Happy Endings (2005)

User Rating:

6.6/10   

Director:

Don Roos

Writer (WGA):

Don Roos (written by)

Release Date:

5 August 2005 (Canada)

Genre:

Comedy | Drama | Music | Thriller

Tagline:

All's well that ends swell.

Plot:

Happy Endings weaves multiple stories to create a witty look at love, family and the sheer unpredictablity of life itself.

Plot Keywords:

Adoption | Filmmaker | Stepbrother | Gay | Baby

Awards:

6 nominations

Cast

Lisa Kudrow	...	Mamie
Steve Coogan	...	Charley
Jesse Bradford	...	Nicky
Bobby Cannavale	...	Javier
Maggie Gyllenhaal	...	Jude
Jason Ritter	...	Otis
Tom Arnold	...	Frank
David Sutcliffe	...	Gil
Sarah Clarke	...	Diane
Laura Dern	...	Pam
Hallee Hirsh	...	Mamie at 17
Eric Jungmann	...	Charley at 16 / Tom
Kim Morgan Greene	...	Connie Peppitone
Rayne Marcus	...	Annette
Caker Folley	...	Lauren

MPAA:

Rated R for sexual content, language and some drug use.

Runtime:

128 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital | DTS

Certification:

Australia:M | Brazil:14 | UK:15 | Argentina:16 | Malaysia:(Banned) | Singapore:M18 | Portugal:M/16 | Iceland:16 | South Korea:15 | USA:R

Filming Locations:

Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

Lions Gate Films

Trivia:

When Otis steals the security tape, a copy of _Wonderland (2003/I)_, featuring Lisa Kudrow, is lying on the desk.

Goofs:

Continuity: The position of the sunglasses in Jude's hands switches between shots as she's laying by the pool talking to Frank McKee.

Quotes:

Jude: We're breaking up.
Otis: What?
Jude: Look, I'm not gonna screw you *and* your dad.

Movie Connections:

Featured in Fabulous! The Story of Queer Cinema (2006)

Soundtrack:

Baila Tú Conmigo

Friendships, secrets, and lies; multi-chaptered comedy-drama with some standout performances...

Don Roos wrote and directed this very lively, sometimes poignant though not very funny comedy-drama all centering around an abortion counselor's secret that she had given birth to her step-brother's baby when she was a teenager and quickly gave it up for adoption. In this role, Lisa Kudrow really excels with the writer-director's dryly observant style: she's loose but not flailing, inquisitive but not harping, apprehensive but seldom frightened. Kudrow (whose comic timing reminds one of Roseanne's in the early years of her sitcom) mixes a look of anxiety, despair, nervousness and anticipation with astonishing skill--even when her character is humiliated (or humiliates herself), Kudrow has a way of keeping all the flightiness grounded in some form of reality. Matching her, Tom Arnold and Maggie Gyllenhaal have some wonderful early scenes (she's a born user and a killer karaoke singer; he's the father of the gay twenty-one year old drummer whom she has already seduced and discarded). It's too bad we don't get more of this relationship, and also that Roos covers up most of their dialogue with soundtrack music (it's a coupling which happens in montage). Roos plants little subtitles throughout the movie to help sort out who's-who, and this works to some degree (yet it's a relief when the device is momentarily given a rest). Some of the other story threads are dim (a couple of which center on gay men turning their homosexuality on and off like a light-switch), but Kudrow's work and Tom Arnold's natural, easy-going presence keep the film absorbing and often appealing. And nobody sings "Just the Way You Are" like Gyllenhaal. **1/2 from ****