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Movies / Upcoming / Happy Endings
Happy Endings

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Happy Endings (2005)

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Reviews Counted:101

Fresh:57

Rotten:44

Average Rating:6/10

Consensus: Despite strong individual performances, the overlong, disjointed plot of Happy Endings self-indulgently rambles.

Runtime: 2 hrs 10 mins

Genre: Dramas

US Box Office: $1,172,987

Synopsis: Mamie is being blackmailed. This filmmaker named Nick claims to know Mamie’s son – the one she gave up for adoption – but Nick won’t introduce her to him unless he can film the reunion. Enter... Mamie is being blackmailed. This filmmaker named Nick claims to know Mamie’s son – the one she gave up for adoption – but Nick won’t introduce her to him unless he can film the reunion. Enter Javier, Mamie’s massage therapist boyfriend, who convinces Nick to film him instead. Now they’re all making a movie about massage. And ‘happy endings’… Charley has a longtime boyfriend named Gil. Their best friends, Pam and Diane, once tried using Gil as a sperm donor. They said his sperm didn’t take, but Charley thinks those selfish, control-freak lesbians are lying. Pam and Diane’s two-year-old son looks exactly like Gil. And it’s time to set the record straight… Jude is pissed. Not at anyone in particular. Just in general. When her cousin kicks her out of the house, Jude shacks up with Otis, who’s still trying to convince his father, Frank, that he’s straight. Frank’s a widower. And he’s rich. So Jude decides to sleep with him, too. Really. The last thing she expected was to fall in love… Just when you thought you knew everything about love and dysfunction, along comes HAPPY ENDINGS, Lions Gate Films’ hilarious and heartfelt new comedy by writer/director Don Roos (The Opposite of Sex, Bounce). Featuring a talented ensemble cast that includes Tom Arnold, Jesse Bradford, Bobby Cannavale, Sarah Clarke, Steve Coogan, Laura Dern, Lisa Kudrow, Jason Ritter, David Sutcliffe and Maggie Gyllenhaal,, HAPPY ENDINGS deftly weaves together multiple stories to create a sharp, witty look at love, family and the sheer unpredictability of life itself. A feast of buried secrets, missed opportunities and welcome second chances, this wildly original comedy proves that the happiest ending of all is the one you least expect. [More]

Starring: Maggie Gyllenhaal, Tom Arnold, Jason Ritter, Laura Dern

Starring: Maggie Gyllenhaal, Tom Arnold, Jason Ritter, Laura Dern, Lisa Kudrow, David Sutcliffe, Steve Coogan, Bobby Cannavale, Jesse Bradford

Director: Don Roos

Director: Don Roos
Screenwriter: Don Roos
Producer: Holly Wiersma, Michael Paseornek
Studio: Lions Gate Films

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Reviews for Happy Endings

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41 - 60 (sorted by date; Australian critics are listed first)
Text View | |< << 1 2 3 4 5 6 >> >|
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N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: St. Louis Post-Dispatch | comment Comment
07/28/05
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Roos does an admirable job balancing the tragedy and comedy.

Full Review Source: Chicago Tribune | comment Comment
07/28/05
Allison Benedikt
Allison Benedikt
Chicago Tribune

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: EricDSnider.com | comment Comment
07/28/05
Eric D. Snider
Eric D. Snider
EricDSnider.com
N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Zap2it.com | comment Comment
07/28/05
Hanh Nguyen
Hanh Nguyen
Zap2it.com

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Denver Rocky Mountain News | comment Comment
07/28/05
Robert Denerstein
Robert Denerstein
Denver Rocky Mountain News

The narrative sprawls without achieving depth and carries the additional burden of featuring only two or three interesting characters out of 10 candidates.

Full Review Source: Variety | comment Comment
07/28/05
Todd McCarthy
Todd McCarthy
Variety
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

The film isn't engaging enough to hold the average viewer's attention for its full two-plus hour running length.

Full Review Source: ReelViews | comment Comment
07/28/05
James Berardinelli
James Berardinelli
ReelViews

Roos creates a slate of interesting characters who find themselves in unexpected situations that lead to realistic -- and in their own way, happy -- endings.

Full Review Source: Film Threat | comment Comment
07/28/05
Jeremy Mathews
Jeremy Mathews
Film Threat

Director Roos has way too many balls in the air here. The film is long and the multiple plots distracting.

Full Review Source: Entertainment Insiders | comment Comment
07/28/05
Jonathan W. Hickman
Jonathan W. Hickman
Entertainment Insiders

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: MovieWeb | comment Comment
07/28/05
Julian Roman
Julian Roman
MovieWeb

Contrived and complicated - yet compelling - it's all about the search for contentment as lonely souls connect.

Full Review Source: Modamag.com | comment Comment
07/24/05
Susan Granger
Susan Granger
Modamag.com

Roos' long and uneven adult comedy happily offers another captivating performance by Gyllenhaal, who purrs as a kittenish vixen.

Full Review Source: Boulder Weekly | comment Comment
07/22/05
Thomas Delapa
Thomas Delapa
Boulder Weekly

This tops my short list of 2005's best films thus far.

Full Review Source: FilmStew.com | comment Comment
07/20/05
Todd Gilchrist
Todd Gilchrist
FilmStew.com

It's a shallow, cruddy-looking film that these fine actors have granted a depth it frankly doesn't deserve.

Full Review Source: Philadelphia Weekly | comment Comment
07/20/05
Sean Burns
Sean Burns
Philadelphia Weekly

The surface smoothness can't make up for the deeper flaws...fails signally in establishing any solid emotional connection with most of the people it portrays.

Full Review Source: One Guy's Opinion | comment Comment
07/19/05
Frank Swietek
Frank Swietek
One Guy's Opinion

Worthwhile for the three leads (Kudrow, Gyllenhaal, and Coogan) and for Roos's unique perspectives as a storyteller, close captioned for cognitively impaired.

Full Review Source: AboutFilm.com | comment Comment
07/19/05
Carlo Cavagna
Carlo Cavagna
AboutFilm.com

Writer/director Don Roos has fashioned a funny though sometimes bleak and cynical black comedy, with multiple storylines that sometimes connect in jarring fashion.

Full Review Source: Ebert & Roeper | comment Comment
07/18/05
Richard Roeper
Richard Roeper
Ebert & Roeper
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Although all actors are plausible in their respective roles, Gyllenhaal's Jude is the only one that is provided with enough dimensionality to keep things interesting.

Full Review Source: Boxoffice Magazine | comment Comment
07/18/05
Francesca Dinglasan
Francesca Dinglasan
Boxoffice Magazine

What "Happy Endings" really needs is more Maggie.

Full Review Source: About.com | comment Comment
07/18/05
Marcy Dermansky
Marcy Dermansky
About.com

Happy Endings, like its characters, is an ambitious, if flawed, work, but there is also a touching soulful quality that cannot be denied and cannot be faked.

Full Review Source: DustinPutman.com | comment Comment
07/17/05
Dustin Putman
Dustin Putman
DustinPutman.com
 
 
41 - 60 (sorted by date; Australian critics are listed first)
Text View | |< << 1 2 3 4 5 6 >> >|
all

Latest News for Happy Endings

November 17, 2005: Oh It's Already Been Broughten (Part 3)
A fresh press release from Universal informs us that there will soon be a "Bring It On 3" to enjoy, but also reminds us that, hey yeah, there WAS a direct-to-video... More...

March 09, 2005: The director arranged to have a physical obstacle—a countertop, a couch—between Tom Arnold and his gay son in every scene until they reconcile. Opens in new window
More...

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