Happy Endings Details

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.

[Highly rated reviewer]

Bit hit and miss

This film is a bit hit and miss. Some bits work brilliantly and others you just wait to end. Personally, this kind of multi-strand storytelling, is better suited to television. That's the chief thing I felt whilst watching, put this in a four hour mini-series, give some more back story to some of the characters and let them go.

It wasn't as fun as The Opposite of Sex, with no Deedee uber-bitch to liven things up and supply a wry voiceover. The title-cards were twee as was the ending, but it still had a charm to it. The cast were good, the writing could have been crisper and one or two good one liners would have helped. I enjoyed it, but it's not a film I'd ever watch again.