The title of Don Roos’ (“Bounce,” “The Opposite of Sex”) latest is particularly suitable, because dammit if I wasn’t elated when it finally ended after two-plus hours of blah. Of the many curious decisions Roos made in this, his most disappointing film to date, foremost among them was stuffing far too many uninteresting characters into a meandering mise-en-scene rife with thematic clichés lifted from daytime soaps. For good measure, he also throws in plenty of the annoying au courant hallmarks of hipster flicks: Karaoke, intolerable babble disguised as intelligent discourse, jittery hand-held camerawork and, of course, Maggie Gyllenhaal. Of the three storylines running concurrently through “Happy Endings,” the central one is least appealing: Lisa Kudrow’s Mamie being blackmailed by a wanna-be doc-umentarian (Jesse Bradford) who knows the identity of the son she gave up for adoption two decades ago. Beyond that, there’s plenty of half-baked drama, mostly involving the intersection of gay and straight lifestyles — all of it with the flavor of days-old leftovers. (Rated R for sexual content, language and some drug use. Running time: 128 minutes)
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on July 15, 2005. Read the original PDF.