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Recently I saw the movie Knight and Day (yes, it has Tom Cruise in it–I was sucked in by the opening, forgive me, but at least I saw it free on TV!). It had everything that ought to produce a good romantic comedy–likable characters, a quirky plot, good pacing, and most importantly, a happy ending. But it left me unsatisfied. And why is that? Because it wasn’t a satisfying ending on an emotional level.
And thanks to this article I read recently, I know why! Because according to movie producer Lindsay Doran (and since I can’t really paraphrase the article, I’m just going to quote one pithy part), ’“the accomplishment the audience values most is not when the heroine saves the day or the hero defeats his opponent.’ Instead, she said, ‘the accomplishment the audience values most is resilience.’” As she puts it, the ending “might not be about winning. It might be about not winning, about finding something deeper that means more than victory.” We want to see people learn from their mistakes and grow. And if that means NOT winning, it’s still satisfying. What that said to me is that even if the person wins and reaches their goal, if there’s NO growth going on, the movie still isn’t satisfying on an emotional level.
At the end of the Tom Cruise movie, they “win,” but they learned nothing and sacrificed nothing to get there. Or at least that’s how it felt to me. But a movie like Sabrina, where the heroine DOESN’T achieve her goal of gaining the youngest son of the family as her husband, resonates with me because the heroine learns that what she really needs is a different kind of guy entirely. Plus, she still finds love–just not the love she expected to find. And the hero learns that relationships are more important than business success.
So what do you think? Do you agree with the article? What makes a movie memorable to you? Does the movie always have to end happily to be enjoyable to you? Or can you enjoy the occasional tragedy (Titanic, for example) if you feel the characters have risen from the ashes, so to speak?
91 Comments on “When a Happy Ending Isn’t Enough”
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I don’t always need a happy ending. In fact, a soul crushing ending can be exactly what is called for. Just give me a totally satisfying ending. Case in point: I walked out of LES MISERABLES the other day (Second viewing for me) completely exhausted from **FEELING**.
Posted on February 7, 2013 at 4:07 am.
I haven’t seen it yet. I have got to see it! I never saw the play either, but everyone raves about it.
Posted on February 7, 2013 at 11:42 am.
I don’t always need a happy ending but it is nice. Case in point – Cats. For the most part it’s a heartbreaking movie, especially when all the other cats give Grisabella the Glamour Cat a hard time and yet at the end they all seem to be happy for her when she goes to cat heaven. At other times I don’t like how a movie ends, an example of this is with the film adaption of Phantom of the Opera. To my way of thinking Christine shouldn’t have gone with Raoul, yeah he was a nice guy but the Phantom LOVED her. Sorry about that, but I am a little weird with that movie.
Posted on February 7, 2013 at 4:53 am.
I don’t think you’re alone in wanting her to end up with the Phantom. I think he has somehow morphed through the years from creepy stalker guy into tortured hero. And it WAS Gerard Butler, after all. *G*
Posted on February 7, 2013 at 11:45 am.
I agree with the article. The movie “A Simple Twist of Fate” with Steve Martin (aka Matilda) is one of my favorite movies. I’d reccomend it to anyone. Because at the end, everyone who grows has a HEA and everyone that never learns, does not.
Movies such as Lorenzo’s Oil I love for the perserverence of the human nature.
Does every movie have to have a happy ending. No, I like them, but not necessary. I do however prefer not to go watch a bloodfest. Grossing me out isn’t telling me a story, it’s just the innate abilty to gross me out. Why pay 15 dollars for that?
Posted on February 7, 2013 at 7:05 am.
I really love that movie, too. So sweet! But then, I always liked the book it was based on, too.
I’m with you on the bloodfests. Not into that, myself.
Posted on February 7, 2013 at 11:46 am.
Well, you picked one of my favorite movies – Sabrina – as an example. I love that movie, specifically because the characters all grow and change. Each one learns something about themselves and is happier for it.
As far as happy endings, I love them. I guess it doesn’t have to have one but it does need to be satisfying on that ‘someone has learned something really important and is better for it’ level. Even if the person dies, they have to have had that transformative experience, like in Wit.
Posted on February 7, 2013 at 7:47 am.
As you might guess, I chose my pseudonym from that movie. I loved the remake so much when it came out that I have multiple copies of it.
Oh, I didn’t see Wit. Was it good?
