Not Another Happy Ending

Jane Lockhart (Karen Gillan) is not a happy person. She hates her publisher Frenchman Tom Duval for changing the title of her book to Happy Ending. The book becomes a best seller. She reconnects with her estranged father Benny. Her boyfriend Willie Scott is writing the screenplay. Everything seems to be perfect but she can't finish her second book. She's stuck on Chapter 37. Her fictional protagonist Darsie starts hounding her. Tom fears her writer's block threatens his company. With his assistant Roddy, Tom tries to make her unhappy like before so she would finish her book. Her happiness is only on the surface and Tom finds himself falling for her.

I want Karen Gillan to get better material than this. This is not that funny. Any smile-worthy moments come from Karen being Karen. She's not really a comedian. She has some physical comedic skills but it's not enough. There are very few relationships with chemistry in this movie. The best one is probably the father daughter struggles. Gary Lewis is the only one doing any worthwhile acting. Stanley Weber is rather stiff and he doesn't have enough time with Gillan. They need more screen time together to develop that chemistry. On the other side, Henry Ian Cusick is playing a superficial villain. This is not good enough.

I watched Not Another Happy Ending due to my love for Karen Gillan. And the film was a perfectly serviceable, if unremarkable rom-com. There was a nugget of a story for a dark comedy where a publisher encourages an author by making them miserable and there were some cute moments that got a chuckle out of me like Jane (Karen Gillan) throwing a phone in the fridge. Gillan did show her star-power and comic timing in this film.

Why do so many rom-coms rely on preposterous premises? When they work (rarely, such as in Sliding Doors) the overall feel of the film can overcome its shortcomings. In this case, without it's female lead it would be pretty much unwatchable. I liked the idea of Jane's protagonist, Darcie, dogging her during the writer's block, but this was too underplayed and could have provided a lot more comedy than it did. The male lead character lacks all credibility and Stanley Weber's performance is mind-numbing. Otherwise, the supporting characters are badly drawn and barely justify their screen time. In particular the male support to Weber, supposedly a secondary school teacher is laughable, in all the wrong ways (how did he manage to get hold of a taxi?), while Jane's sleazeball, mistaken love interest (Willie) is stereotyping at it's worst. Karen Gillan carries the film on her own, and it's worth watching just for her performance. In the end the overall feeling is that there was a much better film trying to get out. Continuity and editing weren't much good either, but nice locations. Curiosity point: interesting to see non-sexualized nudity actually justified by the plot.

I am a Karen Gillan fan, that is why I watched this movie on Amazon streaming. But a word of warning, there is a scene in her apartment where she is fully nude, someone had suggested writing while nude might be a cure for writer's block and she decides to try it.

In this movie she is Jane Lockhart, a writer with a first success and now under contract for the second book is having trouble finishing it. Gillan is of course superb, she is in everything she does. This is an entertaining movie right at 90 minutes long. Gillan was right about 25 when this movie was made.

I've seen this film twice now, first in Edinburgh at the film festival, then in Inverness. I enjoyed it both times.

You have to bear in mind the target audience for this. It's for people who want to watch something light-hearted and fun, and in this it certainly delivers.

It's quirky and fun and the cast give excellent performances. Karen is, as ever, beautiful and very camera friendly. She portrays the character well and her dialogue with the delightful Darsie is nicely done. Her dad is very believable and gritty. Willie is quietly loathsome and you really want him to be kicked to the kerb! Darsie and Roddy are excellent characters and acted very well indeed. The chemistry between Jane and Tom was a bit lacklustre, but it was still 'nice'.

There's enough footage of Glasgow to show it in a nice light without it looking like an ad for visitscotland. It's encouraging to see Glasgow in a movie where it's not all about violence, poverty or drugs. (or zombies, if you count World War Z!)

All in all, it's a nice movie. If you like this genre you should go see it. If you like Karen Gillan, you should DEFINITELY go see it!