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Happythankyoumoreplease
[Blu-ray]
Blu-ray A - America - Anchor Bay Entertainment Review written by and copyright: Ethan Stevenson (16th July 2011). |
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The Film
 There’s a moment in sitcom star Josh Radnor’s directorial debut where his character, Sam Wexler, a writer from New York City, sits like a scolded child in a chair opposite a polite editor as he honestly critiques the authors work. The nameless man (a brief cameo by the wonderful Richard Jenkins) points out that Wexler’s novel doesn’t really come together because it has a poor protagonist; the main character is an aimless, not necessarily likeable, blob of nonspecific nothingness. The supporting characters are only somewhat developed. And, worse yet, the book itself is kind of an unoriginal clichéfest. This scene is either brilliantly self-aware – and Radnor, who also wrote the film, is making some astute, if pointless, commentary about the state of indie/rom-com cinema and his own film (and he’s almost certainly not; otherwise why make it?) – or the scene is just about the most unintentionally funny thing ever filmed. Now, I didn’t hate the film as much as thought I would, and even liked certain parts of it quite a bit. But, almost everything – from its similarly plagued protagonist to the often-trite plot – in Radnor’s “Happythankyoumoreplease” (and lets not forget that goddamn title, proper grammar and spaces be damned) screams out to be labeled as “awful” and “pretentious”. Every character has an annoying or forcibly cutesy quirk (sometimes multiples quirks) to make them more interesting. (Someone can’t just be a cabaret singer – they have to also be named Mississippi and they can’t just be named that, they have to be from Mississippi too so that each time someone new meets her, they can make the same stupid joke over and over). Radnor’s gag with names is as misguided as his use of the artsy folk songs by a local New York artist named Jaymay – which sort of ironically mismatch the tone of the scenes they appear in – that feature prominently in his film. And the basic plot – a group of 30-something New Yorkers going about their lives, navigating the tricky realms of romance – is a tired, overused set-up. Looking at the cover, and indeed even watching most of the film, won’t dispel any worry of the anticipated pretension. Something as simple as reading the plot synopsis on the back of the case sends a shiver down the spine. And honestly the saccharine conclusion to the cliché story is just about as terrible as can be; everything is so neatly wrapped up that one wonders what the point of it all was and why the film needed to be an hour and a half long. Sam Wexler laments his lack of life experience. Having grown up in the boring suburbs with a stable home life, he has no material from which to build his novel. All of that changes when a precocious child named Rasheen (Michael Algieri) suddenly drops into his lap for no other reason than so the film can move forward with the requisite plot-complication. A complication that ignites the second act, leading to a ham-fisted diversion about Wexler’s wooing of a bartender/lounge singer named Mississippi (Kate Mara). Sam’s best friend Annie (a slightly less terrible than usual Malin Akerman who is still insufferable and parades around in an obvious skullcap for good measure) suffers from alopecia and has the worst luck with men (it always turns out they only want to use her for sex). She’s unsure how to act around a coworker, also named Sam – and thusly referred to, irritatingly, as Sam #2 – who likes to take pictures and hopelessly flirt as though he might honestly like her. Sam #2 is played by the awesome Tony "Buster" Bluth" Hale, which forces an unfortunate connection between Sam and Sam #2 and the whole Lucile vs. Lucile-two subplot from “Arrested Development” (2003-2006) (and subsequently making me wonder if the whole naming thing is – like the questionable scene with the editor – cloyingly intentional?) Sam’s other friends, his childhood neighbor Mary Catherine (Zoe Kazan) and her boyfriend Charlie (Pablo Schreiber), spend most of the film arguing about whether or not they should move to Los Angeles. Very infrequently, Mary Catherine also talks to Sam while offering him art supplies for Rasheen at a discount, and there’s a forced bit towards the end where Charlie and Sam bond over a beer and solve each other’s problems. But mostly Mary Catherine and Charlie exist on the periphery of the plot, disconnected from everyone else. They spend their time together. And they fight and then make up. And fight, and make up. And so on. Amidst the mass of grating issues that I have with Radnor’s film, there are things I liked. In fact, with a bit of polish, fine-tuning and rewriting, “Happythankyoumoreplease” could’ve been a great little movie. But it’s so rough that I can’t help but be put off by the problems. Most of the characters either lack depth, or are miscast. Mary Catherine and Charlie are unneeded almost entirely. They seem to exist solely for, admittedly funny, jokes that involve Mary wearing shirts that say things like “I date down” or “I love nerds”, and Charlie’s general dislike of them. Otherwise the two characters are extraneous. Annie doesn’t need alopecia to make her interesting but I have no issue with that extra character “quirk” (oddly enough the medical condition that Annie suffers from was similarly treated like a lighthearted oddity in, surprise, “Arrested Development” – again, intentional or just coincidence?) But my real problem with the character is that she’s ultimately harmed by Akerman’s wholly inadequate acting abilities. Annie's arc requires something that the actress doesn’t have; and she and Hale don’t have the chemistry that their scenes should. Radnor, however, proves to be a pretty funny writer, supplying some decent – although also inconsistent, and a times excruciating – dialogue for his characters. He's a decent actor too, although his character, like the character in Wexler's book, is a bit boring. And for all the missteps Radnor makes in editing (particularly, musical choices), as an actors-director he seems, baring the unsalvageable Akerman, competent, drawing an unexpectedly great performance from the kid he shares so much screen time with, and solid turns from the bickering couple. The problem with “Happythankyoumoreplease” is that it feels slightly… doughy. Like it needed to be left in the oven just a little longer. There are parts of it that are fully realized, but so much of the film doesn’t quite come together. The humor is solid. I like the idea behind the film. Its theme is to live life to the fullest, and love yourself for who you are. But Radnor fails to really develop the drama and emotional core that he seems to think he did. Something doesn’t quite mesh with the production, and the roll of the credits left me with the puzzle as to what that something was. The only answer I have is that it isn’t one thing, but a small handful of those minor “quirks” that Radnor loves so much, which make “Happythankyoumoreplease” feel unfinished, unfocused and unoriginal.
