Laughing With Kudrow, Coogan

Laughing With Kudrow, Coogan|Laughing With Kudrow, Coogan|Laughing With Kudrow, Coogan
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“Happy Endings” cast dazzles; old Broads revealing all in Hollywood doc

In these dark, scary days, laughter is more vital than ever, so Don Roos’ “Happy Endings” is all the more welcome for its trenchant comedy and wry observation. A stunning cast really delivers the goods and, although Maggie Gyllenhaal chose not to show up for our scheduled interview on July 13, Lisa Kudrow and Steve Coogan proved every bit as delightful off screen as they are on.

I told Kudrow, who gives the strongest film performance of her career to date as a woman who gave up her son for adoption when she was a conflicted teen mother, that after this and “The Opposite of Sex,” she must be Don Roos’ official muse.

“God willing,” she responded, “and I can only hope that’s true. We’re close friends and he’d come every Friday to the ‘Friends’ taping and he told me he was working on something and there’d be a part for me. ‘I can’t wait to do it,’ I said, and he said, ‘You have to read it first.’ I said, ‘I don’t need to.’ That’s how much I trust him, but I had to wait until he was done, and then read it and, yes, okay, it’s very layered and complicated and I knew I only had scraps, didn’t fully understand everything. All I knew was ‘Don thinks I can do this,’ and that’s all I needed to know.’

Kudrow’s character is an abortion counselor, and of this Kudrow said, “I think abortion definitely needs to be legal. It’s one of the most personal decisions anyone can make and has to be beyond judgment because it’s an impossible situation and I’m just thankful that, personally, I’ve never had to make that decision.”

Contact David Noh at [email protected].

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