Happythankyoumoreplease (2010)

happythankyoumoreplease is a 2010 comedy-drama film written and directed by Josh Radnor in his directorial debut. The film stars Radnor, Malin Åkerman, Kate Mara, Zoe Kazan, Michael Algieri, Pablo Schreiber, and Tony Hale, and it tells the story of a group of young New Yorkers, struggling to balance love, friendship, and their approaching adulthoods. happythankyoumoreplease premiered at the 26th Sundance Film Festival 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.

A story of relationships, happythankyoumoreplease deals with the struggles facing several pairs trying to find their way. The film centers on Sam (Radnor) and Rasheen (Aligeri), a writer and foster care child who meet when Rasheen is abandoned on the subway. Through this story we learn of Sam's best friend Annie (Åkerman), an Alopecia patient trying to find a reason to be loved, his cousin Mary Catherine (Kazan) and her boyfriend Charlie (Schreiber), a couple facing the prospect of leaving New York, and Mississippi (Mara), a waitress/singer trying to make it in the Big Apple. The film opens in Sam's apartment when he's late for an important meeting for his first full-length novel. While riding the subway to his meeting, he notices a young boy, Rasheen, become separated from his guardian. He attempts to take the boy to the police station, but the boy resists, so he reluctantly allows Rasheen to tag along with him. We soon realize that this editorial meeting was perhaps Sam's last chance at getting published and this opportunity is lost due to his lateness and distraction over Rasheen. When Sam and Rasheen leave, Sam once again attempts to figure out what to do with Rasheen. As the walk, Sam notices an attractive Bar waitress he had glimpsed earlier in the film. Using Rasheen as an excuse, he introduces himself as Rasheen's partner in the a "big brother" outreach program. The waitress seems charmed. She introduces herself as Mississippi, a cabaret singer. They part ways and Rasheen and Sam high five and get pizza. Unsure of what to do, Sam brings the boy home with him. After having fallen asleep, Sam wakes up to realize he is late to the party of his best friend, Annie. He had promised to be early and rushes to her place with Rasheen in tow. There, he runs into his cousin, Mary Catherine. Mary Catherine is instantly skeptical and concerned over the presence of this strange child, but Sam diverts her with talk of her boyfriend, Charlie. The scene cuts to Annie as she discusses her disease with her gathering of friends, turning the experience into an informative drinking game. Mary Catherine's cell phone goes off and she takes the call from Charlie, who is driving along the pacific coast highway in LA relishing the trip. Mary Catherine attempts to tell him how much she misses him, but the connection is cut off. The next morning, a hungover Annie is dealing with the aftermath of her party at work. As she attempts to get the lid off of a bottle of pain medication with her teeth, she is caught by her co-worker, another Sam, with camera in hand. She does her best to ignore him, but Sam #2 is plainly infatuated. After a few more rebuffs from Annie, Sam #2 moves on to greet the rest of the office on floor five. Back in Sam's apartment, he attempts to work on his writing across from a staring Rasheen. Claiming that Rasheen's focused attention is distracting, Sam asks the boy if he likes to draw or create art. When the boy nods, Same pulls out a handful of papers and plunks down a coffee mug of pens and highlighters for the boy to use, a task which Rasheen attacks with gusto for the remainder of the day. When Charlie arrives back from LA, he begins talking to Mary Catherine about his trip in a very positive manner. He then goes on to tell her that he's received a promising business offer to be partners with Dave back in LA, news to which Mary Catherine does not react favorably. They let the issue go for the moment. As Annie makes her way home at the end of the day, she receives a text from her ex-boyfriend, Ira, who invites her to come and join him at the bar. with some misgivings, Annie goes ahead to see him. Evening sees Rasheen asleep on Sam's couch while the writer decides to head out to the bar in search of Mississippi. He enters, he is initially disappointed that he does not see the waitress right away, but encounters her just as she walks by. The exchange some quick banter and later they both end up talking to each other at the bar until closing. Mississippi invites Sam to come see her sing, but he declines, citing an old girlfriend with acting dreams who turned out to be self-delusional regarding her own acting ability. Annie meets Ira at the bar and the chat