''Happythankyoumoreplease'' is a 2010

comedy-drama film Comedy drama, also known by the portmanteau ''dramedy'', is a genre of dramatic works that combines elements of comedy and drama. The modern, scripted-television examples tend to have more humorous bits than simple comic relief seen in a typical ...

written and directed by

Josh Radnor Joshua Thomas Radnor (born July 29, 1974) is an American actor, filmmaker, author, and musician. He is best known for portraying Ted Mosby on the popular and Emmy Award–winning CBS sitcom ''How I Met Your Mother''. He made his writing and dir ...

in his directorial debut. The film features Radnor,

Malin Åkerman Malin Maria Åkerman (born 12 May 1978) is a Swedish actress. In the early 2000s, she had several small television and film parts in both Canadian and American productions, including ''The Utopian Society'' (2003) and ''Harold & Kumar Go to Whi ...

Kate Mara Kate Rooney Mara ( ; born February 27, 1983) is an American actress. She is known for work in television, playing reporter Zoe Barnes in the Netflix political drama ''House of Cards'' (2013–2014; 2016), computer analyst Shari Rothenberg in t ...

Zoe Kazan Zoe Swicord Kazan (; born September 9, 1983) is an American actress, playwright, and screenwriter. She made her acting debut in the film ''Swordswallowers and Thin Men'' (2003) and later appeared in films such as '' The Savages'' (2007), ''Revol ...

, Michael Algieri,

Pablo Schreiber Pablo Tell Schreiber (born April 26, 1978) is a Canadian-American actor. He is best known for his stage work and for portraying Nick Sobotka on ''The Wire'' (2003), William Lewis on '' Law & Order: Special Victims Unit'' (2013–2014), Mad Swe ...

, and

Tony Hale Anthony Russell Hale (born September 30, 1970) is an American actor and comedian. He is known for his role in the Fox comedy series ''Arrested Development'' as Buster Bluth. Hale played Gary Walsh on the HBO comedy ''Veep'' from 2012 until its ...

, in the story of a group of young

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

ers, struggling to balance love, friendship, and their encroaching adulthoods. ''Happythankyoumoreplease'' premiered at the

26th Sundance Film Festival The 26th annual Sundance Film Festival was held from January 21, 2010 until January 31, 2010 in Park City, Utah. Award winners *Grand Jury Prize: Documentary - '' Restrepo'' *Grand Jury Prize: Dramatic - ''Winter's Bone'' *World Cinema Jury Prize: ...

in 2010, where it won the Audience Award and was further nominated for the Grand Jury Prize. On March 4, 2011 it was released in theatres throughout Los Angeles and New York.

Plot

A story of relationships, ''Happythankyoumoreplease'' deals with the struggles facing several pairs trying to find their way in the big city. The film centers on Sam (Radnor), a writer who is trying (unsuccessfully) to get his first novel attempt into print, and Rasheen (Algieri), a foster care child, whom Sam meets when Rasheen is abandoned on the subway. The film also involves Sam's best friend Annie (Åkerman), a woman who has the autoimmune disorder

alopecia Hair loss, also known as alopecia or baldness, refers to a loss of hair from part of the head or body. Typically at least the head is involved. The severity of hair loss can vary from a small area to the entire body. Inflammation or scarri ...

(which has caused her to lose her hair), who is trying to find a reason to be loved; Sam's cousin Mary Catherine (Kazan) and her boyfriend Charlie (Schreiber), and Mississippi (Mara), a waitress/singer who is trying to make it in the city. Mary Catherine faces the prospect of either moving to Los Angeles with Charlie (to a new job offer) or staying in her familiar New York, which would mean ending their relationship. When Mary finds she is pregnant, the moving situation becomes more complicated. Sam's attempt to return the young Rasheen to the proper authorities fails when the boy is determined not to re-enter the foster care program. Sam subsequently tries to adopt the boy, but botches the application process in a fashion that ends in his (brief) arrest. Rasheen is finally placed with a new foster family, but Sam keeps tabs, including providing the boy with drawing materials when he learns of his artistic abilities. Sam also works on bringing Mississippi into his life, with several setbacks, but at movie's end it appears that their relationship is in place.

