I am a sucker for a happy ending. I watched Funny People last night and while I really enjoyed the movie I hated the ending. Spoiler Sandler should have ended up with the girl. It really annoyed me that he didn't as there was such a lead up to it happening. Two movies that really stand out to me as having endings that don't quite go as you'd like them are The Departed and The Green Mile. In my opinion, the endings leave a little to be desired. Another ending that was talked about a lot, although not a movie, was the ending of The Sopranos. I remember some people hating it and some loving it. To each his/her own, I guess.
I hate sad endings. That being said, Gran Torino's ending was freaking amazing.. That movie is easily one of the most underrated of all times. Clint Eastwood was once a badass, is still a badass, and will always remain a badass!
Sad endings sometimes bring realism and objectivism to otherwise implausible or morally-slanted stories. And sometimes they're the only good thing about a movie, like when Smirky McRaspy-Voice dies at the end of Armageddon. God that was an awful, awful film.
Personally, I find movies with cerebral endings like No Country For Old Men, American Beauty, Donnie Darko, etc... to be more pleasing to the original artistic state of mind that spawned the source material. Movies with cheap manufactured endings that tie up loose ends only insult my intelligence. I despise movies like that. Like that movie "He's Just Not That Into You" that was being marketed as an atypical romantic comedy... one with some actual substance and not the same old cheesy endings. Well it turned out to be nothing of the sort. I wanted to punch my grandmother in the larynx after being forced to view that steaming pile of boar excrement.
well, in fairness to that god awful movie, the divorced couple never came back to each other and the divorced dude lost Scarlett (IIRC), so technically it wasn't a "everyone lived happily ever after" movie. The thing that pissed me off the most was the gay apple macintosh r****d getting with that nerdy stupid girl. This girl single-handedly destroyed what is already an awful chick flick. Her stupidity and awkwardness made me want to punch a hole in HER larynx
i do like happy endings. but not r****ded ones. Thinking of Big Daddy for the absolutely ridiculous courtroom scene
I don't care if they're happy endings or not, I just want to be surprised, at the least make me draw my own conclusions. I love endings like the one in Doubt and Gone Baby Gone.
You want a movie with a bad ending? watch Next (2007, Nicholas Cage). I have never been more pissed after a movie than after Next. Luckily I watched it on TV.. Spoiler So apparently Nicholas Cage can see into the future... and the movie goes through all this action for like an hour and right at the climax, they go back to a scene from the beginning of the movie and you see Nick Cage saying something to the effect of "damn the future doesn't work out too good, time to do something else instead" and that's how the movie ends. I guess that's what family guy was referencing with the two Stewie kills Lois episodes...
It would see that the ending can really make or break a movie for most people. What I look for is a consistency with what came before - there's nothing more irritating to me than an otherwise conventional film with a left-turn ending or a mostly quirky/off-beat film that gets very conventional at the end. My favorite movie ending is probably The Godfather Part II - there's so much irony in the flashback conversation and the look on Michael's face tells you he knows it. There are a lot of films that I love whose endings could possibly be improved, but I could not think of any better way to end The Godfather Part II
I watched Funny People for the first time last night too and thought the ending fell a little flat. On the other hand, I LOVE The Green Mile.
The ending of Funny People was great Spoiler you were kinda rooting for George (Sandler) at first cause well he's the main character, but at the same time, Eric Bana's character didn't do anything wrong, he was a good father/husband, just rooted against him because of jealousy he had towards George as for the subject matter, I like the endings that are more realistic, because its a wakeup call for those dumbasses who think their lives can be perfect like the "movies", My Best Friend's Wedding is another good example.
I like happy endings, if they are original, as well as sad endings and ambiguous. The ones that I remember.... Sad or Depressing ------------------------------------ Citizen Kane Sling Blade On Her Majesty's Secret Service Jeepers Creepers (that was pretty much one of the highlights of the movie) Ambigous (ending) ------------------------ Donnie Darko Cool Hand Luke (but in a sense it was a happy ending . . . ) American Beauty Halloween The Thing WTF? ending (are great, too) --------------------------------------- Identity Sleepaway Camp Happy ------------------------ E.T. Cape Fear Taxi Driver Midnight Express (Well deserved happy ending) Conan the Barbarian Spoiler (end the movie with beheading) Most movies to begin with.
I was about to make a joke about happy endings and Holocaust movies, and was going to bring up the most obvious one, Schindler's List. Then, I realized that Schindler's List actually did give a happy ending to the Holocaust. Anne Frank stagings always end on an inspiring beat. The Reader, yep too. Even Sophie's Choice ended on kind of an up note. Instead, I'll just hang my head in shame: shame, and hope once more against hope that Jerry Lewis' estate releases The Day the Clown Cried before too many more years pass. At least there is realism in the documentaries: The Sorrow, the Pity, and Those Wacky Vichy Shenanigans...
