Bash Compactor: C’Mon, Get ‘Happy’

The [Gen Art Film Festival] kicked off its 15th year last Wednesday with the premiere of Sundance Audience Award Winner [happythankyoumoreplease](http://www.facebook.com/pages/happythankyoumoreplease/193536727022). The directorial debut of actor Josh Radnor, better known to Middle America as How I Met Your Mother’s Ted Mosby, the film drew over 1,200 attendees to The Ziegfeld, some of whom never made it off West 54th Street.

On hand were Radnor (who also stars) as well as cast members Malin Akerman, Kate Mara, Pablo Schreiber, Michael Algieri and, of course, the requisite Real Housewife in search of flash photography (this time it was New Jersey’s Danielle Staub). Following the screening the cast did a quick Q & A where we learned Mara’s upcoming role in the eagerly anticipated Iron Man 2 took just one day to film, big budget films have more food options than indies, and Akerman is taller, thinner and prettier in person than on screen.

While Radnor seems sure to pick up more accolades for his screenplay and direction, the audience favorite for the evening was clearly 9-year old actor Algieri in his big screen debut. As a young orphan who strikes up a relationship with Radnor (“It’s Dickensian,” as one character points out), the young upstart steals most scenes from his much older and much more accomplished costars. In explaining how he came to cast the young actor Radnor explained he had “a stillness about him.” While quiet, it was quite evident that this was a young man wise beyond his years, a sentiment Radnor confirmed. “He watches The History Channel and he dropped presidential facts on us while we were shooting.”

Following the screening the cast headed down to The Park for the a party where castmate [Zoe Kazan], fresh from her nightly duty of trying to sell Christopher Walken a hand on Broadway, Kazan’s Behanding boyfriend Anthony Mackie, Carla Gugino and Law & Order’s Diane Neal all showed up. The venue was definitely not the place to try and cram in the hundreds of people making their way from the premiere. By 11:30 it was all but impossible to move and even attempting to get a drink was a lost cause. In keeping with the evening’s theme, one exhausted patron, after repeatedly failing to score a bottle of the free Stella, said he’d be happy when he got to leave.