A Great Finish!

Happy Endings which was written and directed by Don Roos (The Opposite of Sex) weaves multiple storylines which are all connected in some way or another. One story stars Lisa Kudrow as Miriam, an abortion counselor that has been blackmailed by wannabe film maker Nicky (Jesse Bradford) and is helping him to make a documentary in exchange for the identity and whereabouts of her son, whom she gave up for adoption. Oh, and the kid is the offspring of her and her step brother. She is also having a fling with her masseuse Javier (Bobby Cannavale). Another storyline involves Miriam’s step brother Charles (Steve Coogan) and his boyfriend Gil (David Sutcliffe), who think their two best friends stole Gill’s sperm in an attempt to keep them from their child (their best friends are lesbians, hence the sperm plotline). Then there’s Jude (Maggie Gyllenhaal) a freeloader that finds her way into the pants of drummer Otis (Jason Ritter) who is also gay, and his father Frank (Tom Arnold) and blackmails (running theme here) him using his sexuality against him. Along with all of the interwoven plotlines Roos uses title screens to give the viewer hints at what’s coming next or what a certain character is feeling. The multiple storyline format became popular after Crash cashed in with awards to spare, and in my opinion can kill a film, although it does work well in this flick. For such a bleak flick Happy Endings didn’t make me feel like killing myself after the credits rolled. I really enjoyed Lisa Kudrow’s performance as well as Jason Ritter’s. This is a well written and well put together flick, so put it in your top 20 on your Netflix queue. This is a Killer Film!