Posted on February 7, 2013 at 11:47 am.
I like a happy ending. Titanic was good, but not great for me because of that. Could also be because only Rose changed. Jack was always the same. The creepy fiance, always the same. Her mom, the same.
Maybe if she’d had a child . . . that might have helped. Forest Gump makes me cry, but there’s little Forest. Forest doesn’t change, but everyone else does. Love that movie.
Posted on February 7, 2013 at 8:16 am.
I didn’t like Titanic that much either. The only thing *I* cried over was all those people drowning. Knowing that it really happened hit me hard. But the rest of it was just . . . blah. That is the one movie I wouldn’t have used as an example of her thesis in that article. It did nothing for me. But obviously you and I are in the minority.
I LOVE Forrest Gump. Always will. He reminds me of my son a bit, always constant and the world learns from him.
Posted on February 7, 2013 at 11:52 am.
I loved Titanic for the story of the ship and the people as a group, not Jack & Rose’s story.
Posted on February 8, 2013 at 12:29 am.
I COMPLETELY AGREE, it’s the growth and change that wins me over. It’s the same thing that frustrates me in people in my life. If you don’t self-reflect on your mistakes and keep repeating them, argh!
It ain’t easy being perfect, am I right? :-p
Posted on February 7, 2013 at 8:42 am.
Amen, sister! We perfect people need to stick together!
Posted on February 7, 2013 at 11:52 am.
For me, I choose a movie depending on my mood. So if I need a HEA then any other kind of movie won’t satisfy me. Comedy and lessons learned are all important, but not as important as the hero getting the girl (or vice versa if you are watching Ever After).
If I am in the mood for action I can still appreciate a happy ending – like Die Hard.
Posted on February 7, 2013 at 9:03 am.
When we were going through really hard times with my son, I really couldn’t watch anything but the lightest of comedies. My life was too dark to watch anything else.
Although in the midst of that, my brother suggested Sling Blade. Neither Hubby nor I wanted to watch it, but we did, and I was so glad that we did. It was a soul-satisfying movie. We needed that, even if we thought we didn’t.
Posted on February 7, 2013 at 11:54 am.
I really like a hea but sometimes a tearjerker is something I will enjoy – Nicholas Sparks for example. Read Barbara Delinsky’s Three Wishes – no spoiler given here.
Also Home Again by Kristan Hannah.
Posted on February 7, 2013 at 9:07 am.
Tear jerkers can sometimes be very satisfying, I’ll agree!
Posted on February 7, 2013 at 11:55 am.
I agree. I think sometimes the HEA is all important if I’m just in the mood for a movie like that. Most of the time, I just want an agreeable resolution that makes sense in the film. Like Simon Birch–that is a fantastic movie, but it doesn’t really have a happy ending, but the story is resolved in a more bittersweet way, but the movie is still a great one–humor, life lessons, sadness, etc.
I actually liked how they ended Titanic, as well. I thought the way they wrapped up the story was unique and it left me understanding that happiness can rise from great sorrow. The path is never an easy one, but it’s worth it.
Posted on February 7, 2013 at 9:43 am.
I haven’t seen Simon Birch. I’ll have to check it out!
Yes, happiness rising from great sorrow is a theme that never gets old.
Posted on February 7, 2013 at 11:56 am.
Oh, Sabrina, I think you will love it. It has Ashley Judd and Oliver Platt in it.
Posted on February 7, 2013 at 4:11 pm.
I love this. I hate a shallow, hollow ending, and a tragedy like Titanic can be enormously satisfying IF the tragedy serves some greater sense of goodness (Rose lived a big life, and lived for everyone who died).
I also have to believe the couple will be happy together in a romance.
Posted on February 7, 2013 at 9:52 am.
I know what you mean. Sometimes you really think the couple is not going to make it beyond the fairy tale ending and that’s REALLY unsatisfying in a romantic comedy.
Posted on February 7, 2013 at 11:57 am.
Sabrina, I agree completely. It’s about the journey of the characters and not the action/adventure ‘fun.’ I mean, that’s fun to watch, but it’s the appetizer and not the main meal. The main meal is the characters’ journeys from page 1 to page End.
