The last few years have seen a rise in the so-called mumblecore movement, a brand of low-budget independent film marked by character-driven stories about twentysomethings in a post-collegiate malaise. Happythankyoumoreplease isn't mumblecore. It belongs to mumblecore's big brother, hipstercore, a term I haven't seen used in conjunction with cinema. It is certainly apropos for a far too preciously titled film about trendy, young urbanites set to a soundtrack of acoustic guitar driven coffee shop pop.
Josh Radnor from CBS's How I Met Your Mother makes his debut as a writer and director with Happythankyoumoreplease. He also takes the starring role of Sam Wexler, a struggling author living in New York City. He's looking to make a big break with his novel entitled, The Other Great Thing About Vinyl. However, Sam's problem is he is a white guy from the suburbs and has nothing truly profound to say. Sam's life changes when he meets Rasheen (Michael Algieri), a little boy who is separated from his family on the subway. Rasheen has been bounced from foster home to foster home and refuses to be taken to child services or the police station. Sam ludicrously decides to let Rasheen stay with him for the time being. Sam's friends know this is a bad idea and their lives intersect with the main story.
Annie (Malin Akerman) is a bright-eyed office girl with alopecia, a condition that causes loss of hair throughout her body. She's a nice girl, who only seems to go out with jerks. Annie receives unwanted flirting with a nebbish co-worker also named Sam (Tony Hale). The original Sam's cousin, Mary Catherine (Zoe Kazan), loves the Big Apple and is troubled by her boyfriend Charlie's (Pablo Schreiber) desire to move to L.A. Sam's love life is in turmoil as well. He tries to romance a lovely bartender by the name of Mississippi (Kate Mara).
Reviews have inevitably compared Happythankyou with Zach Braff's Garden State. Aside from the fact that both marked the filmmaking debuts of sitcom stars, they don't have that much in common. For one thing "Happythankyou" lacks the strong female performance from Natalie Portman. As a director, Radnor is missing the visual cleverness of Braff. Radnor's style is competent, but bland and has all the visual flair of your average single camera sitcom.
Radnor's screenwriting feels like an earnest attempt to recapture the feel of Woody Allen's prime. The characters all have their neuroses, but never seem to rise above perfunctory quirks to become multi-dimensional human beings. One of Allen's most iconic characters was the city of New York itself. Happythankyou may be set in NYC, but it isn't uniquely New York and could have been set in almost any bustling metropolis. Radnor also spreads the script too thin by getting sidetracked with all the parallel subplots. The relationship between Mary and Charlie is the least developed and least interesting and could have easily been excised. The blossoming couple of Annie and Sam #2 wind up being more compelling than the A-story between Sam and Rasheen. This is due in no small part to the performances of Malin Akerman and Tony Hale. Akerman (who was so wooden in Watchmen) brings an infectious perkiness to her character. Meanwhile, Hale plays a low-key variation of the awkward Buster Bluth from Arrested Development.
The story of a struggling artist is always hard to sympathize with, especially when he's the mopey kind who lives in a spacious apartment he couldn't possibly afford. Happythankyoumoreplease tries so hard to be hip and insightful, but comes off as a derivative bore.
Rating: * ½ (*****)
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