Happy Endings (2005)

Good concept, poorly executed.

Best movie ever!

Am I Missing Something?

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

Don Roos wrote and directed this lively, sometimes poignant, but not especially funny comedy-drama 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 not frightened. Kudrow (whose comic timing reminds one of Roseanne's in the early years of her TV 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, Maggie Gyllenhaal and Tom Arnold have some wonderful early scenes; she's a born user and a killer karaoke singer, while he plays the father of the gay 21-year-old drummer whom Gyllenhaal has already seduced and discarded. It's too bad we don't get more of this relationship, and also unfortunate 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 ****

In her role as a sexy, unscrupulous gold-digger, Maggie Gyllenhaal steals this picture out from under the noses of her co-stars. Lisa Kudrow is excellent as the teen-age mom who gave her baby away at birth -- and she and her step-brother who made her pregnant are sympathetic figures as is Laura Dern as a lesbian mother. Maggie, on the other hand, acting the part of an amoral, ruthless temptress, ready to seduce a young homosexual then leave him for his wealthy father, is irresistible. I don't know how much the sound engineers are responsible for her singing and how much of the credit belongs Maggie herself, but she also produces several wonderful moments as a singer, edging her way into an aspiring band. Comparing this film to the work of Robert Altman is an enormous stretch. Happy Endings is episodic and overlaps several different plots but that's where the comparison begins and ends. Altman was a master. This is a journeyman's film: fun but forgettable.

I was so looking forward to see that movie because of Lisa Kudrow! I wanted to rent it in the library but it wasn't there so I decided to buy it in a store. To be true I was a bit confused when I'd seen the movie the first time and I was disappointed of the movie. But then, after I'd slept one night over it, I was really looking forward to see that movie again. So I met my friends and we watched the movie together. My friends didn't like the movie! They hated it and asked me why I bought such a movie!? But after I'd seen the movie the second time I was overwhelmed by that movie. And today it is my second favorite Kudrow movie!Lisa Kudrow plays Miriam "Mamie" Toll. She listens to young girls who want to have a abortion. Miriam got pregnant when she was 17 years old. The father of her kid is her stepbrother Charlie. Her parents want her to drive off her kid. She drives to Phoenix for having the abortion. But she can't do it but she told nobody, even Charlie, that she hadn't had the abortion. Now 19 years later she meets a guy called Nicky. He's a documentary film maker who knows where her son lives. He would tell her if she let him film their first meeting. Lisa Kudrow shows us in that movie, that she can be also serious and not just funny. I think she was brilliant in that movie. But it is not just Lisa Kudrow who plays in this wonderful movie! There is also Maggie Gyllenhaal who I, by the way, really like. She is such a great actress! But in this movie......uh..... She is such a bad person in Happy Endings! You know....when she sits in the club with her friend she is talking about sleeping with her cousin's husband. Isn't that rude? And her cousin was in the club too! And then, when she rotated Otis the head, she let him fall and took his father and played with him. But now I know that she can also play a rude person! She's a brilliant actress!Laura Dern is just a supporting role! She plays Pam, a lesbian who has a kid. Later in the movie it turns out that Gil is the father of her kid. Gil is played by David Sutcliffe. Maybe you know him as Rory's father in "Gilmore Girls". He plays a gay who is together with Miriam's (Lisa Kudrow) brother Charlie!Result: If you love Lisa Kudrow or Maggie Gyllenhaal you have to watch this movie. It is a must seen! You will love it, even if you are confused at the first time. Sleep one night about it and watch it then a second time. Great movie but a bit confusing at the first time that's why I give "Happy Endings" just 8 of 10 stars.

Roos's comedy which shows several stories of love, family problems, and life's unpredictability. I thought the ensemble cast did a good job, and although Roos's approach was very admirable, i don't know if he accomplished what he set out to do. The film is an ambitious attempt, and it has good intentions, but it feels a bit misguided at times. Thats not to say it isn't good, i actually liked it a lot, i thought it had a great screenplay, good performances, and pretty good atmosphere. Perhaps if Roos got someone else to direct, it could have been done better. Overall a good effort from Roos though. IMDb Rating: 6.7, my rating: 8/10