'GIRLFRIEND'S DAY' REVIEW......NETFLIX INVENTS A NEW GENRE...HALLMARK NOIR.

Girlfriend's Day (2017) clocks in at less than 70 minutes, which was just fine with us......a perfect running time for this strange little dramedy./mystery set in the world of greeting card companies and their writers.

          Director Michael Stephenson and star/co-writer Bob Odenkirk channel a whole lot of Coen brothers quirk into their fractured thriller about a past-his-prime greeting card writer (Odenkirk) freshly fired, newly divorced and flat broke.  While he's avoiding eviction by babysitting his landlord's nephew, opportunities arise.....a covert freelance card-writing job from his former boss and the Governor's announcement of a contest to write the best card for the state's newest declared holiday, Girlfriend's Day.

            At this point, "Girlfriend's Day" turns into a dry sendup of noir private eyewash as Odenkirk stumbles upon the murder of a colleague, starts a random, budding relationship with a young girl (Amber Tamblyn) and regularly gets beaten up by a blackmailing detective and two cornpone thugs who proudly claim they're reformed racists. (With such a short running time, you tend to notice things like the inordinate amount of face punching in this movie....Odenkirk endures more direct hits to his kisser than Mike Tyson's speed bag.)

             The backwoods minions drag Odenkirk to their boss, Grundy (Stacy Keach), the brother of the guy who runs Odenkirk's ex-company and the CEO of  his own rival card firm. Keach functions as the big nasty spider sitting in the middle of the plot's tangled web, similar to John Huston's avuncular evil Noah Cross in "Chinatown."  Like everybody else in the movie, he needs a killer greeting card from our hero....or else. You won't worry so much about the "or else" here, since the undercurrent of absurdity in the dialogue and performances effectively works to keep you from taking this seriously.

            After a few moderately surprising twists and some more face punching, "Girlfriend's Day" resolves in plenty of time for you to peruse Netflix's "If You Like This'  recommendations while the credits roll........so if you're in the right mood to imagine the Hallmark universe littered with an occasional dead body, pop this card open....no jingle starts playing, but the sentiment inside is certainly dark and witty. 3 Stars...(***)