Cast

as Sam Wexler *

as Annie *

as Mississippi *

as Charlie *

as Mary Catherine * Michael Algieri as Rasheen *

as Sam #2 * Jakob Appelman as School Boy * Bram Barouh as Spencer *

Dana Barron Dana Barron is an American actress who is best known for her role as the original Audrey Griswold in the 1983 film ''National Lampoon's Vacation'' which she reprised in 2003's '' National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation 2: Cousin Eddie's Island Adv ...

as The Gynecologist * Sunah Bilsted as Receptionist * Jimmy Gary Jr. as Officer Jones *

Richard Jenkins Richard Dale Jenkins (born May 4, 1947) is an American actor who is well known for his portrayal of deceased patriarch Nathaniel Fisher on the HBO funeral drama series '' Six Feet Under'' (2001–2005). He began his career in theater at the Tri ...

as Paul Gertmanian * Marna Kohn as Melissa

Production

Radnor wrote the film while working on the first and second seasons of the

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainm ...

sitcom ''

How I Met Your Mother ''How I Met Your Mother'' (often abbreviated as ''HIMYM'') is an American sitcom, created by Craig Thomas and Carter Bays for CBS. The series, which aired from September 19, 2005 to March 31, 2014, follows the main character, Ted Mosby, and his ...

''. He then had actors read for roles, wrote revisions, and sought financing for two years. Radnor received financing in April 2009 and began shooting in July 2009 in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

, after six weeks of pre-production. The film was selected for the

Sundance Film Festival The Sundance Film Festival (formerly Utah/US Film Festival, then US Film and Video Festival) is an annual film festival organized by the Sundance Institute. It is the largest independent film festival in the United States, with more than 46,66 ...

, where it premiered on January 22, 2010. It won the audience award for favorite U.S. drama.

Myriad Pictures Myriad Pictures is an independent entertainment company in Santa Monica, California founded in 1999 and specializing in production, financing and worldwide distribution of feature films and television programming. History President and CEO Kir ...

bought the international distribution rights for the film. The publisher Hannover House bought the North American distribution rights, but they were later acquired by

Anchor Bay Films Anchor Bay Entertainment (formerly Video Treasures and Starmaker Entertainment) was an American home entertainment and production company. It was a subsidiary of Starz Inc. Anchor Bay Entertainment marketed and sold feature films, television ser ...

Release

United States

''Happythankyoumoreplease'' premiered during the

from 21 to 31 January 2010, in

Park City, Utah Park City is a city in Utah, United States. The vast majority is in Summit County, and it extends into Wasatch County. It is considered to be part of the Wasatch Back. The city is southeast of downtown Salt Lake City and from Salt Lake City' ...

. The film was screened as part of the

Gen Art Gen Art is an arts and entertainment organization that showcases emerging fashion designers, filmmakers, musicians and visual artists. It has produced over 100 events annually, which included fashion shows, film premieres and screenings, live musi ...

Film Festival in New York City on April 7, 2010. The female lead Malin Åkerman promoted the film with guest appearances on ''

Lopez Tonight ''Lopez Tonight'' is an American late-night television talk show that was hosted by the comedian George Lopez. The hour-long program premiered on November 9, 2009, on cable network TBS. Lopez was the first Mexican-American to host a late-night ...

'' and ''

The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson ''The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson'' is an American late-night talk show hosted by Scottish actor and comedian Craig Ferguson. This was the third iteration of the ''Late Late Show'' franchise, airing from January 3, 2005, to December 19, ...

''. It opened in theaters in New York City and

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

on March 4, 2011. The movie grossed $216,110 in the United States. It was released by Anchor Bay Entertainment on DVD and Blu-ray disc on June 21, 2011.

International

One month after its US theatrical release, ''Happythankyoumoreplease'' opened in

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

where it did comparatively better, grossing $551,472. Over the following months, it was released in

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populous ...

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...

, and

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders with ...

Reception

The film received mixed reviews. On

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

, it has an approval rating of 43% based on 54 reviews, with an average rating of 5.3/10.

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...

assigned the film a score of 45 out of 100 based on 21 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". John Anderson at ''Variety'' praised the production values and the performance of Akerman, but wrote "the characters are uniformly annoying, their stories insubstantial and the tone one of smug contentment."

References

External links

* {{IMDb title, 1481572 2010 films 2010 comedy films 2010 directorial debut films 2010 drama films 2010s American films 2010s coming-of-age comedy-drama films 2010s English-language films American coming-of-age comedy-drama films Films directed by Josh Radnor Films set in New York City Sundance Film Festival award winners