I don’t mind a movie that doesn’t have the happy ending that *I* thought was going to happen, but b’gosh, I do think there needs to be an ending of the story of SOME sort. In Sabrina, her dreams are fulfilled, just not in the way she expected. I can deal with that, but I can’t deal with how some movies just leave you to wonder, as if the author couldn’t make up their mind, and so … well, you can just imagine what you want to. NO, NO, AND NO. I want closure of SOME sort or I’m not happy.
Posted on February 7, 2013 at 9:53 am.
I saw a movie recently (Martha Marcy May Marlene) that ended in an “arty” way and made me want to kill someone. The story was unresolved, and I know the filmmaker thought that was oh so cool, but it just made me want my two hours back. Meanwhile, it was a winner at the Sundance Film Festival. Pfftt.
Posted on February 7, 2013 at 12:04 pm.
I completely agree with that. I recently read one of Sarah MacLean’s books where it didn’t seem like the hero changed or grew. That left me wanting with that book. I like the movie Sabrina, too. I’ve seen both the old one, and the new one. I always thought that Harrison Ford and Audrey Hepburn would be the ultimate Hollywood couple, and perfect for that move. Too bad that they’re from different generations.
I’ve found that change is hard. I’ve been on a “personal growth” kick recently. While I’m ready and willing to change, being around others who aren’t is difficult. Expressing this in a story or movie seems even more difficult. But it is the change in attitude that makes the whole difference.
Posted on February 7, 2013 at 10:29 am.
Good for you with the personal growth kick! I feel like I’ve been on that for a while. Here’s hoping it bears results for both of us!
I didn’t like the old version of Sabrina, mostly because much as I adore Humphrey Bogart, he didn’t work for me in that film. And I really think the later version is wittier.
Posted on February 7, 2013 at 12:06 pm.
So far I have loved all of Sarah MacLean’s books.
Posted on February 8, 2013 at 12:32 am.
Interesting, and true, I think! Personally, I like to see growth (both ways, for example…the reformed rake, and the an unwound uptight big brother)…however, I need the happy ending. I’ve always subscribed to the “there’s enough pain in real life–why should I subject my recreational choices to unhappy endings?” philosophy.
I hated Titanic. I didn’t care that it was historically sound, probably happened, etc. At the end of the day, there was heartbreak. A lot of it–and it made me unhappy. Pffffttt!
Posted on February 7, 2013 at 10:41 am.
I didn’t like Titanic either, and I didn’t really feel like anyone grew. But that’s me. Obviously others liked it.
I understand completely about what you mean when it comes to happy endings. There are times when I really need that in the strictest sense of the word.
Posted on February 7, 2013 at 12:07 pm.
No, I don’t need a happy ending. I need a satisfying ending. Things have to make sense. I have to believe the ending, and the journey to get there, was logical and admirable somehow.
If “finding something deeper that means more than victory” isn’t something that I believe in or that makes sense to me, then even that definition doesn’t work.
I’ve watched a lot of movies that left me upset because the set-up led to a “false” conclusion. I watched one just last week, in fact. I was depressed for two days!
Posted on February 7, 2013 at 10:57 am.
Well, that probably explains why I didn’t like Bridesmaids the way everyone else did. I just didn’t like anyone in the movie (well, except Melissa McCarthy, who was hilarious and a very interesting and different character). But everyone loved that movie, so I am definitely in the minority there.
Posted on February 7, 2013 at 12:11 pm.
I didn’t like that movie either! It had funny moments, and I’m seriously in love with Melissa McCarthy, but it was a fail for me.
The movie I saw was with Kurt Russell, which is the only reason I Redboxed it. Never heard of it, can’t remember the title now, but it was about high school football and Russell was the coach. It just failed completely. Kind of a retelling of It’s A Wonderful Life minus every bit of the heart. I spent two days rewinding the movie in my head, figuring out why it failed. Reason: flawed premise, faulty conclusion. The ending isn’t happy or satisfying because of that. I ended up mad at the hero for his final choice. Not good.
Posted on February 7, 2013 at 1:25 pm.
Why do you think Bridesmaids was so popular with everyone else? It has something like a 90 % rating on Rotten Tomatoes. I just don’t get it. I like that actress from Saturday Night Live, but I just didn’t really like the characters.
Posted on February 7, 2013 at 3:08 pm.
I think people liked that it was focusing on women in the same way that Hangover focused on men. But I didn’t like the characters or their behavior and I didn’t like their relationships and I don’t like gross out humor. Take all that away and what’s left of that movie?