about their past relationship. Annie is hesitant to resume anything, but Ira insists that things could be good between them again. After a few drinks and a call to Sam for emotional support, but he doesn't answer and she takes it as a sign from the universe to go home with Ira that night. Sam, on the way up to his apartment, warns Mississippi that Rasheen sometimes stays with him over night. They retire to his bedroom where Mississippi explains that she's done with one-night stands and that she won't be sleeping with Sam that night. In the height of elation, Sam suggests that they make it a three-night stand where Mississippi would be allowed to have keys to the apartment, permitted to come and go as she pleases. Initially reluctant to the idea, Mississippi relents when Sam draws up a 'contract' for the three nights. In the morning, Mary Catherine watches her boyfriend sleep before rushing to the bathroom, nauseated. Charlie doesn't wake up as she vomits. As a giddy Annie prepares to leave Ira's apartment, not wishing to be late to work, they revisit their relationship conversation from the previous night. Ira insists that it could work out and that they would not have the same problems as they did before since he was already seeing someone else and so would have to be careful having Annie around. Angry and hurt, Annie leaves the apartment in tears. At a local convenience store, Mary Catherine and Charlie are walking out, bickering. They nitpick and complain and then turn to stare at a man urinating on the sidewalk in front of them, before continuing on, sniping at one another once more. Sam and Mississippi wake up and exchange an awkward good-bye before she leaves for work with Mississippi inviting Sam to come and watch her sing that night. When Sam asks Rasheen whether or not Mississippi has left, he flops on the couch with relief, picking up some of Rasheen's artwork. He comments on how good the work is and inquires further about Rasheen's background. The boy does not provide many answers. While sitting next to one another in the park, Mary Catherine and Charlie discuss LA once more. She considers New York her home with its art and cultural background and resists the idea of moving elsewhere. Charlie expresses his current unhappiness with living in New York and thinks of all the opportunities that could come from moving to the West Coast. Sam and Rasheen are playing catch in the park. Sam receives a phone call explaining his novel with not be accepted by the publisher. Sam throws the ball into the bushes and walks off. Back at the apartment, Rasheen says that Sam is his best friend while they both sit on the couch. At work, Annie attempts to control her crying when Sam #2 appears. Seeing that something is wrong, he asks her about the problem, concerned. To lighten the situation, he attempts to crack jokes, but instead of making Annie feel less miserable, this prompts her to yell at him, telling him to go away. He makes a hasty exit. Sam takes Rasheen to Mary Catherine's art store. Mary Catherine lectures Sam about the legality of keeping this lost child, but eventually helps them to pick out art supplies. While at the store, Sam ignores a phone call from Mississippi. Back at the apartment, Rasheen quickly puts the new materials to work creating more impressive drawings of Sam's apartment. Sam seems somewhat torn as he sits on his couch. Mississippi performs at a bar, but Sam does not show up. However, as she sits in the dressing room after the show, she receives an envelope containing the contract and a set of keys. The attached post-it notes threatens to sue if she does not abide. Mississippi smiles. Sam rolls over in bed the next morning to be greeted by the grinning face of Mississippi. When she enters the living room she is surprised to see Rasheen. Mississippi confronts Sam about the boy and he admits that he is not in fact Rasheen's "big brother" but had taken in the boy. Mississippi at first accuses him of pedophilia, but eventually decides that he's just a loser and leaves. As she storms off to work, Sam catches her outside. She tells him that she is too messed up to deal with his problems. Sam suggests that perhaps they can fix each other. She tosses him the keys, but he throws them back to her. They engage in this game of catch until Sam steps back his hands in the air refusing to take them back. Mississippi puts the keys back in her purse. Annie arrives at work to discover a large manilla envelop at her desk. She opens it to discover a series of close-up, black-and-white photos of herself with various expressions. The last photo is a picture of a grinning Sam #2. Sam #2 appears and asks Annie to go out after work. She accepts. Sam meets with