Video
The black levels are as ill defined as Radnor-Wexler’s listless protagonist, and the onslaught of artifacts and noise is as annoying as the constant arguments between his hapless friends. “Happythankyoumoreplease” features a problematic 2.40:1 widescreen 1080p 24/fps high definition AVC MPEG-4 encoded presentation that disappoints more than it impresses. The compression issues no doubt stem from a botched encoding job that is noticeably bitstarved to a single-layer BD-25. The origin of the weak black level and dreary contrast is less easy to pin down (and kind of odd too, considering the trailer included in the supplemental package is free of many of the issues that plague this inconsistent transfer). Shot digitally with the RED One, the film has gobs of detail, excellent, rich colors, and a satisfying sharpness in the plentiful day-lit exteriors. But, night scenes – poorly color-timed in unattractive hues of either sickly blues or hideous spicy-mustard yellows and browns – are flat and lifeless, lacking depth, and suffering from mild crush. The dingy interiors are ugly and overly digital, which is unfortunate as they occupy about as much screen time as the good-looking exteriors. Whether the disappointing blacks are a side effect of improper authoring or just tasteless cinematography, the fact remains: they ruin an otherwise commendable Blu-ray.
Audio
The English Dolby TrueHD 5.1 mix (a real rarity these days; the lossless Dolby codec seems to be an endangered species) accompanying “Happythankyoumoreplease” is typically restrained and front-focused like so many other indie and rom-com productions of late. The soundscape of Radnor’s exteriors is surprisingly devoid of the “busy New York” that so many other films seem to find, leaving surrounds lacking and a bit too quiet. But dialog is crisp, and the music by folksy artist Jaymay is given the proper attention. Stereo separation is terrific, while fidelity is slightly more uneven by design (as mentioned in the special features, many of the songs were recorded with the mic on Jaymay’s laptop; considering that, they sound terrific). The music has an analog quality too it, but that organic-ness works given the nature of the film. Subtitles are available in English and Spanish.
Extras
Supplements are fairly average. “Happy” offers a hard-to-find audio commentary with Radnor and the film's producer, a disappointingly short featurette on the music, about nine minutes of skippable deleted scenes, the theatrical trailer and a few bonus trailers. All video is encoded in high definition. “Happythankyoumoreplease” is authored with optional bookmarking and the resume playback function. Buried in the audio setup menu – and NOT listed amongst the special features as might be expected – is an audio commentary. Writer/director/actor/person Josh Radnor and producer Jesse Hara provide a listenable but bland commentary that will please fans but few others. The two have a friendly, lighthearted tone, discussing casting choices, the script, scenes deleted from the final cut (which are also on the disc), and, of course, the music, but spend too much time patting themselves – and the rest of the cast – on the back. After about the fifteenth time Radnor dug into the dictionary to find a new way to say how gorgeous co-star Kate Mara is, I sort of tuned out. Radnor is back, with music supervisor Andy Gowan, and singer/songwriter Jaymay, to talk about the music of the film in a short featurette titled “Happythankyoumoremusicplease” (1.78:1 1080p, 6 minutes 38 seconds). Jaymay discusses her creative process, while Radnor and Gowan talk about how they found the artist and the how the music is used in the final product. A deleted scenes reel (2.40:1 1080p, 8 minutes 55 seconds) is a catchall for five nonessential scenes – including a loud fight on the street between Charlie and Mary-Catherine – that flesh out characters, but ultimately add little substance to the final film. Had they not been cut, each one of these could have unnecessarily slowed the pace down to a crawl. For the record the original theatrical trailer (2.40:1 1080p, 2 minutes 32 seconds) is also included. Note the color and contrast differences in the dark scenes. Very weird. Finally, bonus trailers for other Starz/Anchor Bay releases: – “Meeting Monica Velour” (1.78:1 1080p, 2 minutes 20 seconds). - “Beautiful Boy” (1.78:1 1080p, 1 minute 58 seconds). - “Kill The Irishman” (1.78:1 1080p, 2 minutes 9 seconds). - “Daydream Nation” (1.78:1 1080p, 2 minutes 5 seconds)
Packaging
“Happythankyoumoreplease” arrives on Blu-ray from Starz/Anchor Bay Home Entertainment, day-and-date with the DVD. The disc is packaged inside an eco-Elite keepcase. The single layered BD-25 is locked to Region A.
Overall
Josh Radnor’s directorial debut isn’t the giant bag of fail that I was expecting based on the press release, plot synopsis and artwork, but “Happythankyoumoreplease” still isn’t a great film. It’s a production overburdened by a script in need of more polishing and questionable casting in one of its central roles. The Blu-ray has a wonky black level that ruins the otherwise excellent video, restrained audio, and a few standard extras. Worth a rental, but not much else.
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