Posted on February 7, 2013 at 6:19 pm.
Probably why I have no urge to see either movie. None of the characters seem likable. The only actress I like is Melissa, but not willing to waste my time on the movie.
Posted on February 8, 2013 at 12:35 am.
P.S. What movie left you depressed for two days? Now I’m curious.
Posted on February 7, 2013 at 12:12 pm.
I have to admit, I do prefer happy endings. I really think that it depends on the movie as a whole. If it’s keeping with what happened throughout the movie & makes sense for the characters, I’m okay with whatever the ending is. The Titanic was such a love story, so I was fine with that ending. I am a very emotional person. In a way I do agree with Lindsay Doran; growing on an emotional level is important, as is persistence. If a person fights for what’s right & the outcome isn’t favorable, at least they know in their heart & soul that they gave it their best. And we do have to remember, in real life, as much as we want it to be, we don’t always have happy endings!
Posted on February 7, 2013 at 11:33 am.
Well, I prefer happy endings BECAUSE we don’t always get them in real life.
But I agree–it has to be logical and the characters have to show persistence. I like people who fight for what they want.
Posted on February 7, 2013 at 12:14 pm.
I completely agree with you about Knight and Day. I liked the movie up until the end. I found it anti-climactic and dull by the end… and by that, I mean emotionally, not with all the action. Comparatively, I LOVED Mr. and Mrs. Smith, because not only did it have action, but both characters evolved and grew by the end.
I generally like happy endings to movies. I don’t like finishing a movie and feeling as though I would have been happier-off if I hadn’t watched it at all. Action movies are fine, comedies are great, mysteries are ok, and I enjoy romantic comedies as well, but if I feel miserable by the end, I won’t re-watch it.
Posted on February 7, 2013 at 11:52 am.
I keep meaning to watch Mr. and Mrs. Smith. It seems like a movie I’d like.
Knight and Day just had no emotional resonance at all. I felt like it could have been two anybodies thrown together, not two people who were right for each other.
Posted on February 7, 2013 at 12:15 pm.
The only reason I like Mr & Mrs Smith is because Brad Pitt’s character gets shot at. I can’t stand Brad Pitt.
Posted on February 8, 2013 at 12:38 am.
I have to agree. I want an HEA, but not at the price of insulting my intelligence or one or both of the characters basically getting their way. It’s all about the personal growth, the journey. I want to see how this heroine/hero helped this hero/heroine to make a better life for themselves, to overcome pain and wrong ideas about themselves to become better people and better for each other.
I read a much-touted historical romance a few years ago. The hero and heroine were both spoiled, self-centered people at the beginning of the story. By the end of the story the hero had learned a thing or two. The heroine had learned nothing. They ended up together in a supposed HEA, but I was screaming at the guy “Run! You deserve better! You are in for YEARS of misery!” That is not the kind of feeling I want to have at the end of a romance novel. (And no, the author was NOT a Goddess! )
Posted on February 7, 2013 at 11:55 am.
LOL! I do feel that way sometimes in books. From time to time I read YA books, and I just have to ask–are ALL the heroines whiny? Because it sure seems that way to me.
Posted on February 7, 2013 at 12:17 pm.
Hi Sabrina! I generally want a happy ending or I feel cheated. I did make an exception with the film Somewhere in Time with Christopher Reeve and Jane Seymour because, although it has a sad ending, the lovers are ultimately reunited. I cry buckets over that film every time I watch it.
Posted on February 7, 2013 at 12:05 pm.
I vaguely remember liking that movie, but it’s been so long since I’ve seen it that I’m not sure! That’s the problem with getting old . . . you start forgetting movies and shows. I watch reruns and go, “Huh, I don’t remember this episode, and yet I know I watched every one!”
Posted on February 7, 2013 at 12:18 pm.
Does a movie always have to end happily to be enjoyable to me? YES! Or I feel I’ve wasted my money. Same with a book. And a tv show. And real life. Thing is. Sadness suck. I don’t like being sad. I don’t like death. I don’t like disappointments. I don’t like loneliness. I get that for free in real life. When I’m PAYING for fiction, that better well make me HAPPY! I only watch movies with happy endings. I only read books with happy endings (I’m the spoiler queen). I don’t pay for sad.
Posted on February 7, 2013 at 12:06 pm.
There’s definitely plenty of people who agree with you, B, judging from the number of readers enjoying romance!
