lmon2 **Warning** Semi-Spoiler AlertWell folks, I had my hopes up for this movie. Due to the cast and some of the reviews. But...The story line was too convoluted. The characters were not very likable. And ultimately, the "endings" were not happy at all. I go out of my way to look for under-appreciated or even quirky movies because I enjoy a broad spectrum of genre's. I was expecting something different but entertaining. Unfortunately, although the film was different, it was also difficult to get myself to stay through to the finish. The biggest problem was, from my observation, the director had a "message" he was trying too hard to push on the public. He went out of his way to make some of the characters dysfunctional and downright mean, in an effort to make his point. Ultimately, not only was the message false, but it made for poor film making.

flapdoodle64 This is a very witty and occasionally touching comedy involving love and sex, parents and children. Although dealing with subject matter involving sex and it's consequences, this is a film for grown-ups, it is not a sophomoric raunch-fest. Steve Coogan and Lisa Kudrow, two very fined comedic performers here both do wonderfully in their respective roles, and Maggie Gyllenhal is good as well.Most surprising is the performance of the generally disgusting and unwatchable Tom Arnold, believably playing a likable and emotionally vulnerable idiot. I have to say, when Mr. Arnold is given good writing, direction and is surrounded by good players, he can be pretty good.This film didn't do well commercially and many reviewers here were confused by the fact that there are several different interwoven plot threads. Probably there are reviewers disappointed by the lack of fart jokes as well. Whatever. This film is a comedy produced in the USA that is actually funny and insightful regarding the human condition...that is to say, it is a great rarity.I highly recommend this.

Movie_Muse_Reviews Vignettes are a tricky business. To make a film with more than three main stories to follow that interconnect and are unified in some significant way is a challenge. "Love, Actually" is one of the only recent films to successfully pull this off, using Christmas and love as a unifying factor. Don Roos' "Happy Endings" uses ... love? happiness? sexuality? infatuation? It's not clear, and making all the vignettes cross-connect with each other doesn't satisfy what we look for in these movies. Each vignette should essentially tell the same message in a different way. "Happy Endings" has several original concepts, but the connection is obscure and hard to draw.Roos ("The Opposite of Sex") essentially tells three stories: First follows Mamie (Lisa Kudrow) and the documentary she helps aspiring filmmaker Nicky (Jesse Bradford) make about her masseuse/lover Javier (Bobby Cannavale) so that she can find out information Nicky has of the son she gave away at birth when she was 18. The second follows the father of that child, Charlie (Steve Coogan), who is now gay and convinced that his partner (David Sutcliffe) is the biological father of their lesbian friends' son, whom he donated sperm to once and it supposedly didn't work. Last is Jude (Maggie Gyllenhaal), a free spirit who meets Otis (Jason Ritter), a young man that works in Charlie's restaurant who is hiding his homosexuality from his rich father (Tom Arnold). Jude promises Otis that she won't say anything if he doesn't spoil her plan to become involved with his father for the money.That mostly covers the labyrinthian complexity of "Happy Endings," which despite it's courage to choose such unique scenarios , doesn't seem to ever make clear sense. It's all quite interesting, as this is relationship drama we've never seen before, but there are a lot of emotions flying around and motivations that seem to lack sources. It probably all made sense in Roos' head, but it doesn't convert.The acting talent isn't necessarily lacking either. This is the best performance I've ever seen Kudrow give in a film -- she reminds me of another Annette Bening. Gyllenhaal is also one of the more complex (in the intriguing way) characters and she draws the widest variety of emotions from the audience as she crosses a fine line between sincerity and deception. Although the characters are interesting, however, we mostly feel just apathy because the snippets we get of them are more puzzling than revealing.Another unique technique that Roos employs is adding subtitles that give away little pieces of information about the characters as we watch them, whether it's what happens in the future to them or a secret they have. It's supposed to add a unique twist to what's being shown on screen, but it's hard enough to make sense of what's going on on screen as it is. It's not a bad idea, but it just saturates this film even more.Watching vignettes interconnect is always entertaining and interesting, but "Happy Endings" is overstuffed and it creates a disconnect between the characters and the audience, which no amount of character interconnectedness can solve.

Media_queer I would expect nothing less from a Donn Roos/Lisa Kudrow collaboration than the wonderful film that Happy Endings is. The characters are real. There's no "good guy" or "bad guy" -- there are just honest portrayals of how everyone has issues, secrets, lies, dreams, doubts and agendas.Kudrow is stellar as Mamie, a lost soul of a person who commands a simple dynamism. Maggie G is amazing, she totally "gets" who Jude is and wows us with a great performance. All of the acting is top-notch, as is the story, though I longed for more of a confrontation between Charley and Gil, but maybe that's a reflection of my own issues with cheating. Oh, and Jason Ritter is hella hot! Rent this, add this to your NetFlick queue, buy this used or new -- just see it!