Não é Mais um Final Feliz

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.

I could simply dismiss this movie as a formulaic rom-com that is neither particularly romantic nor comic, but that wouldn't really get into the problem with this movie. The problem is it feels phony from beginning to end. Everything about it is wrong. The main character dresses quirky, but there's no sense that this is who she is, or that she has a purpose in her choice of clothes. Instead, you feel someone on the movie just decided to dress her that way. The love interests actions are at best I-Love-Lucy-level nonsense at worst borderline sociopathic. It's also an absurdly stupid premise, and the movie knows it's a stupid premise and makes that clear, yet goes with it anyway.

Every turn in the plot feels like it's there not because it is a natural outcome of what came before but simply because the writer wanted to create a situation.

The performances are good. The movie looks good. And the movie effectively hits the basic rom-com pressure points. But its soulless and stupid, and unerringly goes for the trite moments and the fake emotions.

I did like the main characters alter-ego. She was a good actress and was actually more convincing than the supposed real people in the film. But overall this was not just dull, but downright objectionable.

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'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!

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