Posted on February 7, 2013 at 12:19 pm.
I don’t feel that a movie has to have a happy ending but they should leave you with hope. It would be nice but it doesn’t have to happen. I’m not crazy about today’s films. I love the 30′s, 40′s, 50′s era. I love musicals and when you think about it, they don’t make sense. People start singing and dancing and they all know the stops and the words. The original The Women shows what karma can do.
Posted on February 7, 2013 at 12:23 pm.
I’m funny about musicals. I either love them or hate them. Didn’t like Carousel, but I loved Oliver. I love Mamma Mia and Wicked.
There are some old films I really adore, but I mostly like films from a later era. I know, it’s weird.
Posted on February 7, 2013 at 3:10 pm.
Yes, I require a happy ending in any movie I see. Furthermore, I refuse to see any movie that I don’t know the ending beforehand (and deem it worthy). After all those film classes in college, I had enough of art films. I’m so picky about movies in theaters that I’ve ONLY seen kids films in the last few years.
Posted on February 7, 2013 at 12:28 pm.
I’m with you on the art films. When Hubby and I first got married (and I was doing some grad work involving film and literature), we went to see tons of them. I am SO over them. I am glad, though, that I got exposed to them, though I don’t have any desire to keep watching art films, unless they have a satisfying ending.
Posted on February 7, 2013 at 3:12 pm.
I need the characters to win. They don’t have to win what they set out to win, but they need to end up winners. I think that is what you mean, or close to it. To me the original goal is just the catalyst for the story beginning. It does not have to be achieved for the story to end up satisfying to me. The achievement can be something else for the story to work.
Posted on February 7, 2013 at 1:27 pm.
Yes, that is what I meant. I got tired of bleak, existential films long long ago.
Posted on February 7, 2013 at 3:13 pm.
BTW, saw Knight and Day. What a miss. It could have been so good!
Posted on February 7, 2013 at 1:27 pm.
I KNOW!!! I just kept shaking my head and wondering how it could have such potential and fall so flat.
Posted on February 7, 2013 at 3:14 pm.
My favorite film is Gone With The Wind, it doesn’t end happily, but on the thought of tomorrow, it ends bittersweet and raw, human and on the development of the characters from once which they came to now. Think of Lord Of The Rings, just because Frodo didn’t throw the ring, doesn’t make him lack as a hero in a story, it is humanity that gives great insight to the nature of man.
Sometimes a sad ending brings more to the table – look at Pay It Forward, a deep message of what one person can do to change to world and yet the ending is devastating – yet, somehow something occurs within making the world look different and your contribution to it.
Posted on February 7, 2013 at 1:33 pm.
Well, Pay it Forward is one that pushes my hot buttons. I really loved it up until the end, and I thought the end negated everything that went before. It seemed senseless to me.
But a film I like with a sad ending that no one else seemed to was Sommersby. I thought the ending was completely appropriate. Everyone else seemed to hate it, though.
Posted on February 7, 2013 at 3:17 pm.
I absolutely agree, Sabrina! And I think that’s why there are so many book heroes out there with bad pasts. And why the best Superman movies/comics are the ones that find a way to make Supe vulnerable. If a guy can’t be hurt, he has nothing to lose.
Posted on February 7, 2013 at 2:05 pm.
Yep, even Superman has to have his kryptonite.
Posted on February 7, 2013 at 3:17 pm.
If I am watching a Romantic comedy, I expect the HEA ending. But there are some movie that I you go to see thinking that it will have a romantic or happy ending. Take the movie Hanover Street (19179)with Harrison Ford and Leslie Ann Down.. You think that WWII American Pilot and a British Nurse will fall in love, she will leaver her older English Husband and move to America with him, but that is not the case. Our hero goes home alone and his heartbroken to leave the love of his love far behind.. Not a HEA, but still when I left the movie theature I was satisfied I had watched a good movie and got my money’s worth.. Not every romantic movie is going to have the outcome we want, but we may love it just the same.
Posted on February 7, 2013 at 2:07 pm.
I felt that way about Sommersby. I really thought the ending was right. Not everyone did.
Posted on February 7, 2013 at 3:18 pm.
