Aneesa Wardle
The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.
Quiet Muffin
This movie tries so hard to be funny, yet it falls flat every time. Just another example of recycled ideas repackaged with women in an attempt to appeal to a certain audience.
Lela
The tone of this movie is interesting -- the stakes are both dramatic and high, but it's balanced with a lot of fun, tongue and cheek dialogue.
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.
garyml
Loved this film. Not sure that whpratt1 saw the same film though. They were step children and not in-laws when they had sex and got pregnant. Maybe there should be "did I pay attention" question to make a comment that will be published.The director did a wonderful job too putting together many different scenes and situations in several locations. Not an easy task evidenced by many films today that are shot on one location.I love a good comedy and really enjoyed all of the members of the cast. I would give a strong 10 also to the writers. What a wonderful job of putting together a very complex plot. g
gelman@attglobal.net
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.
SummerMood
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.
