Happythankyoumoreplease is the feature writing and directorial debut of Josh Radnor, better known as Ted from How I Met Your Mother. Premiering at Sundance in 2010, it was released commercially in 2011. It is essentially Big Daddy by way of Woody Allen's Manhatten. In it, Sam Wexler (Radnor) is a short story writer turned aspiring novelist who takes in a lost child (Michael Algieri's Rasheen) he finds on a subway and meets the girl of his dreams (Kate Mara's Mississippi) in what must have been a very busy day for him. The film also follows his best friend Malin Ackerman as Annie, an Alopecia patient,trying to find love and Mary Catherine (Zoe Kazan) and boyfriend Charlie (Pablo Schreiber) struggling with the idea of leaving New York and moving to L.A.
The film itself is kind of charming if a little bland. Characters speaking to each other in motivational, philosophical monologues as they try to grow into the people they want to be. The characters themselves can be a little weak at times. Sam spends most of the movie flip flopping between self-conscious worrier and swaggering charmer. This was my main problem with the character. He could go from complete self doubt to saying just the right charming line to win over Mississipi in the blink of an eye. Annie is a pretty standard rom-com character seemingly given Alopecia just to be different. I don't mean that to sound harsh it's just that the film sets it up for her condition to mean something but really she's just a reasonably strong if slightly flawed person who deals with her condition as best she can. Which, in and of itself is not a problem but when the film can't decide if this is a conflict for her or just a thing she accepts it leaves it all feeling kind of weak. It just needs to pick, create a character with a medical condition who doesn't seem overly affected, that kind of thing happens everyday, or set this up as a cause for internal struggle but don't try and do both. Charlie is pleasant and enjoyable to watch even if he's a little too pleasant to be interesting at times and Mary Catherine and Mississippi are just kind of there. The film doesn't seem concerned with Mississippi or Rasheen as people, just as plot devices that can affect and alter Sam and help him grow. Almost all of the characters are one kind of artist or another because this is New York and Woody Allen told us everyone there is an artist. We also catch most of the characters in the middle of personal growth, we don't see who they were or who they become and as such it's kind of hard to care or come away with any strong feelings for them one way or another.
The film's weakest point comes at it's direct reference to Woody Allen, which just serves to remind us that this kind of thing has all been done before and by more insightful, clever, funny people. It's a bit slow at times, essentially just being about some stuff that happens that helps the characters grow without much stringing it together or making it flow. The relationship between Sam and Mississipi feels rushed (even more than is clearly intended) while still feeling boring and uninspired, just jumping through the same hoops two or three times only to end up back where they started. Cutesy, charming dialogue included.
All that being said, I enjoyed it well enough. It's got enough individual enjoyable moments that while it can slow down to almost a stop at times if you stick with it a couple of more minutes something will always happen to delight. The philosophical monologues I mentioned aren't hugely insightful or world shattering but they're often lessons people can struggle to learn and they just go to the show that when it comes to growing up the big questions usually have some quite simple answers. It's not as clever or deep as it seems to think it is but it also isn't preachy or overly pretentious. It's a sweet, honest film and a decent first effort. All in all I'd recommend it, at the very least it tries to teach us something.
The film itself is kind of charming if a little bland. Characters speaking to each other in motivational, philosophical monologues as they try to grow into the people they want to be. The characters themselves can be a little weak at times. Sam spends most of the movie flip flopping between self-conscious worrier and swaggering charmer. This was my main problem with the character. He could go from complete self doubt to saying just the right charming line to win over Mississipi in the blink of an eye. Annie is a pretty standard rom-com character seemingly given Alopecia just to be different. I don't mean that to sound harsh it's just that the film sets it up for her condition to mean something but really she's just a reasonably strong if slightly flawed person who deals with her condition as best she can. Which, in and of itself is not a problem but when the film can't decide if this is a conflict for her or just a thing she accepts it leaves it all feeling kind of weak. It just needs to pick, create a character with a medical condition who doesn't seem overly affected, that kind of thing happens everyday, or set this up as a cause for internal struggle but don't try and do both. Charlie is pleasant and enjoyable to watch even if he's a little too pleasant to be interesting at times and Mary Catherine and Mississippi are just kind of there. The film doesn't seem concerned with Mississippi or Rasheen as people, just as plot devices that can affect and alter Sam and help him grow. Almost all of the characters are one kind of artist or another because this is New York and Woody Allen told us everyone there is an artist. We also catch most of the characters in the middle of personal growth, we don't see who they were or who they become and as such it's kind of hard to care or come away with any strong feelings for them one way or another.
The film's weakest point comes at it's direct reference to Woody Allen, which just serves to remind us that this kind of thing has all been done before and by more insightful, clever, funny people. It's a bit slow at times, essentially just being about some stuff that happens that helps the characters grow without much stringing it together or making it flow. The relationship between Sam and Mississipi feels rushed (even more than is clearly intended) while still feeling boring and uninspired, just jumping through the same hoops two or three times only to end up back where they started. Cutesy, charming dialogue included.
All that being said, I enjoyed it well enough. It's got enough individual enjoyable moments that while it can slow down to almost a stop at times if you stick with it a couple of more minutes something will always happen to delight. The philosophical monologues I mentioned aren't hugely insightful or world shattering but they're often lessons people can struggle to learn and they just go to the show that when it comes to growing up the big questions usually have some quite simple answers. It's not as clever or deep as it seems to think it is but it also isn't preachy or overly pretentious. It's a sweet, honest film and a decent first effort. All in all I'd recommend it, at the very least it tries to teach us something.
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