| Happy Endings | |
|---|---|
 Promotional Poster For Happy Endings |
|
| Directed by | Don Roos |
| Produced by | Michael Paseornek Holly Wiersma |
| Written by | Don Roos |
| Starring | Lisa Kudrow Steve Coogan Jesse Bradford Bobby Cannavale Maggie Gyllenhaal Jason Ritter Tom Arnold |
| Cinematography | J. Clark Mathis |
| Editing by | David Codron |
| Distributed by | Lions Gate Films |
| Release date(s) | January 20, 2005 |
| Running time | 128 minutes |
| Language | English |
| Gross revenue | Domestic: $1,311,633 |
| IMDb profile | |
Happy Endings is a 2005 Lions Gate Films picture directed by Don Roos and starring Lisa Kudrow, Tom Arnold, Steve Coogan and Maggie Gyllenhaal.
Contents |
Cast
Lisa Kudrow - Mamie Toll
Steve Coogan - Charley Peppitone
Jesse Bradford - Nicky Kunitz
Bobby Cannavale - Javier Duran
Maggie Gyllenhaal - Jude
Jason Ritter - Otis McKee
Tom Arnold - Frank McKee
David Sutcliffe - Gil Palmer
Laura Dern - Pam Ferris
Sarah Clarke - Diane
Storyline
The film follows the lives of a diverse group of mostly middle class Americans through the emotional ups and downs in their flawed yet very human lives, each loosely connected to each other by a restaurant. The film follows three interconnected stories. In the first, a woman (Lisa Kudrow) reluctantly agreeing to work with a would-be young filmmaker (Jesse Bradford) in order to locate the now grown son she secretly gave up for adoption after becoming pregnant from her step-brother (Steve Coogan) (who is later found to be gay) 19 years earlier. In the second story arc, her step-brother and his domestic partner (David Sutcliffe) are deciding whether or not to confront a lesbian couple (Laura Dern and Sarah Clarke) who are their friends regarding the paternity of their son. And in the third, a young man (Jason Ritter) is involved with a band and trying to keep his father (Tom Arnold) from learning that he is gay, while also dealing with the seemingly gold-digging woman (Maggie Gyllenhaal) who inserts herself into their lives.
Production
Director Roos wrote the part of Mamie expressly for Lisa Kudrow after directing her in his earlier film, The Opposite of Sex which he also wrote. Originally, the story concerned three sisters. It took 18 months to find financial backing for the production.
Trivia
- The expression 'happy ending' is a colloquial term for the practice of a massage therapist to offer sexual release to a client.
- Despite the favorable response to the track, Kid Loco's track "Youpi" was not featured on the soundtrack, nor were several of the tracks used by Dirty Three. Calexico was the most prominent artists featured on the album, alongside Maggie Gyllenhaal.
See also
- Hyperlink cinema - the film style of using multiple inter-connected story lines.