a social worker to discuss what to do about Rasheen. However, when he begins to discuss the situation, the social worker becomes irate. A fearful Sam mumbles something about being a writer doing research and flees. Mary Catherine takes a pregnancy test and gets the results back. She later goes to see the doctor, but still does not tell Charlie. Later that evening, when they come home from a night out, an intoxicated Charlie proposes marriage to Mary Catherine. Mary Catherine is immediately unsure and suspicious. She asks if he has even thought this through and if so, where the ring is. Charlie says he had been thinking about it for a while, but did not think she cared about propriety. Mary Catherine becomes angry reminding him how she told him she didn't believe in marriage when they first got together and he told her he felt the same. She accuses him of using the proposal as a sure fire way of breaking them up. Annie and Sam #2 are having a great time at a casual restaurant. Annie tells a story about a strange cabbie she once met who said that "you do not give enough thanks". He advised her to go about saying "thank you" and "more please" when good things happened in life. At the end of their date, they stop outside Annie's place. They exchange thank yous and Annie turns to go. Sam #2 blurts out "more please" and Annie pauses in surprise before continuing up her doorstep. Sam and Rasheen are out on the apartment stoop. Sam has promised Mississippi that he will finally attend her performance that night. A police car pulls up. Sam is arrested and both are escorted into the vehicle. Sam tells Rasheen to promise him that he will read a lot of books and never stop drawing. Rasheen agrees. Mississippi looks out into the crowded bar room searching for an absent Sam prior to beginning her performance. It takes both Annie and Sam #2 to bail Sam out of jail. on the way home, Sam runs into Charlie on his bike and both stop at a bar for a beer. They talk of how they'll both probably look back upon themselves later in life and see their present selves less than wise compared to their future selves, predicting a cycle of this. Back at his empty apartment, Sam finds the crumpled up 'contract' and the extra set of keys in addition to all of Rasheen's drawings scattered across the rooms. The next day, he goes to see Mississippi to reconcile with her. She says she feels bad for him, but what did he expect? He's so used to writing short stories when she's ready for the novel. Sitting at a table in their apartment, Mary Catherine and Charlie reminisce over their first meeting at a dinner together. In talking, Mary Catherine describes how that was the first time she had seem him "in focus" and that now, she was sad to see him slowly fade out of focus and drift away. Charlie replies, to the contrary, that he won't. Sam #2 leaves Annie a note saying that he's booking her for dinner. Annie goes with the intention of breaking it off with him, but Sam #2 stops her before she can finish. He tells her to close he eyes and just listen to him. He tells her how he had thought she was amazing since the first time he saw her and only wanted to be near her. He tells her that she is worthy of being adored and that she should let him do so. When Annie opens her eyes, her expression is transformed. Mary Catherine storms through the apartment clearly upset that she is keeping Charlie from doing as he wishes. She's says she's afraid to do something because she thinks it will be seen as the ultimate manipulation, she begins to cry, saying she's afraid and needs to talk to someone. She says that Charlie is her best friend and she feels as though she can't even talk to him. Charlie tells her that if she cannot say what she needs to say, that she should whisper it in his ear. In turn, she tells him about the pregnancy. Charlie is overjoyed and says that they can live anywhere she wants, as she lets go of her own unwillingness to move to LA. Annie calls Sam, who is too depressed to answer the phone. She leaves a message telling Sam about Sam #2's transformation in her eyes and tells Sam to go find himself love. Newly resolved, Sam meets with another social worker to find out where Rasheen has been moved. He then goes once more to Mary Catherine's store and picks out an array of art supplies and takes it over to Rasheen's new residence, where they enjoy a happy reunion. In the park, Annie and Sam #2 enjoy a date taking photographs and posing in front of a tree, clearly enjoying themselves. We see Mississippi introducing what she calls a happy song about happy songs and that it's something she needs right now. At the end of the song, Mississippi looks up to see Sam smiling at her from the audience.