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 Maggie Gyllenhaal Laura Dern Jesse Bradford Jason Ritter Tom Arnold Bobby Cannavale
Distributed by	Lions Gate Entertainment
Release date(s)	January 20, 2005 (2005-01-20)
Running time	128 mins.
Country	United States
Language	English
Gross revenue	Domestic: $1,311,633

Happy Endings is a 2005 Lions Gate Entertainment picture directed by Don Roos and starring Lisa Kudrow, Tom Arnold, Steve Coogan and Maggie Gyllenhaal. The expression 'happy ending' is a colloquial term for the practice of a massage therapist to offer sexual release to a client.

[edit] Plot

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 through a restaurant.

The film follows three interconnected stories. In the first, a woman (Lisa Kudrow) reluctantly agrees 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 stepbrother (Steve Coogan) (who is later found to be gay) 19 years earlier.

In the second story arc, her stepbrother and his domestic partner (David Sutcliffe) are deciding whether or not to confront their friends, a lesbian couple (Laura Dern and Sarah Clarke), 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.

[edit] Cast

• Lisa Kudrow - Mamie Toll
• Steve Coogan - Charley Peppitone
• Tom Arnold - Frank McKee
• Jason Ritter - Otis McKee
• Maggie Gyllenhaal - Jude
• Bobby Cannavale - Javier Duran
• Jesse Bradford - Nicky Kunitz
• David Sutcliffe - Gil Palmer
• Laura Dern - Pam Ferris
• Sarah Clarke - Diane

[edit] Production

Director Don 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.^[1] Originally, the story concerned three sisters.^[2] It took 18 months to find financial backing for the production.^[3]

Maggie Gyllenhaal was not the first choice to play Jude. Gwyneth Paltrow was originally slated to play the part, but dropped out and was replaced by Jennifer Garner. After Garner left the project, Gyllenhaal was awarded the role. Maggie Gyllenhaal does her own singing in the film.

Ray Liotta turned down the role of Frank McKee.

[edit] See also

• Hyperlink cinema - the film style of using multiple inter-connected story lines.

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Happy Endings at the Internet Movie Database