Radnor at happythankyoumoreplease
Writer/director/star Josh Radnor’s HappyThankYouMorePlease is the best film I’ve seen at Sundance (so far). Oftentimes any film that isn’t bleak and depressing gets consigned to the bin of “crowd-pleaser” by the critics and is just as quickly summarily dismissed. But Happy is blessed with a script worthy of the best work of James L. Brooks and performs a deft balancing act. It interweaves the story of three young New York couples (with an ensemble cast), in various stages of falling in and out of love. Normally, there’s a couple of Sundance red flags right there: interweaving, young, New York couples, ensemble, and writer/director/star. Yet, almost improbably Happy makes each one of these cliched elements of bad past Sundance movies into attributes.
Happy will likely be compared to Garden State, another Sundance phenom helmed, written and starring a popular TV star star, Zach Braff. And Garden State is fine in its capacity, as a angst-ridden comedy, post-coming of age.
But Happy transcends even the generational tethers to approach something more timeless and universal (and yes, I do appreciate the irony of this being said in that most evanescent of publication methods, the blog).
It rests upon a gimmicky setup. Sam (Radnor) is a writer who finds himself the unlikely guardian of a boy who becomes separated from his family in the subway. Sam’s best friend is Annie (Malin Akerman), who has atrichia, a genetic condition which makes her hairless. Annie appears to be even more congenitally drawn to losers, though a lawyer at her workplace, Sam #2 (Tony Hale), as he bills himself , is wooing her in desperation. Sam #1 is busy wooing Mississippi (Kate Mara), a waitress who wants to be a cabaret singer. Sam #1’s other dear childhood friend, Mary Catherine (Zoe Kazan) is trying to decide whether to move to California with her boyfriend (Pablo Schneider). They’re all at crossroads though they’re not aware of it and Radnor’s subtle and persuasive presentation of their decisions makes for a believable, winning movie. You will hear more from happythankyoumoreplease.
Other things:
- Michael Moore at the Restrepo premiere looking rotund again.
- A wildly disparate group at The Company Men premiere including Harvey Weinstein, David Hyde Pierce, Tom Arnold and Demi Lovato (at least I think it was her).
- Saw Bran Nue Dae, an homage to Golden Age musicals which is a joyful, playful romp by Rachel Perkins
- Have heard great things about many of the documentaries here, as usual, including Catfish and Waiting for Superman.
- Night Catches Us is a meandering film that seems to want to slow our heart-rate down to a 1970’s pace (when the film is set). Anthony Mackie and Kerry Washington turn in their usual solid performances but the film remains inert.
- Winter’s Bone may end up being the most haunting film in the festival. Director Debra Ganik brought the devastating Down to the Bone to the festival in 2004 and she repeats the feat of producing another harrowing film. Winter’s Bone is about a young girl from the Ozarks, wonderfully played by Jennifer Lawrence (look for more great things from this actress), who has to find her meth-cooking father or she and her young siblings will be ejected from their home.