Happythankyoumoreplease

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source: Happythankyoumoreplease

"I was a well-fed, middle-class kid who came from good parents; I've got no material." Those words, spoken by Sam the writer, are just one example of how Josh Radnor blurs the lines between writer and character in his debut film, happythankyoumoreplease. In it, we follow the lives of a few late-20s/early-30s bachelors and bachelorettes in New York City, a place Radnor portrays endearingly. Sam (played by Radnor) is a cynical writer desperately trying to sell one of his short stories. His best friend Anne (Malin Akerman) can't seem to stop dating the wrong guys. His cousin Mary (Zoe Kazan) is pressured by her boyfriend to go to Los Angeles (a city she loathes) and leave New York (the city she calls home). Along the way we meet all sorts of characters, including Rasheen, a "young black child" who, after shuffling through several foster families, has no home. Sam takes Rasheen in for awhile, at least until he can figure out what to do with him. Anne accuses him of using the boy for material, but it's more complicated than that. Although we've seen the little-kid-sidekick device before, it's so lightheartedly entertaining here that we really don't care. Michael Algieri's debut as Rasheen will steal your heart. I have yet to mention Mississippi, a bartender/cabaret singer, played by the lovely Kate Mara, who serves as Sam's romantic conflict. They hit it off quickly, possibly too quickly, and we wonder if they've met at the wrong time. Regardless, their interactions are the most cringe-worthy of the film (see: "let's clean each other up" and "you write short stories, I'm ready for the novel"). On the other hand, great music from Jaymay kept me in tune with the film's title. It serves as a narrative soundtrack for happythankyoumoreplease and gives it an indie feel (the film won the Audience Award for Best Drama at Sundance). Although at times cheesy and clichéd, Radnor's debut tells an epigrammatic story about characters we genuinely care about. Sam's not delivering a profound revelation when he says "every five years I realize what an asshole I was five years ago." Yet the inherent modesty in that statement says a lot about Radnor's work.

I really wanted to like this movie. I told myself it was written for a younger audience (I'm 38), but then I reminded myself I was once in my 20's and it did not take me back. There was another couple in the theater that left 10 minutes into the movie. I thought they probably could have given it a little more time...till 10 more minutes passed and I wished I'd left with them. The acting was fine, but the story was too idealistic...something written in junior high school. Maybe my husband and I are out of touch with the younger crowd...the 10 or so other people in the theater seemed to laugh at times and enjoy this movie.

Starring a plank of wood named Josh Radnor, who is capable of two expressions throughout the film, bewilderment and... (ok, just one, but he pouts his lips a lot), this film made wonder if the title wasn't better suited for an adult film. A movie with an incredulous, perhaps creepy storyline, it promotes kidnapping as a legitimate form of adoption and coercion as a legitimate form of dating. Akerman comes off like a Hollywood tour director with her unnaturally happy portrayal of Annie, and her new beau "Sam #2" played by Tony Hale scares the poop out of you, though he's really supposed to be heart-warming. Perhaps the only two bright spots of the film are Kate Mara's charm and the occasional lines of dialogue that are actually good. Unfortunately, by the end of the film I was just happy it had ended, even if the ending was like a TV show that had been cancelled well before the end of the season. So maybe I get the "happy" part of the title, as in "Happyitsover", but the rest should read, "NOthankyouIwantedmoreplease".

