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July 22, 2005
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Volume 33
Issue 29

Saturday, Nov 21, 2009 06:17

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Funny, friendly Tom Arnold talks to his audience after showing Happy Endings

Funny, friendly Tom Arnold talks to his audience after showing Happy Endings
by Rajkhet Dirzhud-Rashid - SGN A&E Writer The first scene you see in the new dark comedy Happy Endings focuses on a woman (dark-haired Lisa Kudrow) running willy-nilly and crying hysterically, then she gets hit by a car. Then, there is a sidebar which says she's not really dead, letting you know that not only is this opening moment going to be explained better, but Happy Endings down not end badly. As the film jumps from one interconnected story to the next, the audience learns more about what made Kudrow's character go crying into the street and about her connection to two Gay men at a crossroads in their relationship with two Lesbian friends who've just had a baby. Tom Arnold stars as the love interest of Maggie Gyllenhal, who is connected to Kudrow's character because of the relationship between Gyllenhal's character, the son of Arnold's character and the Gay man who is also a stepbrother to Kudrow's character. Complicated? Indeed, but little sidebars, rather like when actors look directly into the camera and tell the audience what's going on to keep them up to speed, keep everyone on track as Happy Endings weaves its tale about relationships. And yes, except for a few rough edges, there are mostly happy endings to just about everyone's relationship dilemmas and problems which start the film off with a quite literal bang. After the screening a few weeks ago, Tom Arnold, looking trim and casual, talked to the audience about what it was like to work with Maggie Gyllenhal, particularly during their sex scene where Gyllenhal takes charge after finally seducing Arnold into bed. "She was totally the boss in those scenes and that made it easier for me, because I would have worried about how my body looked, especially since she's younger than me, but she was very comfortable with her body and that made me relax too," said Arnold. He said that originally, Lisa Kudrow's character was to be played by Gwynneth Paltrow, but since Paltrow was pregnant at the time Kudrow was chosen. And as for working with Jason Ritter, who plays Arnold's son in the film, Arnold said he enjoyed their work together, mostly. "He was frustrating, at times, but good to work with too. It was easy to be his dad, and working with him and with Maggie (Gyllenhal) was really great," said Arnold. He went on to say that he I also working on another film that he's written called The Kid and I, which is coming out in the fall. And on a more personal note, Arnold said he had been friends with Endings director Don Roos before doing the film. "Don and I have one big thing in common, we're both sober and we try to work with people who are trying to be sober," said Arnold. The film is now playing in theaters around the area, and I can tell you it's funny, sexy and delightfully complex in a good way.