Netflix’s comedy-drama Star Wars is searching for all the right words
Pa Robert Succi
| Published
Imagine a world where greeting card companies wield disproportionate power over their employees and use their resources to manipulate the masses, one juicy love letter at a time. This is the world Bob Odenkirk’s Ray Wentworth occupies in 2017 Girlfriend’s Daya romantic crime comedy as absurd as it is ambitious. Straight game as a legitimate crime drama filled with dead dialogue, Girlfriend’s Day as sweet as a box of chocolates on Valentine’s Day and gooey as a jilted ex who slashed your tires when she realized she left her Elliott Smith record at your house and finds out you’ve blocked their number when they try bring it back.
While I wanted to love this movie, I have since become a fan of Odenkirk’s work Mr. Shaw with Bob and Davidi can’t tell what it is All are difficult and Better call Saul star’s best time. The storyboard is insane, but the concept itself would have been better served with a 30-minute runtime rather than being stretched into a 70-minute feature film.
The writer’s dilemma
Girlfriend’s Day begins with Ray Wentworth (Bob Odenkirk), a recently divorced alcoholic greeting card writer who works at AAAAA Greetings. Known for writing sweet little things that are equal parts intricate and profound, Ray is a household name and his contribution to the greeting card industry is legendary. However, Cormac McCarthy once said that “if there’s an occupational hazard in writing, it’s drinking,” and Ray tends to get lost in the gravy more often than he realizes, resulting in a severe bout of writer’s block and a healthy number of blackouts, leading to his termination from AAAAA Hello.
Ray runs into a former and now homeless colleague named Taft (Larry Fessenden), who left the business to pursue a career as a novelist. After seeing his future through Taft, Ray realizes that he doesn’t have much time to get his life together.
Thoughtful setup
During the next three months on Girlfriend’s Day Ray falls into an alcoholic depression. That is, until Ray is approached by his former boss, Stuyvesant (Alex Karpowski). Stuyvesant explains that the state of California is holding a postcard contest for a new corporate holiday called Girlfriend’s Day.
The only golden rule of the competition is this current Greeting card employees are not allowed to participate, which means that Ray is the perfect guy to do the job.
When Ray sneaks into AAAAA’s old office to pick up some supplies, he finds a mortally wounded Taft, bleeding from a stab wound. Waking up the next day on the couch after being beaten by an unseen assailant, Ray vaguely remembers the events of the previous night.
Encountering a homicide detective named Miller (Kevin O’Grady), Ray meets a charming woman named Jill (Amber Tamblyn) and learns that she owns a greeting card shop. Sparks quickly fly between the two soon-to-be lovers, and on the romantic front, Ray begins to settle down.
Ray, newly infatuated with the muse, faces a series of problems when he learns that Miller works for both AAAAA Greetings and Paper Hearts, two competing greeting card companies owned by the Gundy brothers, Robert (Stacey Keach) and Dylan (never seen on screen). Warned by Miller that he will be framed for Taft’s murder if he does not submit to the will of the Gandhi brothers, Ray finds himself at the center of a grand conspiracy to make sure Valentine’s Day goes off without a hitch.
There was supposed to be a comedy sketch
Girlfriend’s Day suffers from one major problem that undermines its narrative: it wasn’t meant to be a movie. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve extolled the virtues of a short runtime with a fast pace in the past, but only if the format makes sense for the story being told. in my mind Girlfriend’s Day would be a powerful extended skit living in the Mr. Shaw universe, not unlike the infamously violent and surreal 1994 skit Love and Sausages made by Children in the hall.
Girlfriend’s Day however, it is not without its charm. Narrated by David Lynch with Steven Michael Quezada (All are difficult) as Ray’s mischievous landlord, Muñas, is an adequately acted comedy with great chemistry among the main cast, but leaves me wishing for less, which in this case would be more than enough to get the point across.
You can stream Girlfriend’s Day on Netflix if drama, deception, and dead delivery sound like what you’re looking for in your life.
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