22 Movie Endings That Would Be Better If They Weren’t So Happy

For the most part, when we watch a movie, we know we’re not getting a perfect snapshot of real life. Think about your average day: The alarm clock pulls you out of your nest of frizz and drool, you push buttons for eight hours, then you come home, fail to pour yourself a glass of wine without spilling it, and watch TV while picking your nose and scratching your butt, probably a lot more than necessary. Hardly cinematic.

That means even the most realistic movies have to turn up the dial at least a little, and a big part of that is the happy ending. With few exceptions, everything always seems to work out in the end because if you watched a ragtag band of misfits struggle for two hours only to fail, you’d be hopelessly depressed. Sometimes, though, a mixed or even gloomy ending could have enhanced a movie, ascribing it a deeper meaning or just giving a bunch of assholes what they deserve.

You can tell Reddit has thought about this a lot, because when user xvrwltr asked r/AskReddit, “What movie would be better if it didn’t have a happy ending?,” thousands of Redditors had ideas for bleaking shit up.