GIRLFRIEND’S DAY: A Bittersweet Valentine’s Day Gift In A Package With Potential

The latest Netflix Original Film, Michael Stephenson’s Girlfriend’s Day opens with David Lynch narrating a documentary about greeting cards. This somehow sets the tone for the film, a strange trip between low-key comedy and neo-noir murder mystery.

Girlfriend’s Day follows Ray (Bob Odenkirk), a romantic greeting card writer past his prime. The film begins by showing Ray discussing his career with all the young colleagues at the greeting card company. This shows us a glimpse into the disillusion that Ray still wants to see himself as the “Bill Shakespeare of romance cards”, yet he can see the industry changing around him.

The film follows Ray as his life falls apart around him. He has lost his wife, his job, and his decency. He spends his time watching bumfights in an apartment he can’t afford. When he is at rock bottom, he is handed an opportunity in the form of a new holiday, Girlfriend’s Day, and a contest for a greeting card to signify this holiday.

The Problems With Pace

Girlfriend’s Day moved at a quick pace, trying to squeeze in too much information and different genres into a 70 minute film; yet in some strange way, the film still dragged on, making you think it should already be over. At times, it picked up and surprised with deliciously unique moments of comedy and noir themes.

Almost too much happens in a short amount of time, as we are never able to fully appreciate what has happened. The film is filled with exposition, some of which works to move the story forward quickly, while other times, it feels we are being fed the information too obviously.

When jokes work, they really do work, which builds up your expectations for the film. But when they fall flat, they really miss the mark, and make you realize you’re not very far into the short run-time.

Girlfriend’s Day feels both too fast and as if it’s dragging on for longer than it needs to. The 70 minute run-time is rather short, yet they fill it with too many different ideas and themes, so that we end up feeling exhausted by the end, ready to welcome the ending credits. Yet, the film still feels too short, as if the story had the potential of being something much more developed across a longer run-time. The pacing is a problem, be it how quickly the film goes through plot points, which deserve exploration, or how the film seems to drag for almost no reason at all.

An Uneven Mix of Genres

Girlfriend’s Day tries to mix genres in a subtle way, yet the change becomes too abrupt once the mystery aspect of the film comes to the foreground. As the film connects the dark and romantic themes, some elements mixing together work well to create an uneasy atmosphere, but most times the combination does not mix well, and creates too obvious a break between the genres.

The music throughout the film has the air of a classic noir film, which is one of the elements that works to subtly bring the two genres together without feeling forced.

When the idea of the greeting card writing contest comes about, we have seen Ray’s life fall apart. The film never lets us see this opportunity as a moment of hope, since the tone is already moving towards a darkness which comes more prominent in future scenes.

When we see Ray begin to fall in love with Jill (Amber Tamblyn), the dialogue feels forced. It offers a false sense of security for Ray, yet we know something is wrong with how the film has been setting itself up as a murder mystery. The forced romantic dialogue, similar to that of greeting cards, makes it too obvious where the next scenes will go.

During the early moments of the film, Bob Odenkirk’s performance holds the film together with a quiet desperation that peppers every scene, and lets you know the darkness that is to come.

The performances of his work colleagues helps paint a picture of his life and struggles. By seeing Madsen (Echo Kellum), Warez (Nate Mooney), Peabody (Radek Lord), and Cathy (Stephanie Courtney) at the bar together, while Madsen succeeds as a poet, we can see how far Ray is falling from his time as a well-respected romance card writer. This helps us understand why he ends up involved in the dark plot during the second half of the film.

The Subtle Comedic World-Building

Girlfriend’s Day managed to build a world, where something we normally see as so small is treated with respect. This aspect of the film worked extremely well. Comedy films are not normally filled with alternate views of reality, yet this one works well to create a world different from our own, yet one that is recognizable enough; so the differences become more apparent.

Treating the greeting card business, something seemingly domicile, as a corrupt industry is inspired, and brings forward an idea that any business can be corrupt, if one person takes the competition too far.

This twist on the politics involved in any industry works well to create a comedic thriller based in a world only slightly removed from our own reality. The film shows the problems created from letting authority figures control creativity.

All the scenes in the bar work well to show how fully greeting card writers are appreciated in the universe the film is set in. The bar is aimed at card writers, and the women we see are infatuated with the poems performed as well as greeting cards. Showing people in a bar discussing which genre of greeting cards they like is a subtle way to show how ingrained cards and card writers are in the culture of the film.

We also see Jill working at a store, which seems to sell an equal amount of books as it does greeting cards. This is a small way to show how important cards are in the world these characters call their home.

Conclusion

Girlfriend’s Day is not a great film, but it occasionally works, especially due to Bob Odenkirk’s performance at its heart. The mixture of genres creates something unique, yet the film had the potential to be so much more.

Did this film succeed at mixing the comedy and noir genres? Will you check out more films directed by Michael Stephenson? 

Girlfriend’s Day is now on Netflix.