We Love Happy Endings!

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.

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!

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.