Not Another Happy Ending Review

This tries-too-hard rom-com pitches Karen Gillan’s struggling-then-successful Scottish writer against her temperamental French publisher (Stanley Weber) who plots to make her miserable to fire up her creative juices. Around the main plot, there are other story cores — Jane reconnecting with her estranged dad (Gary Lewis), her relationship with asshole screenwriter (Henry Ian Cusick), imagined conversations with the protagonist (Amy Manson) of her new book — but it never coalesces into a satisfying whole. Gillan is likable, the colourful look appealing and Iain De Caestecker’s comic relief snags some laughs but even within rom-com rules, this feels fake, hampered by a lack of zingy one-liners, improbable situations (nude baking) and a lack of real chemistry between the two leads. Which is a shame as Gillan deserves better.