Film review: Not Another Happy Ending

WITH its ditzy, boyishly dressed heroine, Not Another Happy Ending seems to have Woody Allen in its sights, and Karen Gillan as a latterday Annie Hall.

Not Another Happy Ending starring Karen Gillan as Jane Lockhart and Stanley Weber as Tom Duval

Not Another Happy Ending (15)

* *

Gillan has a bright screen presence and bags of appeal, but there’s not much she can do with this clunky ragbag of rom-com clichés.

How director John McKay must rue taking on David Solomon’s script about a novelist (Gillan) who lacks creative inspiration, then releasing it under the title Not Another Happy Ending. This review practically writes itself.

Hoping to coast on a quirky charm it doesn’t possess, Happy Ending also relies on a non-existent chemistry between Gillan and her hunky French publisher (Stanley Weber), and a soft plot point that, since Gillan can only write when she’s unhappy, Weber does his best to ensure her life stays on a downer, at least until her new book is finished.

Not all of her lowpoints require his meddling: early on she moves in with a hideously self-regarding writer (Henry Ian Cusick) for plot convenience. Not only is making a bright woman oblivious to the fact her partner is a preening idiot both antiquated and unfunny, in this day and age it’s insulting.

Still, Glasgow looks attractive, and in the supporting cast Iain De Caestecker has a loopy charisma that underlines why he’s now off to America for Agents Of SHIELD, while Gary Lewis delivers the film’s one funny line, about the French. It’s not that great but, boy, does it feel good to laugh again.

On selected release from Friday

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On selected release

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On selected release from Friday

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On general release from Friday

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On general release from Friday