Happy Endings (2005)
Average Rating: 5.9/10
Reviews Counted: 105
Fresh: 57 | Rotten: 48
Despite strong individual performances, the overlong, disjointed plot of Happy Endings self-indulgently rambles.
Average Rating: 6.1/10
Critic Reviews: 34
Fresh: 17 | Rotten: 17
Despite strong individual performances, the overlong, disjointed plot of Happy Endings self-indulgently rambles.
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Average Rating: 3.3/5
User Ratings: 8,941
My Rating
Movie Info
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
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Cast
-
Tom Arnold
Frank -
Jesse Bradford
Nicky -
Bobby Cannavale
Javier -
Sarah Clarke
Diane -
Steve Coogan
Charley -
Laura Dern
Pam -
Maggie Gyllenhaal
Jude -
Lisa Kudrow
Marnie -
Jason Ritter
Otis -
David Sutcliffe
Gil -
Carol Androsky
Naked Woman -
Amanda Foreman
Lane -
-
Nicole Tocantins
Tess -
Kim Morgan Greene
Connie Peppitone -
Hallee Hirsh
Mamie at 17 -
Mark Fite
Tess's Drunk Husband -
Andrew James Trauth
Bill -
Eric Jungmann
Charley at 16, Tom -
Soledad St. Hilaire
Dignore -
Tamara Davies
Shauna -
Lisa Hoyle
Woman Driver -
Emma Hunton
Becca -
Ramon De Ocampo
Alvin -
Rayne Marcus
Annette -
Caker Folley
Lauren -
Ashleigh Darkbloom
Rain -
T.R. Hopper
Chuck Peppitone -
Rob Macie
Steve the Lawyer -
Joe Milton
Musician #1 -
Dave Beyer
Musician #2 -
Randy Landas
Musician #3 -
Scott Sener
Karaoke Guy
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All Critics (116) | Top Critics (40) | Fresh (61) | Rotten (49) | DVD (14)
Intriguing but overlong and indulgent, the work of a writer too in love with his characters.
Top CriticServes as a relaunching pad for the magical talents of Maggie Gyllenhaal as Jude.
Roos's movie is so aggressively pleased with itself it leaves you feeling it doesn't even need an audience.
[It] feels like Paul Thomas Anderson's Magnolia for adolescents.
The drama never feels more than a well-shot TV soap. Worse is Roos' tragic insistence on text inserts to explain every motivation, making the whole thing look like a fatal cross between Queer As Folk and VH1's Pop Up Video.
Potent social satire mixes with multiple characters incapable of telling the truth, especially to themselves, in writer/director Don Roos' enjoyable comedy of deception and dysfunction.
Extremely mature comedy about relationships -- not for kids.
There's a little fanciful magic to spread over this flighty romance on the run, or at least enough to take that hackneyed notion of the happy ending, and fashion something fresh and new.
There's a little fanciful magic to spread over this flighty romance on the run, or at least enough to take that hackneyed notion of the happy ending, and fashion something fresh and new.
Rarely has a film started so brilliantly and then so willfully shot itself directly in the foot.
A quirky and often enjoyable film about dysfunctional relationships, Happy Endings brings together separate stories about complicated characters who are all trying to deal with the truth.
Audience Reviews for Happy Endings
By the end of this film, I thought that it had reached the Altman Standard in terms of its ability to cleverly combine these characters with some degree of dramatic effectiveness. I write "dramatic" intentionally because even though the title cards and other sources identify this as a comedy, I saw very little humorous about its situations or delivery. Sure, there are a couple moments that were chuckle-worthy, but that's about it.
In my sentence-summary of the film, I listed the most prominent plots, and if you think I'm being somewhat satirical, you're right. A lot of the critics' reviews of Happy Endings lamented the ludicrousness of its storylines, and from a writer's standpoint, I have to agree. However, good actors can sometimes save bad writing. The way in which each of these actors commit to their characters makes the film almost believable. Of particular note is Lisa Kudrow, with whom I, a long-time Friends hater, have never been impressed. But she scraps her ditsy-girl act, and her damaged character exudes a vulnerability that her other work didn't allow her to explore.
Also, throughout the film we get title cards explaining characters' back-stories, and this strikes me as lazy filmmaking. Instead of deftly showing the information we need, the film inundates the audience with minutiae and sly comments that have little bearing on the film's action.
Overall, though there are some significant issues from a writing perspective, the actors save this piece.
Super Reviewer
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Latest News on Happy Endings
November 17, 2005:
Oh It's Already Been Broughten (Part 3)A fresh press release from Universal informs us that there will soon be a "Bring It On 3"...
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