Happy Birthday, Harris Malden (2008)

User Rating:

7.2/10   

Directors:

Juan Cardarelli
Benjamin Davidow

Writers:

Juan Cardarelli (written by)
Benjamin Davidow (written by)

Genre:

Comedy

Tagline:

Harris Malden has a secret. He fakes his facial hair.

Plot Keywords:

Sweaty | Mustache | Fake Moustache | Birthday | Character Name In Title

Cast

Nick Gregorio	...	Harris Malden
Eric M. Levy	...	Paul Levine
Juan Cardarelli	...	Melvin Malden
Brigitte Hagerman	...	Susan
Susan Slatin	...	Grams
Benjamin Davidow	...	Dusty the PA
Csaba Lucas	...	Frederic
Blaze Gregorio	...	Duck Duck
Mark Demyanovich	...	Manager Pete
Christina Rose	...	Elsa
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Kate Black-Regan	...	Hair Stylist 1
Robin Brecker	...	Doctor
Ana Joe Cammisa	...	Baby Melvin
Elaine Carroll	...	Tina
David Cherry	...	Young Harris
Susan Clark	...	Jogger
Jon Croke	...	Street Bohemian
Evan Davidow	...	Security Guard
Hugh Douglas	...	Big Ben
Gene Foschini	...	Hank the Butcher
Anthony Gonzales	...	Young Paul
Alaina Gregorio	...	Mommy Malden
Joanne Griffonetti	...	Receptionist
Dmitry Kushnir	...	Derek
Richard J. McAlexander	...	Always Shirtless Stage Hand
J. Emerson McGowan	...	Ellsworth Saunders
Matt Moore	...	Jason Malden
Rosy Muto	...	Ursula
Anthony Oliveri	...	Bearded Man about Town
Vincent Peone	...	PayNone Customer
Collin Quig	...	Collin
Cathy Simpson	...	Ruby Saunders
David M. Sitbon	...	Uncle Moses Malden
Rose Szczesniak	...	Hair Stylist 2
Tracy Toth	...	Marlene
Matt Walsh	...	Bobby Framer

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Filming Locations:

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA

Trivia:

Nick Gregorio held the title of Foam Latex Mustache Engineer, in addition to his more well known titles of Writer, Director, Producer, and Actor.

Charmed my socks right off.

This is a great little indie film.

Heard about it from a friend on Facebook and decided to buy it on iTunes because the trailer looked funny.

Was very pleasantly surprised. It's wasn't anything like I was expecting; Stella-esquire absurdest humor meets zany group comedy a la Super Troopers, but was actually a lot closer to The Baxter or even Punch Drunk Love.

But much more subtle. Which may or may not be a good thing depending on the viewer. I love those aforementioned films, but they draw a line, where-as this one I could see being much more a crowd pleaser for a wider audience.

It is real quirky, but not for the sake of being quirky (like so many indie comedies are these days), and there's more than enough story to keep even those w/o the right sense of humor engaged.

In fact, I think the biggest surprise for me was that the story and the dependency themes were actually the thrust, rather than the comedy. But it is incredibly funny. Plenty of laugh out loud moments, and a whole lot of smirks and smiles in between.

Last but not least, the film creates it's own world, and that to me is generally the mark of good storytelling meeting good craftsmanship. Yes the lead character has a fake mustache, but it's believable in the world they've created, just like the Jaguar Shark is real in the world Wes Anderson creates in the Life Aquatic, etc.

Between this and On The Road With Judas, I got a real treat streak going on iTunes right now.