Happy Endings (2005)

Truly the worst movie I've ever seen in a theater

Just so...so bad

In other words,this film is a surreal ride.

This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

I thought this was better than expected. It has some flaws, and the constant title-card telling us what is going on can be a little too pretentious and overly proud of itself in a way tat does get to be an annoyance, but it also works to make the film feel different from others of its kind. It's a Nice sort of quirk, not without its flaws, The acting in this is truly terrific. Kudrow excels, as she always does, but surprisingly (athough not really) the best of the bunch was Laura Dern, injecting so much pathos and backstory and emotion into her little scenes and into her one big scene, which she delivers perfectly. A fantastic actress who's never gotten the due she deserves, definitely a film worth watching. This is definitely recommended, and rather underrated when looking at reviews.

Every now & then, a quietly magnificent film sneaks up on me & manages to both astound me with its craftsmanship & move me poignantly. "Happy Endings" is one such cinematic treat. Its power lies in both its contrasting simplicity of cinematography design & its nuanced, depth of character explorations. At no time in this picture was I able to "catch" anyone acting nor "define" the immediate POV for the director Roos. This fine work virtually "reeked" of independent filmmaker authenticity while managing to engage a Robert Altman-like immersion into the prolific ensemble performances which literally transfixes its viewer. The film compelled my desire to "understand" both what toke place & why it all happened the way it did. I was absolutely flabbergasted by Kudrow's magnificent performance...The camera loved her every scene & her acting went "toe-to-toe with the incredible yet subtle & nuanced 'performance to die' for by Maggie... I had to watch this flick TWICE back-to-back after thirsting for greater comprehension of each character's motivations...This movie is now ranked as one of the best, stumbled-upon 'diamonds in the rough/underrated gems I have ever seen since I accidentally saw "Closer" Hell, even Tom Arnold & Jason Ritter killed in this gem...

Warning: The second paragraph of this review contains some comments that some might possibly consider a "spoiler."This essentially is a movie about the issues of abortion, adoption, test tube babies and other unconventional procreation, marital and relationship issues, including sexual orientation and a phony marriage for immigration purposes. It is not an advocacy movie; rather, it explores in a serious but semi-comic manner how decisions affect a menage of lives.There is a pregnancy resulting from a coupling of a boy and a girl who technically is his step sister although they are from two different sets of parents. There is a child born to a lesbian couple using a sperm donor, whose father may or may not be one of a gay couple who are friends of the lesbians. There is a woman who never saw the child she gave up for adoption and supposedly didn't want anything to do with except ***POSSIBLE SPOILER**** we learn that she notifies the adoption agency of her changes of address. One woman sleeps with a supposedly gay boy and later dumps him for his father. ***END SPOILER*** Throughout these serious dramatic episodes, the screen writer provides us little light messages that tell us, the audience, a little about how things will turn out and in essence not to take everything too seriously, despite the seriousness of action.I thought the way the film jumped around in time and story line and eventually tied everything together was well done, and the text "asides" seemed like innovative resurrection of a technique from silent film days.I particularly liked Lisa Kudrow's performance (another role she selected that runs counter to the comic character she created years ago for the TV shows "Friends" and "Mad About You.") Maggie Gyllenhaal was also excellent as the scheming temptress. Tom Arnold was also very good.

I almost passed on viewing this one because it has been hard for me to listen to the nasal-voiced Ms. Kudrow for long periods of time, but the excellence of the other actors drew me in–and I am very glad that I decided to view it. The uniform fine acting; the superior script; and the jagged ins and outs of the plot lines along with their satisfactory resolutions made this great viewing. The film presents us with complex characters--many of whom represent types of persons most of us will never meet in real life. Personally, though I disliked many aspects of the personalities of the characters in the film, I watched with fascination as some of these were resolved within the confines of the space of the movie to make the characters memorable and--even remarkable.A fine script, some extraordinary acting, and especially-skilled cutting makes this film one to watch more than once or twice. NB: For adults.