Greetings again from the darkness. If such a thing existed in Hollywood, I wouldn't be surprised if Woody Allen brought a Trademark Infringement suit against writer/director Josh Radnor. There is even a clear reference to Mr. Allen, who must be one of Radnor's idols. Of course, similar ideas and approaches happen frequently in movies, so really what we have is a snapshot in time of what it's like to be a young (late 20's to early 30's) New Yorker trying to figure out life. Radnor is one of the stars of "How I Met Your Mother" and this is his filmmaking debut. He does show some promise despite some weakness in the script and too dang many close-ups - talking heads, as I call them. His goal was to take an intimate look at relationships and the road to maturity, which is often filled with potholes. This seems especially true for those artistic types who are convinced New York is the only land of opportunity in existence. There are 4 stories going on: Sam (Josh Radnor) is a struggling writer who meets Mississippi (Kate Mara), a cabaret singer/waitress; Mary Catherine (Zoe Kazan) and Charlie (Pablo Schreiber) have their relationship tested by a proposed move to L.A.; Annie (Malin Akerman) suffers from a self-image problem and faces off against a true romantic in Sam #2 (Tony Hale); and an on-going interwoven story line involves Sam's character making an asinine decision when a young boy gets separated from his family on the subway. The best of the stories is Annie's. Suffering from an auto-immune disease which leaves her hairless, she has a real self-image problem in thinking that she is not worthy of love. On the ironic other hand, she is put off by the advances of nice guy Sam #2 because he isn't the physical specimen she had dreamed of. Akerman and Hale make these characters believable and we actually pull for them to figure it out. Kazan's Mary Catherine just had me hoping Charlie would slap her and take off to LA on his own. Kazan (granddaughter of the great director Elia Kazan) actually does a nice job capturing the suffering that so many females put themselves through. Kate Mara's Mississippi is the perky on the outside, defensive on the inside type who should probably never get mixed up with the self-centered mess that is Sam (Radnor). Still, Mara's talent is on full display (she first leaped off the screen in Brokeback Mountain as Heath Ledger's 19 yr old daughter). One thing the script reminds us is that this generation still believes the world revolves around their every decision. They have been a bit slow on the uptake here, but it makes for easy pickings in script writing. There are some terrific individual scenes, but some of the larger plot lines are not treated fairly or completely. Maybe Radnor tackled a bit too much for his first outing. Still, a decent effort and I look forward to more from him.

What a movie....what a movie..... I must say I'm a big fan of Josh Radnor because of his hit series "How I met your mother" and (who isn't?) I think as a writer he is amazing and he has a long way to go. He has mentioned his love for short stories unknowingly in the TV show many times and I must say his endeavour has never gone unnoticed. Josh Radnor has a real potential. He just brought it together and the rest was obvious. The writing was superb(I'm a writer myself so bro Respect!) and not to forget the brilliant direction done by Josh himself. A wonderful debut, by the way, as a director for him and all the very best wishes to him for his future ventures. Awesome acting and some great performances by the cast that included Malin Akerman (as usual she is brilliant in this flick too), Kate Mara (I'm beginning to like her already)and Zoe Kazan(with her sweet role which she generally plays quite naturally). The story was wonderful. Gotta watch it to know it. I'd give it a 7 on 10 and I think the flick deserved it. I'd recommend everyone to go and watch this one because it certainly is worth all the accolades.

I watched this stunningly empty piece of vanity celluloid from Josh Radnor, one of the How I Met Your Mother guys. I guess he had so much money on his hands that he thought he might as well follow his ambition to be a filmmaker. I can only hope he got it out of his system. I keep imagining Radnor watching Garden State, thinking, "I can do that!" No, apparently you can't. Y'know, I chuckle when people on IMDb use superlatives to describe every pedestrian film that comes down the pike, but this is one time it may indeed be appropriate. Happythankyoumoreplease is one of the worst movies I've ever seen. It is scary bad. It is offensively bad. It is a lot of young beautiful people trying to act as though their lives have meaning and import, but not one of them has experienced a genuine challenge yet in life. Neither as characters, nor, judging from the insufferable pettiness of the performances, as actual human beings. I don't wish evil or hardship to befall them, except to say, it would make them far more believable and substantive as artists. I'm just sorry Pablo Schreiber and Kate Mara got mixed up in this mess.

This guy (the writer, director, actor) must know someone in high places because no one could see this movie and not want to pull their hair out after viewing this film. I was stuck in the center of the row so escaping was not an option as the script rolled out one cliché after another. Worst performance was the lead actor playing Sam Wexler. The most interesting thing about the movie was the premise...from there it literally fell apart into a mind numbing want to be art house movie where everyone has an epiphany in the form of the one line bumper sticker (including the lost little boy) that is supposed to neatly wrap up the story line. The time I spent in the theater seeing this movie are two hours of my life that I can't get back....