HAPPY ENDINGS
Directed & Written by: Don Roos.
Produced by: Holly Wiersma & Michael Paseornek.
Director of Photography: Clark Mathis.
Edited by: David Codron.
Released by: Lions Gate.
Country of Origin: USA. 128 min. Rated: R.
With: Tom Arnold, Jesse Bradford, Bobby Cannavale, Sarah Clarke, Steve Coogan, Laura Dern, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Lisa Kudrow, Jason Ritter & David Sutcliffe.

A troubled thirty-something living in Los Angeles, Mamie (Lisa Kudrow) is burdened with a 20-year-old secret she represses by escaping to Javier (Bobby Cannavale), a Mexican masseur who fulfills her sexual fantasies. She’s stunned when a wannabe filmmaker, knowing about her past, blackmails her. Meanwhile, her gay stepbrother Charley (Steve Coogan) thinks his lover Gil’s best friend, a lesbian named Pam (Laura Dern), is lying about the paternity of her baby. He’s convinced her son is Gil’s. And a rich teen musician working at Charley’s restaurant, Otis (Jason Ritter, son of the late John Ritter), is in denial about his sexuality. His band’s new singer, the spunky and sultry Jude (Maggie Gyllenhaal), more than makes herself at home with Otis and his widower father (Tom Arnold). A drifter looking for a free ride, Jude moves in, seducing them both.

There’s a lot going on in Happy Endings - a film that at first glance may seem disjointed, but in the end, flows. Ultimately, this dark comedy is about sex and secrets, which is why it grabs and keeps viewers’ attention for over two hours. Throughout, director Don Roos plays with the audience, from the opening as we listen to thumping and panting while watching a black screen (the sounds are of Lisa Kudrow running, not of a “happy ending”) to the introduction of Javier (Roos lets us see his body and listen to his husky voice for minutes before showing his face.)

Unlike Bounce and The Opposite of Sex, Happy Endings, Roos’ third feature film, offers rich and intriguing characters we really care about. Bounce is schmaltzy, The Opposite of Sex is rough and raunchy, but Happy Endings combines the two - it’s both ingratiatingly sentimental and racy. And often during Happy Endings viewers read text on a split screen. The background information is useful and often funny, but sometimes distracting as the eyes dart back and forth from lengthy paragraphs to scenes in progress. Deborah Lynn Blumberg
July 15, 2005