Sitcom star-turned-auteur? It doesn’t seem very likely, does it? It’s doubtful even Ron Howard aspires to the role. But just on the strength of his first film, Josh Radnor seems destined to confound expectations. The star of “How I Met Your Mother” spent years pursuing financing for his debut, which he wrote during the first seasons of the show. His cast, not huge stars but still recognizable names, worked for scale. This independent film was clearly a labor of love. Don’t mistake it for a vanity project by a young actor who is desperate to be taken more seriously, though. “Happythankyoumoreplease” is a film that embraces all of our complicated humanity.
| ON SCREEN |
| ‘Happythankyoumoreplease’ |
| » Rating: 4 out of 5 stars |
| » Stars: Josh Radnor, Malin Akerman and Zoe Kazan |
| » Director: Josh Radnor |
| » Rated: R for language |
| » Running time: 98 minutes |
It centers on a group of artistic New Yorkers right at that age between callowness and responsibility. Sam (Radnor) is a short-story writer trying to sell his first novel. But he hasn’t quite matured enough to complete a more focused project successfully. On the subway on his way to meet an editor, he sees a young boy separated from his family at a stop. It turns out to be his foster family, and the boy doesn’t want to go back. Sam doesn’t know what to do — so he does nothing. He takes Rasheen (Michael Algieri) in and is even more reluctant to contact authorities when he discovers the boy has creative talent.
Meanwhile, his best friend Annie (Malin Akerman) is congenitally bald, a free spirit but not a confident one. Her story is familiar: She wastes her time with her bad boy ex while ignoring the nice guy who adores her. (“He looks like he should be at a party making balloon animals,” she says.) Sam’s other close friend, Mary Catherine (Zoe Kazan), has a great boyfriend — but he wants to (horror!) move to Los Angeles. Sam meets the beautiful waitress-singer Mississippi (Kate Mara), but doesn’t seem man enough to be careful with the fragile girl.
These are basic problems, but Radnor handles them in a fresh, self-assured way. Each member of his young cast skillfully portrays the emotional ups and downs of the search for happiness in a different way, shining light on various aspects of this universal quest.
Perhaps the film’s success can be traced to Radnor’s lack of cynicism. Certainly, good people do bad things in this film. None of us is immune to being a jerk now and then. But Radnor believes there are good things to be had in life, if one only decides to put some effort into finding them.
