Not Another Happy Ending

I will keep it short and to the point:

Things I love:

Soundtrack

Karen Gillan

The location

The Romance

Writers life

Karen famous nude scene (nice ass by the way)

Things I don't love:

Feels long

Sometimes I can't understand the damn accent

Cliché scenes

The writers fans

Didn't fancy her dad

To conclude, the first stage was interesting to some extend but then it fell off thanks to the duration and the twist, by which time I stopped watching the movie and continued working, before going to bed I decided just to watch few more minutes and that's the end of it, from that point onwards I didn't stop until I finished it. I guess I rooted for the guy and really wanted a happy ending in the end. It's sort of emotional but none of the points worked for me, it was more like romance/comedy which is what I wanted to see. Karen is hot as always, got a sweet spot for her (dig red heads) I do like the lead and his style. I don't know this movie which worked for me and I actually feel a lot better after watching it.

I do recall saying HELL YEAH at the end and proclaiming my desire to meet someone like the lead or at least share what they had.

So, for me it was worth the watch.

Everyone has to admit that its originality makes this one of the best movies of all time. It will always be one of my favorites. Silly but fun, it is the story of what happens when a struggling publisher discovers his only successful author is blocked he knows he has to unblock her or he's finished. From an artistic standpoint, there were some plot elements and character developments I didn't think were totally needed. They do however drive the story, which seemed to be their purpose, so I can accept them. God bless this film. The acting is very effective. This is the kind of film that proves that a small story can be much more meaningful than a larger one.

Rom Com a bit of a maligned term in the world of films, but I think it is a question of degree. Would I like a full on romantic film? No. Would I like a full on comedy? No. So a combination of these two is likely to be a disaster for me, unless it is done as well Not Another Happy Ending.

The film is well acted and all characters are well drawn, memorable and actors put their hearts into the performance. The camera work and editing do a great job to establishing the world the characters inhabit but allow the characters time to develop instead quickly moving on to next scene. The direction is interesting when it needs to be, but the actors are the main focus on the film, so that is just as well fancy camera work is not used when they are delivering their performances.

The story is enjoyable and probably more realistic than you might think, if you think that would never happen or character would not be like that, for the purpose of entertainment let it go, its not a gritty life study.

Karen Gillan really has proved her her leading lady status here, and although the star of the film the supporting cast are also fantastic you can tell there must have been temptation to expand their roles further, perhaps should be focus of further stories.

Criticism of the film I would say is mostly the predictability of the plot,even with my little knowledge of the Rom Com,you know what is going to happen , but, these films are not watched for plot twists , unpredictable events. Budget is not a noticeable issue but it has a feel of an extended pilot for a TV series which never got made (and of course should have been made)and those who helped crowdsource fund the film should be proud of what the helped create.

A final recommendation is the music, it's great and mostly not well known. The most mainstream track saved for the high emotional point, almost goes too far , but I can forgive that or release the soundtrack I can always skip that track, while loving the rest.

Passes the Bechdel Test

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.

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.