# Needed: Books or dvds with happy endings that aren't love stories **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 29, 2009, 3:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/needed-books-or-dvds-with-happy-endings-that-arent-love-stories/483498 "2009-01-29T03:22:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![wonky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonky/32/393_2.png) [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2009, 3:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/needed-books-or-dvds-with-happy-endings-that-arent-love-stories/483498/1 "2009-01-29T03:22:56Z")
I don’t think I could handle full-fledged love stories right now, but I really need some distracting things with happy endings. Any help would be very appreciated. ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2009, 3:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/needed-books-or-dvds-with-happy-endings-that-arent-love-stories/483498/2 "2009-01-29T03:40:53Z")
I coulda SWORE we did this not too long ago (ok within the past 3 years) but a search turned up empty. I nominate _Harold and Kumar Go To White Castle_ and _Rat Race_. They’re both funnier movies than you’d expect, and there’s no real love story (if you don’t count mackin’ on a bag of weed, or hooking up with a craaaazy helicopter pilot). ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2009, 3:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/needed-books-or-dvds-with-happy-endings-that-arent-love-stories/483498/3 "2009-01-29T03:41:17Z")
Any Marx Brothers movie. ---
**Author:** ![gallows\_fodder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/8c91f0/32.png) [@gallows\_fodder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gallows_fodder)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2009, 4:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/needed-books-or-dvds-with-happy-endings-that-arent-love-stories/483498/4 "2009-01-29T04:42:54Z")
[Millions](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0366777/) ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2009, 6:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/needed-books-or-dvds-with-happy-endings-that-arent-love-stories/483498/5 "2009-01-29T06:07:08Z")
The earliest P.G. Wodehouse novels, from about 1905 though 1915, are devoid of romantic interest. However, the endings aren’t very good at that point; for example, in _Psmith In The City_ Mike and Psmith are rescued from working at the New Asiatic Bank by the latter’s father’s money, and that _deus ex machina_ again works its magic in _Psmith, Journalist_. The later stories and novels have some romantic subplot as a pivotal plot point, in which a young couple from different class backgrounds faces the opposition of an aristocratic family, but the full sympathy of the author. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2009, 11:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/needed-books-or-dvds-with-happy-endings-that-arent-love-stories/483498/6 "2009-01-29T11:03:20Z")
Apollo 13 ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2009, 1:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/needed-books-or-dvds-with-happy-endings-that-arent-love-stories/483498/7 "2009-01-29T13:29:43Z")
One possibility – _A Knight’s Tale_. There’s kind of a love story, but it’s not the main plot arc, really. Sweet, lovely movie, “fun” rather than “funny,” though there are some great laughs. Mostly a movie that I start smiling about five minutes into it and keep smiling for the rest of the time. And a happy ending that’s not primarily about winning the girl. But there is a girl, so it may not be exactly right – keep it in mind for later, though. ---
**Author:** ![Rocketeer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rocketeer/32/4437_2.png) [@Rocketeer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rocketeer)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2009, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/needed-books-or-dvds-with-happy-endings-that-arent-love-stories/483498/8 "2009-01-29T15:22:15Z")
Most of the Sherlock Holmes stories have satisfying endings, in which crime is foiled (although I suggest that you skip _The Valley of Fear_), and have only moderate smidgens of romance. ---
**Author:** ![FriarTed](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/friarted/32/1052_2.png) [@FriarTed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FriarTed)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2009, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/needed-books-or-dvds-with-happy-endings-that-arent-love-stories/483498/9 "2009-01-29T16:51:05Z")
Serious answers- The first Star Wars trilogy, Raiders of the Lost Ark, Indy Jones & the Last Crusade, both Narnia movies, Dogma, Toy Story I (NOT II), Finding Nemo, Monsters Inc., The Producers (I haven’t seen the whole remake- there was no love story added, was there?), It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World, Home Alone (ONLY the first one) Dubious- Night of the Hunter (hey, the kids are safe & the vilian is punished! Granted, Shelly Winters didn’t fare so well) A Clockwork Orange (he was cured, all right!) ---