If I am watching a Romantic comedy, I expect the HEA ending. But there are some movie that I you go to see thinking that it will have a romantic or happy ending. Take the movie Hanover Street (19179)with Harrison Ford and Leslie Ann Down.. You think that WWII American Pilot and a British Nurse will fall in love, she will leaver her older English Husband and move to America with him, but that is not the case. Our hero goes home alone and his heartbroken to leave the love of his love far behind.. Not a HEA, but still when I left the movie theature I was satisfied I had watched a good movie and got my money’s worth.. Not every romantic movie is going to have the outcome we want, but we may love it just the same.
Posted on February 7, 2013 at 2:07 pm.
City of Angels is the only one movie I liked that didn’t have a happy ending.
Posted on February 7, 2013 at 2:38 pm.
Never saw that one! Hmm, may have to hunt it up.
Posted on February 7, 2013 at 3:19 pm.
Just the music makes it worth watching. Sooooo good!
Posted on February 7, 2013 at 5:21 pm.
I HATE tragedies!!! I will not read a book or watch a movie if I know it won’t have a HEA. I got suckered in a few times and I wish I had been warned. To me a romance, that I read for escape and entertainment, must end happily or I am NOT in a good place at the end. Life is hard and full of stark reality–I DON’T NEED IT IN MY ESCAPEISM! I will never watch Titanic or read a Nicholas Sparks book again.
And yes I agree with you about movies and stories. It’s NOT about winning…it’s about growth, maturity and giving love to others.
Posted on February 7, 2013 at 2:39 pm.
I do hate getting suckered in, thinking something will end one way and having it end another. That’s really annoying.
Posted on February 7, 2013 at 3:20 pm.
I loved that article. Thanks for sharing it. So much resonates with romance novels which are about showing characters who change and are resilient. They do accomplish something every time (might not be their original goal, but they learn that it wasn’t the right one if not) and are rewarded with love as their prize for making the transformation.
As for movies, I also prefer a happy ending. I didn’t love Titanic, too tragic for me. Didn’t like Bridesmaids either because the characters didn’t seem like people I’d want to be friends with, so I didn’t root for their cause. And LOL, I started to watch Knight & Day last night and turned it off. The pair had zero chemistry together.
Posted on February 7, 2013 at 2:48 pm.
That was part of the problem with K&D for me, too. They really didn’t have any chemistry, did they? But I couldn’t figure if it was the actors or if it was the characters themselves. Either way, it didn’t work for me.
Posted on February 7, 2013 at 3:21 pm.
Well, I’m going to be the only one here apparently, but I LIKED Knight and a Day. A lot. Had no problem with the ending or anything else. It was a good action movie for me, with a little romance thrown in. I don’t think it was meant to be a ‘be all/end all’ – at least in my opinion.
I do like a HEA.
One movie that frustrated me was Unfaithful with Richard Gere and Diane Lane. The ending was HORRIBLE making us wonder how it went. Hate that!
Posted on February 7, 2013 at 3:00 pm.
I’ve heard so much about Unfaithful and still haven’t seen it.
Don’t get me wrong, the action stuff and set up and plot were good in Knight and Day. It just missed on the character level for me. To each his own!
Posted on February 7, 2013 at 3:22 pm.
I love movie topics since it’s so close to home. Having participated in many friends and family screenings, I’ve filled out many, many questionaires about particular movies. We’ve participated in a few focus groups as well.
What I’ve learned from observing people comments, along with my own, at screenings, audiences want their characters to be redeemed. They call it the sin and redemption cycle. Ironman is a good example of it. Tony Stark starts out as the biggest arms dealer in the world, but redeems himself by becoming Ironman. Or Avengers where a group of superheroes put aside their egos to work together to save the world.
I prefer a satisfying ending as opposed to a happy ending, where the characters have learned from their mistakes and have grown.
As for Titanic it was a horrid film that didn’t deserve a single Oscar. Not a Cameron fan at all for most of his movies.
Posted on February 7, 2013 at 3:56 pm.
I agree with you about Titanic. I never got why people liked it (and went to see it multiple times). And I DO like some Cameron films, and I adore DiCaprio (mostly for What’s Eating Gilbert Grape and his other films, but still . . .).
Posted on February 7, 2013 at 4:06 pm.
Titanic…loved the ship, hated the acting! The spit scene was atrocious.
If I read a romance, I want a happy ending. If it is a romantic movie I want a happy ending. Although, a lot of so-called romantic movies make me cringe. Anyone remember those Barbara Cartland movies?
