Happy Endings

Wednesday, September 14
Tower Theatre - 8:00 p.m.
$15 - buy tickets
buy festival pass
After the film:
Opening Night Gala
Reel Pride Pavilion
All ticket and pass holders

You have to hand it to a movie that features a top-notch acting job from Tom Arnold. "Happy Endings" has that and hottie Maggie Gyllenhaal, as a singer who is having sex with Arnold and his gay son (Jason Ritter). There's also the ever-deft Lisa Kudrow, who is trying to find the son she gave up for adoption. And there's Steve Coogan, who broods that his lover (David Sutcliffe) provided the sperm that brought a baby to their lesbian best friends (Laura Dern and Sarah Clarke). Writer-director Don Roos knows how to mix angst and comic ardor, as he did splendidly in "The Opposite of Sex". - Peter Travers, Rolling Stone Magazine

Its multiple stories and a ton of great acting by an ensemble cast blended together to create Happy Endings in this dynamic and witty comedy/drama from Don Roos (Opposite of Sex). The opening film of 2005's Sundance Festival, this is a first-run look at a film about to take the nation by storm.

With a cast that includes Laura Dern, Sarah Clarke, Lisa Kudrow, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Bobby Cannavale, Tom Arnold and Jason Ritter, Happy Endings is the intermixing of love and dysfunction, gay and straight, happy and not-so-much.

Mamie is being blackmailed. This filmmaker, Nick, claims to know the son she gave up for adoption, but won't introduce himself to her unless he can film the reunion. Enter Javier, Mamie's massage therapist, who convinces Nick to film him instead! Now they're all making a movie about massage.

Charley, meanwhile, has a longtime boyfriend, Gil. Their best friends, Pam and Diane, once used Gil as a sperm donor. They said his sperm didn't take, but Charley thinks those control-freak lesbians are lying. Pam and Diane's two year old son looks exactly like Gil, however, and it's time to set the record straight.

Meanwhile (!), Jude is pissed. Not at anyone in particular, just in general. When her cousin kicks her out of the house, Jude shacks up with Otis, who's still trying to convince his father, Frank, that he's not really gay. Frank's a widower, and rich, so Jude decides to sleep with him, too. The last thing she expects is to fall in love.

Confused? Writer/Director Roos makes certain you aren't, with clever screen techniques and thanks to the fantastic set of performances turned in by his stellar cast. Together, they weave together these amazing stories to create a sharp, clever look at love, family, and the sheer unpredictability of life. A feast of buried secrets, missed opportunities, and second chances, this wildly original comedy proves that the happiest ending of all is the one you least expect.

Directed by Don Roos
2005, USA, 35mm, 128 minutes
film website

Making of What Matters

2004, USA, Video, 7 minutes
Kevin Waldrop, Producer

Screening Sponsor: Central California Alliance
Day Sponsor: Quality Inn & Suites