You know, it used to be fashionable to have a happy ending. Somewhere along the line in the 20th century (and especially in the 21st), that became moot. There was of course, the unhappy ending too. And of course traditionally this is that very easy dividing point between comedy(happy) and drama(unhappy). But then writers got cute. And they created the modern ending—where nothing is resolved. It’s all up in the air. And they’ll even use this in the comedy too—for instance, a classic modern ending is the close of the Graduate. She leaves the dude at the altar and then gets on the bus with Benjamin, but you don’t know what’s going to happen. And it certainly isn’t happen. Especially not as “The Sounds Of Silence” by Simon & Funk kick in!
I realized this weekend I hate the modern ending though. We went to see “The Break-Up”.
If you care about plot twists in this movie and you’re going to see it, don’t read on….
And I don’t think I’m going to spoil it for you but maybe I am: IT DOESN’T END WELL. It’s all fun and games for awhile and then all of a sudden it turns very very serious. And she rejects him right at a crucial point where he seems to have learned everything and you think oh this is perfect, they are going to get back together. The whole audience is in fact rooting for that moment. But she doesn’t. She rejects him. And maybe that’s just like life. But I guess that’s just not what I want to see. And test audiences agreed with me because according to Siobhan, they rewrote the ending. And they have a scene now where it seems like things might just start up again. And then we fade to black.
This problem with the modern ending isn’t new though. It reminded me how Charles Dickens did the same thing with “Great Expecations”. His readers didn’t like that Pip and Estella never get together. So he changed it. But it’s also still very modern with it left up in the air, do they really get back together or just it just seem like it? And I hate that. I like a completion. And when I see a movie that’s billed as ha ha good time chuckles with Vince and Jennifer, I want to see them smooch it up in the end. I think it’s the addition of Vince though. If it was just Jennifer, we can see her in movies now where it ends unhappily, but Vince has never ever played a character like that. It’s always good times with him. Or he’s a bad guy. I guess we can be content in knowing in real life, they did get together. But I’m selfish, I’d rather it didn’t work out in real life but did on screen. When I go to see a Hollywood movie, I want a Hollywood ending.
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