If it’s Agatha Christie I want murder. If it’s the Marx brothers, I want to laugh. It all depends on what mood I’m in.
Posted on February 7, 2013 at 5:56 pm.
I remember sort of liking the one Barbara Cartland movie I saw, but that was a long time ago. I don’t remember ever seeing more than one.
Posted on February 7, 2013 at 9:23 pm.
Love happy ending movies. I have been a critical care nurse for 25 years and romanic comedies and historical romance has kept me grounded and happy for years!!!!!! Favorites are “When Harry met Sally”. I can quote you that movie!!!!
Posted on February 7, 2013 at 6:13 pm.
I like that movie, too! Though I can’t quote it. Well, except for maybe a couple of lines.
Posted on February 7, 2013 at 9:24 pm.
And not of the previews I have seen for “When Harry Met Sally” raise my interest in ever seeing the movie.
Posted on February 8, 2013 at 12:44 am.
I much prefer happy endings. For example, the Time Traveler’s Wife was so tragic! I still get teary eyed thinking about it.
Posted on February 8, 2013 at 11:59 am.
I always wanted to read the book, but I haven’t yet.
Posted on February 8, 2013 at 3:18 pm.
Oh I definitely agree with another commenter who mentioned Somewhere In Time. I loved the movie. I do enjoy HEA. If for nothing else then to escape the stress in my own life at times. But if the characters have learned something important by the end then I’m good with that. Something learned.
Carol L
Posted on February 8, 2013 at 3:07 pm.
That’s me, too.
Posted on February 8, 2013 at 3:18 pm.
I agree with the article!
Posted on February 8, 2013 at 8:56 pm.
My 50 ( Euro-) cents as a (Dutch older, married ) man, if I am allowed to do so.
I grew up with all the macho movies, mostly from Hollywood and England. I will still like a good adrenaline-movie once in a while.
For some reasons I got hooked on Korean movies and TV-drama’s a few years ago. Korea’s movie-industry has many followers worldwide these days.
The mix of Romance, Suspense, Adventure, Magic, Historic and Comedy is often done in a wonderful way.
Not linear, it happens at the same time often.
At the moment of deep suspense they pull a joke, and while laughing out loud, you might suddenly feel you’re in the deepest drama ever.
The endings are often unpredictable.
The drama “49Days” is a good example.
Looks like a sweet, sugarcoated light drama at first, but the ending is very intense and not predictable.
A drama that lingers on for a while in the mind.
Half of comments in the forums are very negative, the other half ( with me), comes to the conclusion it is the ONLY way it could have ended.
( And still hard to say if it is a happy ending or not !)
Posted on February 9, 2013 at 4:29 am.
Although I tend to prefer action movies over anything “mushy”, I will on occasion watch something romantic. There are so many factors to contend with for me to like it. The actors may be great, but if the script is hokey, I won’t like it. I do like happy endings, if that is what the goal of the movie is.
Posted on February 11, 2013 at 11:16 am.
I’ve never really thought about it, but I’m leaning towards the article.
Posted on February 11, 2013 at 11:59 am.
Wahoo thx for the chance!
Posted on February 11, 2013 at 2:30 pm.
I love your Goddess Blogs, they are so entertaining AND full of information! And the books and photos are even better! I’ve never won anything, so I don’t care about that so much, but I do love to read!
Posted on February 11, 2013 at 2:32 pm.
I love these blogs! And the Scotchmallows. Even when I am not buying any See’s I will always stop by for scotchmallows. Yummy Caramel and marshmellow goodness!!!
Posted on February 11, 2013 at 2:36 pm.
In the movie Sabrina, she finds love. That is the more important goal than who she marries. At “happy ending” doesn’t mean that everything happens with the origin goals in mind, but rather that by the end some deeper dilema is resolved. I find real life can be so serious and stressful that I do prefer movies with happy endings. Or at least movies that leave me thinking and inspired. Movies and books have sway over my emotions. If I’m having a bad day, a happy story can change that. I enjoy movies and books that leave me feeling satisfied – whether that be a happy ending or something learned.
Posted on February 11, 2013 at 9:58 pm.
Me I need that happy ending. My daughter on the other hand loves movies like Titanic.
OH and Sabrina just finished my first reading of one of your books and loved it Off to read more!
Posted on February 14, 2013 at 3:38 am.