**Author:** ![AuntiePam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@AuntiePam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AuntiePam)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2009, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/needed-books-or-dvds-with-happy-endings-that-arent-love-stories/483498/10 "2009-01-29T16:56:37Z")
Some authors who have taken me far away (or distracted me for a time) – Bill Bryson, Carl Hiaasen, David Sedaris, Fannie Flagg, Bailey White, Sarah Vowell, Christopher Moore. Oh! Here’s a good one! _Black Swan Green_ by David Mitchell. Here’s what I wrote in my book journal: “Black Swan Green – David Mitchell – a year in the life of Jason Taylor, 13 years old, struggling with a stammer, school, friends, family. He breaks his grandfather’s heirloom watch, has a crush on a little slut named Dawn, gets kissed, meets an old French woman who appreciates his poetry, meets gypsies, thanks the woman who healed his sprained ankle.” Also _Stardust_ by Neil Gaiman. ---
**Author:** ![carlotta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/898d66/32.png) [@carlotta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carlotta)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2009, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/needed-books-or-dvds-with-happy-endings-that-arent-love-stories/483498/11 "2009-01-29T17:43:05Z")
“The Sex Lives of Cannibals” by J. Maarten Troost , memoir of 2 years living on a very remote Pacific island sample chapter title “Chapter 7, in which the Author settles into the theme of Absence, in particular the paucity of food options, and offers an account of the Great Beer Crisis, when the island’s shipment of Ale was, inexcusably, misdirected to Kiritimati Island, far, far away from those who needed it most.” also it’s sequel “Getting Stoned with Savages” the previous poster mentioned Bill Bryson, and he is always good for a laugh, but most especially in his Australia memoir “In A Sunburned Country” a few days after my daughter died in 1997, my husband and I went to the movies to forget ourselves for a while and saw a Bill Murray movie called “The Man Who Knew Too Little” which disappeared without a trace. We laughed ourselves silly, and never have been able to sort out whether it was really that funny or if we just really really needed a laugh. I did however, watch it again, recently, shortly after my brother died, to the same effect, so I think it might work. There is a love interest, but it is minor. “Stardust” however, is primarily a romance, and you’ve probably already seen it anyway. “Be Kind, Rewind” with Jack Black and Mos Def was very funny with almost no love interest Any Eddie Izzard comedy DVD’s you can get will be screamingly funny with almost no relationship humor at all. Hang in there **jsgoddess** ---
**Author:** ![Sefton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5daacb/32.png) [@Sefton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sefton)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2009, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/needed-books-or-dvds-with-happy-endings-that-arent-love-stories/483498/12 "2009-01-29T17:47:27Z")
I remember the first Christmas I had to spend alone. I was desolate and forlorn, but I started reading _The Quincunx_ by Charles Palliser. It’s a suspense novel set in 19th-century Britain, and it kept me happily distracted through the ordeal. There’s the slightest whiff of romance in the book, but it’s minor. And yes, there’s a happy ending. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2009, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/needed-books-or-dvds-with-happy-endings-that-arent-love-stories/483498/13 "2009-01-29T17:48:47Z")
Try _[Mathilda](http://www.axelmusic.com/productDetails/043396013537?upd=1)_ from a few years back – based on the Roald Dahl novel. I wish I could do something to make your grieving easier. Please know that many of us hereabouts has you in our thoughts. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2009, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/needed-books-or-dvds-with-happy-endings-that-arent-love-stories/483498/14 "2009-01-29T18:44:17Z")
