Sometimes when I'm watching a black comedy or a drama with a very ironic, dark sense of humor--like In The Company Of Men or Good Fellas--I often find myself laughing harder than anyone else in the theater. Happy Endings was that way. The trailer patched together the most slapstick moments in the film and created the impression of a much less intelligent and subtle film, sort of a bubblier take on something like Laurel Canyon, with which Happy Endings shares a few similarities, both thematically and structurally even down to the rock band subplot, as it follows the intersecting romantic affairs and emotional dramas of a group of tangentially connected characters. Happy Endings is a much smarter movie though, the script is well-written, and the droll subtitles that slip on screen from time to time to omnisciently provide additional details about a scene or character are not only funny but add a literary touch to the narrative that help establish the tone of the movie. This is one of those films that doesn't provide a clearly sympathetic protagonist, which often causes priggish movie reviewers like Roger Ebert to diss the merits of the film as a whole since he couldn't find anyone he liked in it. Everyone in this film has issues, with the exception of maybe Tom Arnold, who--cast against type--plays the nicest person here, and what the film is sort of about is how everyone is looking for what they need in a relationship, but how given each person's own desires and hang-ups they end up manipulating or hurting the people they become involved with. Standout performances by Lisa Kudrow, who once again shows that she's one of the most underrated comedic actresses around, and Maggie Gyllenhaal, who invests her gold digging character with unexpected humanity.
Review of Happy Endings
