyone's attention! What I liked most about this film was that you had to think and keep thinking throughout the whole movie because if you didn't you wouldn't understand it. It had so many stories that you had to keep up with and they all did get solved in the end but if you weren't paying attention or thinking then you would have missed one or two of them.
The film itself does have a few problems which I have to point out. While the story is very interesting and does keep the audience focused, by the end I think it runs a little too long. I also think that actually making the movie have a happy ending kind of softened the impact of the film. There was a great spot in the movie where everything was coming together and everything just seemed like crap for almost everyone involved and I was like yes! This is going to be good; the whole joke of the movie is the title "Happy Endings." This is what I thought to myself and if it did end like this I would probably give this film a 9 instead of a 7 but it didn't, it went on to have a happy ending which is where the film lost me. Because during the film, it just kept on getting better and better as the stories went on. I really couldn't predict what was going to happen next! But just when I thought that the film was over with a perfect ending! Bam happiness had to happen.
Another thing that annoyed me was the constant written narration borders that kept appearing. It was creative the first couple of times it happened but after a while, it got annoying and really took the focus off what was happening in the film. And the last thing I didn't like about the film was that at times it tried to hard to be funny and a lot of jokes feel flat. It's like those weird jokes that maybe 5 people in the entire audience get.
The acting however in the film was just terrific. Bravo for the entire cast although I have to mention a few performances that stood out above the rest and those were Lisa Kudrow, Maggie Gyllenhall, Jesse Bradford and Tom Arnold. Kudrow plays a great serious and deep role. Arnold's character is also very dramatic and convincing. Bradford doesn't play the heartthrob here but the wacky documentary film maker. And Gyllenhall's performance is sleazy and cruel. And as a bonus we even get to hear her perform 3 songs for the film.
This is Don Roos third attempt at a feature film, and I think it's probably his best too! It's not a perfect film but it is shot so that you feel the emotions of the characters and feel bad for them at times, and find them amusing at times as well. I think by Mr. Roos's 5th feature film I think he will be able to direct a film without any errors. This film isn't bad at all don't get me wrong because the story is original and different however it does need a little improvement.
Overall, Happy Endings has a terrific original story, great acting, but it has a few down falls and to me the most disappointing thing about the film was the ending. I think the biggest joke this film could have played on the audience was to make the ending an oxymoron to the films title. But like I said already, it's a good movie to see because the performances are terrific and different then most roles the actors and actresses played previously. That and the story alone are worth the price of admission at the box office.
MovieManMenzel's final rating for "Happy Endings" is a 7/10.
I didn't know much about this film only hearing it was big at Sundance and seeing the trailer which was intriguing. I liked the film because it really was interesting to see how everything got connected. The director and writer Don Roos (The Opposite of Sex) did a great job with the beginning of the film by immediately grabbing everyone's attention! What I liked most about this film was that you had to think and keep thinking throughout the whole movie because if you didn't you wouldn't understand it. It had so many stories that you had to keep up with and they all did get solved in the end but if you weren't paying attention or thinking then you would have missed one or two of them.
The film itself does have a few problems which I have to point out. While the story is very interesting and does keep the audience focused, by the end I think it runs a little too long. I also think that actually making the movie have a happy ending kind of softened the impact of the film. There was a great spot in the movie where everything was coming together and everything just seemed like crap for almost everyone involved and I was like yes! This is going to be good; the whole joke of the movie is the title "Happy Endings." This is what I thought to myself and if it did end like this I would probably give this film a 9 instead of a 7 but it didn't, it went on to have a happy ending which is where the film lost me. Because during the film, it just kept on getting better and better as the stories went on. I really couldn't predict what was going to happen next! But just when I thought that the film was over with a perfect ending! Bam happiness had to happen.
Another thing that annoyed me was the constant written narration borders that kept appearing. It was creative the first couple of times it happened but after a while, it got annoying and really took the focus off what was happening in the film. And the last thing I didn't like about the film was that at times it tried to hard to be funny and a lot of jokes feel flat. It's like those weird jokes that maybe 5 people in the entire audience get.
The acting however in the film was just terrific. Bravo for the entire cast although I have to mention a few performances that stood out above the rest and those were Lisa Kudrow, Maggie Gyllenhall, Jesse Bradford and Tom Arnold. Kudrow plays a great serious and deep role. Arnold's character is also very dramatic and convincing. Bradford doesn't play the heartthrob here but the wacky documentary film maker. And Gyllenhall's performance is sleazy and cruel. And as a bonus we even get to hear her perform 3 songs for the film.
This is Don Roos third attempt at a feature film, and I think it's probably his best too! It's not a perfect film but it is shot so that you feel the emotions of the characters and feel bad for them at times, and find them amusing at times as well. I think by Mr. Roos's 5th feature film I think he will be able to direct a film without any errors. This film isn't bad at all don't get me wrong because the story is original and different however it does need a little improvement.
Overall, Happy Endings has a terrific original story, great acting, but it has a few down falls and to me the most disappointing thing about the film was the ending. I think the biggest joke this film could have played on the audience was to make the ending an oxymoron to the films title. But like I said already, it's a good movie to see because the performances are terrific and different then most roles the actors and actresses played previously. That and the story alone are worth the price of admission at the box office.
MovieManMenzel's final rating for "Happy Endings" is a 7/10.