![\"Judd](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Judd-Apatow-Far-Out-Magazine-1140x855.jpg\")
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(Credit: Anders Krusberg)<\/p>\n
Thu 14 August 2025 17:45, UK <\/p>\n
Few non-actors have had as big an impact on the comedy scene in the 21st century as Judd Apatow<\/a>. <\/p>\n The director and writer is responsible for some true modern classics, ranging from The 40-Year-Old Virgin, Knocked Up, Trainwreck, Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story, the list goes on, and those are just the things he\u2019s been directly involved in. He\u2019s also had a hand in producing several other hilarious greats, but there are too many to get into here.\u00a0<\/p>\n Through his many contributions to the big screen, Apatow has figured out exactly how to deliver a killer ending. The 40-Year-Old Virgin technically ends with a big dance sequence, although the actual \u2018ending\u2019 is in the title of the film. Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby, the Christopher Nolan-approved racing comedy<\/a> that he co-produced, ends with a dramatic Nascar race and a steamy moment between Will Ferrell and Sacha Baron Cohen.<\/p>\n However, when it comes to movie endings devised by other people, one stands head and shoulders above the rest for Mr Leslie Mann. On the Working It Out<\/a> podcast, Apatow told comedian Mike Birbiglia that he adored the conclusion to James L Brooks\u2019 comedy-drama Terms of Endearment. Anyone who knows how the movie ends\u2014spoilers ahead\u2014will recall that Emma Greenway-Horton, played by Debra Winger, dies of cancer. This doesn\u2019t sound like a particularly cheerful finale, but, as Apatow explained, that doesn\u2019t matter.<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s something about the movie where it\u2019s so sad but then it lifts you at the end,\u201d he said. \u201cThere\u2019s this brilliant moment with Jack Nicholson where, at the end of the funeral, he takes her son and walks him to his backyard, because he\u2019s the neighbour. And he says, \u2018You wanna see my pool?\u2019 And for some reason, you\u2019re emotional then, but you\u2019re happy. You love people.\u201d<\/p>\n Released in 1983, Terms of Endearment centres on the relationship between Emma and her highly-strung mother, Aurora, played by Shirley MacLaine, as they both search for love. The film, which also stars Danny DeVito and John Lithgow, was a huge success. It won five Academy Awards, including \u2018Best Actress\u2019 for MacLaine and the coveted \u2018Best Picture\u2019 prize. It is widely regarded as a standout example of the \u2018tragicomedy\u2019 subgenre, even if the production was plagued by a fart war<\/a> between its key players.<\/p>\n You might find it a bit strange that somebody known for penning relatively light comedies is such a big fan of an ending where one of the main characters dies of cancer. As Apatow said, there is comfort to be taken in this tragic moment. He explains that it would have been much easier for the filmmakers to have Emma live and to end the movie on a high note, but that wouldn\u2019t have challenged audiences. Their hands were tied slightly, as the film is based on a novel by Larry McMurtry, in which Emma also dies, but it wouldn\u2019t have been the first time Hollywood messed with a popular book. <\/p>\n The idea of a \u2018happy ending\u2019 is so ingrained in popular culture that it\u2019s easy to forget there are other options. Terms of Endearment proves that you don\u2019t have to follow this formula to generate an ending that gels with people, even if it will have them reaching for the Kleenex box.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n Related Topics<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"(Credit: Anders Krusberg) Thu 14 August 2025 17:45, UK Few non-actors have had as big an impact on…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":67510,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[96,35385,30788,2839,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-67509","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-movies","tag-entertainment","tag-james-l-brooks","tag-judd-apatow","tag-movies","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67509","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=67509"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67509\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/67510"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=67509"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=67509"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=67509"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}