Happy Endings

Herald rating: * * *

A Gyllenhaal, a gay theme ... no, it's not that movie. It's a quirky piece in which the plot twists and writhes, the script is plain dumb in parts, but we're treated to a sackful of fine performances from the ensemble cast.

Don Roos, the writer-director, uses a single hand-held camera and voice-overs to carry three unfolding stories of sex, sexual orientation and unwanted pregnancies.

Mamie Toll (Lisa Kudrow) is an abortion clinic counsellor. Her lover, Javier (Bobby Cannavale), is a massage therapist. She has a secret: 20 years ago she and her gay stepbrother, Charley Peppitone (Steve Coogan), had a child. She was talked out of an abortion and the child was adopted.

Nicky Kunitz (Jesse Bradford), a sleazy film-maker, shows up to blackmail her with information on her son's whereabouts so that he can film the reunion. Mamie tries to shift the focus by convincing Kunitz to film Javier's lifestyle instead.

Charley runs his father's restaurant with his lover, Gil (David Sutcliffe). Charley suspects that their lesbian friends, Pam (Laura Dern) and Diane (Sarah Clarke), lied about using Gil's sperm to create a child.

Jude (Maggie Gyllenhaal) has been kicked out of home and is living with a gay drummer, Otis McKee (Jason Ritter), and his rich, widowed father, Frank (Tom Arnold). Frank is falling for Jude ... and Jude is falling for Frank. Or she may be blackmailing him.

The DVD features an unusual commentary track with director Don Roos (it may help to understand his movies to know that he is gay) reprising his earlier work with Kudrow on The Opposite of Sex.

Kudrow and Roos are friends, and director of photography Clark Mathis turns interviewer to ask them questions that provide an extra dimension to the film's gestation. The trio also comment on 10 deleted scenes, a three-scene gag reel and a five-scene making-of.

* DVD, Video rental today