12 Movies That Tricked You Into Thinking They Had Happy Endings

The cinema's a very downbeat place.

Inception Dicaprio
Warner Bros.

Who doesn€™'t love a happy ending? Some will say there€™s something to a bit recollective depression, but few screen moments can rival George Bailey wanting to live again or Carl Fredricksen finding a new lease of life. A good dose of optimism in the cinema is the ideal antidote to the crushing depression of the real world (seriously, have you seen how bleak it is out there). Heck, end happy and you can even get away with (on-screen) murder.

Slumdog Millionaire's full-cast Bollywood dance at the end, made up for two hours chock full of eye gouging and gangster killings. This coloured the feeling of the film so much the film posters even bore a review claim €œfeel-good film of the year€. Some films are so desperate to add in a happy ending they€™'ll do it at the expense of narrative coherence.

Ending the film before disaster sets in? Totally misrepresenting events? Just ignoring the nasty bits? As long as it€™'s nice and cheery these twelve films don€™t really care.

Contributor
Contributor

Film Editor (2014-2016). Loves The Usual Suspects. Hates Transformers 2. Everything else lies somewhere in the middle. Once met the Chuckle Brothers.