Happy Ending

I was biased against Happy Ending before it even started. Myself and many queer women bemoan the over abundance of “unicorn hunters” on dating apps. Unicorn hunters are heterosexual couples looking for a female partner, usually for casual sex. Not only are unicorn hunters a frustratingly large number of the users of sapphic dating apps, but said hunters have a tendency to dehumanize the very people they are looking to sleep with. This presents as everything from not taking no for an answer, hiding the fact that they are a couple and overall, using an open relationship as a band-aid solution for existing problems in the relationship. Well, Happy Ending is basically about a unicorn hunting straight couple. This is not a point of view I’m particularly interested in. And Happy Ending didn’t provide a narrative that in any way change my negative first reaction.

Luna and Mink are in a stable, long-term relationship. But Luna has never experienced an orgasm with a partner, including Mink. Instead, she lies that she finishes at the same time as Mink and takes care of herself in secret afterwards. In classic unicorn hunter style, instead of discussing this issue with her boyfriend, Luna suggests they have a threesome. The couple meet a beautiful woman named Eve. And lucky for them, Eve prefers to date couples and doesn’t seem to have a lot of standards. So, they sleep together. And with Eve, Luna experiences an orgasm. Mink also had a good time. So, they continue an ill-defined relationship with Eve. But mostly it’s Luna. Luna continues to see Eve behind Mink’s back, excited by the prospect of a person who can make her orgasm.

Luna is a deeply self-centred protagonist with poor problem solving skills. Instead of open communication, she decides a better option is to introduce a third party into her relationship. Obviously! She also manages to cheat on her partner despite the fact that they’re in an open relationship. This woman is messy and not very sympathetic. Her problems are minor, and largely of her own making. I didn’t spend the film rooting for Luna to continue a relationship with Mink or Eve, let alone both. What this woman really needs is to grow more as a person. This doesn’t really happen.

Instead, Happy Ending is about Luna and Mink’s relationship and their well, happy ending. Eve is an accessory to this. She comes into their lives easily; with a text where she basically says that she doesn’t usually do this, but why not? Once she’s part of Luna and Mink’s lives, she becomes a bit of a manic pixie dream girl; beautiful, vibrant and entirely a supporting character. We learn little about Eve, and even less about the things she needs from a romantic relationship. Eve is always there for Luna and Mink. But she doesn’t have enough of her own real life to ever need anything from them. These issues are compounded by the fact that Luna and Mink are a straight, white couple while Eve is black. The movie unintentionally makes a point about representation because of how poorly it represents Eve as opposed to its less diverse co-leads.

The issue with how the couple (and especially Luna) treat Eve doesn’t go entirely unaddressed. When Eve learns the entirety of the situation, she accuses Luna of treating her like a sex toy. And Luna can’t talk her out of this position because frankly, Eve is right. It’s good that Happy Ending has some self-awareness. But that self-awareness doesn’t change anything. After this argument, the movie wraps up with Luna and Mink reestablishing heterosexual monogamy. Except in some ways they might be even worse, because Mink expresses jealousy over Luna’s vibrator now. Luna doesn’t have to grow or change in any way. If anything, this was an easy way to write Eve out of the movie. And with Eve gone, Mink and Luna are free to have their “happy ending.”

It’s unsurprising that Happy Ending is a Netflix movie. I think of Netflix content as being ironed out of all the peaks, valleys and imperfections. On the one hand, this means that this is a competently made, pretty-looking final product. On the other hand, especially on a deeper story level, this flattening effect leaves most Netflix movies as a frequently bland product devoid of risk. And that’s Happy Ending’s depiction of queerness. The main couple here is a young, attractive, white heterosexual couple. They dip their toes into sexual experimentation in a way that primarily benefits them without really uplifting their third. And at the end, don’t worry. They’re straight and monogamous once again. Normalcy resumed.

Overall rating: 4.8/10

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