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Happy Endings
2005
This comedic drama from writer-director Don Roos ('The Opposite Of Sex') comes packed with many unusual themes including abortion, homosexual parenting, teenage pregnancy, marrying for green cards, and the unscrupulous practice of bringing a client to orgasm at the conclusion of a massage (the happy ending referenced in the .. Read more
| Starring | Lisa Kudrow, Steve Coogan, Jesse Bradford, Maggie Gyllenhaal |
|---|---|
| Director | Don Roos |
| Genres | Drama, Gay/Lesbian |
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Happy Endings
This comedic drama from writer-director Don Roos ('The Opposite Of Sex') comes packed with many unusual themes including abortion, homosexual parenting, teenage pregnancy, marrying for green cards, and the unscrupulous practice of bringing a client to orgasm at the conclusion of a massage (the happy ending referenced in the title). Lisa Kudrow plays the recipient of one such massage, and she later makes a video about her masseur/lover who says he has information about a son she gave up for adoption years earlier. Meanwhile, her gay brother (Steve Coogan) suspects that his boyfriend may have given sperm to a lesbian couple (Laura Dern and Sarah Clarke) to help them have a daughter. Another thread of this intricately woven plot concerns a sexual libertine (Maggie Gyllenhaal) who seduces both a rich widower (Tom Arnold) and his closeted gay son (Jason Ritter). Amazingly, it is Arnold who manages to stand out among the ensemble cast with an endearingly vulnerable performance that lingers in the mind long after the film is over. With onscreen pop-ups relaying information about both the past and the future of the characters, the acting and the script are uniformly first-rate. Tracks by Calexico and Kid Loco comprise a lot of the great soundtrack, and Gyllenhaal's real singing voice is heard during her character's several torchy numbers.
| Starring | Lisa Kudrow, Steve Coogan, Jesse Bradford, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Tom Arnold, Jason Ritter, Laura Dern, David Sutcliffe, Bobby Cannavale |
|---|---|
| Director | Don Roos |
| Studio | SONY PICTURES HOME ENTERTAINMENT |
| Run time | DVD: 2 hrs 7 mins |
| Certificate | |
| Genres | Drama, Gay/Lesbian |
| Language | DVD: English |
| Dubbed | French, Hungarian, Spanish |
| Hearing-impaired | English |
| Subtitles | DVD: Arabic, Bulgarian, English, Estonian, French, Hindi, Hungarian, Polish, Portuguese, Spanish, Turkish |
| Released | DVD: 27 Mar 2006 Production year: 2005 |
| Format | DVD |
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Critics' reviews (4)
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It's a long time since John Schneider roamed Hazzard County as Bo Duke, smashing up cars with his cousin Luke and incurring the wrath of Sheriff Rosco P Coltrane in The Dukes of Hazzard. In this slight romantic comedy he attempted to carve himself a new screen persona, with limited results. He plays a writer looking for love with his equally lonely neighbour Catherine Hicks. It's amiable enough, but so lightweight that it barely registers.
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A rare American movie with the edge and wisdom of the best foreign films... The movie gradually deepens as Roos interweaves multiple plot strands and a large cast of characters
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Most helpful member's review
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24 out of 26 people found this review helpful
Ignore that other daft review! Excellent film!
I picked this film from the rental library based on the cast, and it was a really pleasant surprise. It is a character ensemble piece, with several inter-weaving storylines - nearly all of which I enjoyed a lot. Lisa Kudrow teams up with her Opposite of Sex director Don Roos, and gets another great role. I haven't taken to Maggie Gyllenhaal as much in any of her other roles, she was good here, and has a nice singing voice too.
UK fans, don't expect Alan Partridge, Steve Coogan does some proper acting, and actually does pretty well, without having to do too much.
The performances and characters are what really held my interest. Jason Ritter, Jesse Bradford, Tom Arnold are all good. Laura Dern and 24's Sarah Clarke are a little underused, but this in a really involving drama, with a few laughs too.
One thing I wasn't a huge fan of was the on screen comments telling us what was happening. A little annoying.
This is one for fans of Short Cuts or Magnolia, or anyone who enjoys interesting dramas. -
Most recent members' review
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9 out of 9 people found this review helpful
A Comedy Of Sorts...
'Happy Endings' is a companion piece to the same director's 'The Opposite Of Sex'. Again with Lisa Kudrow, it presents a series of intertwining stories about exploitation with wit so dry that it's easy to miss altogether if you're expecting a broader comedy. It also has several great performances. Kudrow is impressive, particularly in her minuscule reactions to the casual unkindnesses of others; Maggie Gyllenhaal exudes a kind of languid but potent sexiness that was made for the movies; Tom Arnold is surprisingly symapthetic; and Steve Coogan, his accent lurching between Manchester and some undefined American region (he is supposed to be a Brit long in residence in the US), fits in better than you might think. But the real star is writer/director Don Roos who excels at deceptively laid back films like this. Very urbane entertainment.
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This comedic drama from writer-director Don Roos ('The Opposite Of Sex') comes packed with many unusual themes including abortion, homosexual parenting, teenage pregnancy, marrying for green cards, ... -