With the self-consciously clever and sometimes achingly romantic “Happythankyoumoreplease,” TV star Josh Radnor (“How I Met Your Mother”) has concocted a big-screen starring vehicle for himself that calls to mind an earlier sensitive romance by an earlier version of Radnor.
“Happythankyoumoreplease” is less mopey and downbeat than TV star Zach Braff’s “Garden State.” But it succeeds in many of the same sweet ways and is similar enough to warrant labeling Radnor “Zach Braff: The Next Generation.”
Radnor, as writer, director and star, follows three young New York couples – two in the making, one facing that make-or-break decision that many 20-somethings wrestle with, the geography of career vs. love.
Radnor plays Sam, an aspiring writer with a mild streak of self-destructiveness. All the “voice of our generation” pep talks from his pal Annie (Malin Akerman) can’t keep him from finding a way to blow a meeting with the possible publisher (Richard Jenkins) of his novel, “The Other Great Thing About Vinyl.” At least the way Sam sabotages this – rescuing a kid abandoned on the subway – is original. Oddly and unrealistically, Sam keeps the kid (Michael Algieri) around. He then parks the kid at home and goes out on dates with a barmaid (Kate Mara) who catches his eye.
Meanwhile, Annie is struggling with self-image issues. She suffers from alopecia areata, which caused her hair to fall out. She copes by wearing attention-grabbing head wraps and falling back into the sack with her dirtbag ex-boyfriend. That vaguely creepy dweeb (Tony Hale) at work who tries to flirt with her? Not happening.