Happy Endings (DVD, 2005)

This comedic drama from writer-director Don Roos (THE OPPOSITE OF SEX) comes packed with many unusual themes including abortion, homosexual parenting, teenage pregnancy, marrying for green cards, and the unscrupulous practice of bringing a client to orgasm at the conclusion of a massage (the "happy ending" referenced in the title). Lisa Kudrow plays the recipient of one such massage, and she later makes a video about her masseur/lover--who says he has information about a son she gave up for adoption years earlier. Meanwhile, her gay brother (Steve Coogan) suspects that his boyfriend may have given sperm to a lesbian couple (Laura Dern and Sarah Clarke) to help them have a daughter. Another thread of this intricately woven plot concerns a sexual libertine (Maggie Gyllenhaal) who seduces both a rich widower (Tom Arnold) and his closeted gay son (Jason Ritter). Amazingly, it is Arnold who manages to stand out among the ensemble cast with an endearingly vulnerable performance that lingers in the mind long after the film is over. With onscreen pop-ups relaying information about both the past and the future of the characters, the acting and the script are uniformly first-rate. Tracks by Calexico and Kid Loco comprise a lot of the great soundtrack, and Gyllenhaal's real singing voice is heard during her character's several torchy numbers.