> [@ZipperJJ](#): > > I nominate _Harold and Kumar Go To White Castle_ and _Rat Race_. They’re both funnier movies than you’d expect, and there’s no real love story (if you don’t count mackin’ on a bag of weed, or hooking up with a craaaazy helicopter pilot). For that matter, just about any silly non-romantic comedy would do. My own favorites include _UHF_ (which does have a minor will-he-get-the-girl? subplot, but which does indeed have a satisfying, triumphant ending in which the good guys win out) and the _Bil and Ted_ movies. [QUOTE=Spectre of Pithecanthropus] The earliest P.G. Wodehouse novels, from about 1905 though 1915, are devoid of romantic interest. However, the endings aren’t very good at that point; for example, in Psmith In The City Mike and Psmith are rescued from working at the New Asiatic Bank by the latter’s father’s money, and that deus ex machina again works its magic in Psmith, Journalist. The later stories and novels have some romantic subplot as a pivotal plot point, in which a young couple from different class backgrounds faces the opposition of an aristocratic family, but the full sympathy of the author. [/QUOTE] Good idea. Wodehouse is a great source of cheerful happy endings, as are the TV versions of his Jeeves and Wooster stories starring Hugh Laurie and Stephen Fry. There is Love, but a happy ending frequently involves Bertie Wooster successfully avoiding marriage. ---
**Author:** ![Eleanor\_of\_Aquitaine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a88e4f/32.png) [@Eleanor\_of\_Aquitaine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eleanor_of_Aquitaine)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2009, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/needed-books-or-dvds-with-happy-endings-that-arent-love-stories/483498/15 "2009-01-29T19:06:35Z")
James Herriot’s _All Creatures Great and Small_ books. ---
**Author:** ![Indyellen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/indyellen/32/4176_2.png) [@Indyellen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Indyellen)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2009, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/needed-books-or-dvds-with-happy-endings-that-arent-love-stories/483498/16 "2009-01-29T19:30:29Z")
A couple of my favorites when I want to watch “happy” movies: _Caddyshack_ _Ghostbusters_ (there’s a little bit of romantic subplot, but not very much) _Charlie’s Angels_ (the first one w/ Drew, etc.) One that has a (sort-of) happy ending, but is a more intense movie is _GI Jane_. It’s very good for that whole “real woman” sort of thing. There’s a relationship, but it is DECIDEDLY not the main focus of the movie. Hope these ideas help a little. ---
**Author:** ![wonky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonky/32/393_2.png) [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2009, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/needed-books-or-dvds-with-happy-endings-that-arent-love-stories/483498/17 "2009-01-29T20:59:17Z")
Thanks. I’ve seen most of the movie suggestions, but I can watch them again. I’m not sure that a love story would even bother me, but why chance it, huh? ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2009, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/needed-books-or-dvds-with-happy-endings-that-arent-love-stories/483498/18 "2009-01-29T21:39:14Z")
The Hobbit is light-hearted and happy in the end. How about some old TV from 60s and 70s. I would think screwball stuff like Get Smart, WKRP, Taxi, Mary Tyler Moore and the ilk. ---
**Author:** ![anu-la1979](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/47e85d/32.png) [@anu-la1979](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/anu-la1979)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2009, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/needed-books-or-dvds-with-happy-endings-that-arent-love-stories/483498/19 "2009-01-29T22:04:36Z")
If you want a trite(ish), cozy little fantasy to distract you- **The Unexpected Apprentice** by Jody Lynn Nye ought to be right up your alley. It’s like a feminist hobbit tale. ---
**Author:** ![AuntiePam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@AuntiePam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AuntiePam)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2009, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/needed-books-or-dvds-with-happy-endings-that-arent-love-stories/483498/20 "2009-01-29T22:13:06Z")
I asked for recs in a book group: Shawshank Redemption (Book and movie) The Thirteenth Tale Plainsong Watchers Water For Elephants (bits of romance) Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society (bits of romance) Jeeves & Wooster The Spellman mysteries by Lisa Lutz I forgot about the romance when I recommended _Stardust_. The highlight of that book (for me) was the witch sisters – the romance barely registered. 🙂 Some Monty Python movies might be fun. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/needed-books-or-dvds-with-happy-endings-that-arent-love-stories/483498.md?page=2)