If you don't like this, we can't be friends.

hyped garbage

It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

A great movie, one of the best of this year. There was a bit of confusion at one point in the plot, but nothing serious.

This was an adorable story of a man validating parking tickets while brightening ordinary people's days. The reason? He just likes to make people smile. While at first this film is delightfully predictable, with all the expected puns, jokes, and sweet moments of joy, there emerges a creativity that I could not help but admire. This short film had loads of potential to end beautifully and leave viewers smiling with contentment. But it didn't fulfill what I had hoped. Instead of ending where I believe it should have (the man achieves fame and becomes loved by all, and there is world peace and unconditional love among all), the film takes a downward spiral by giving the main character a love interest. Still, though, I forgave this unseemly need for romance, as it still contained the chance to be cute, and it still fit with the rest of the film. However, unfortunately the film goes rapidly downhill as it turns away from the original plot line, and the main character becomes depressed, only to quickly wrap things up with a hasty and undeveloped happy ending (it was her mom?! Now where in the world did that come from??) It saddened me that such a wonderful little film was slightly marred by such a quick wrap-up, seeing as with a little more time and thought, the ending could have fit in perfectly with the rest of the film.

A cheerful parking attendant considers it his job to do more than validate parking. He wants to validate the customers themselves, delivering compliments about their appearances and the inner qualities behind them. Everyone who comes up to him with a ticket walks away validated as a worthwhile human being. Soon, the parking attendant becomes so popular that people line up for validation. He appears on news broadcasts and even ends up validating George W. Bush and Saddam Hussein. His life hits a roadblock when he goes to the DMV to get his driver's license photo taken and is met with a beautiful photographer whom he can't get to smile.As with "Rent-a-Person" (2004), writer-director Kurt Kuenne takes a thin joke and blows it up into a splashy (if low budget) black-and-white musical extravaganza. In fact, the man with the camera who makes a brief appearance in the earlier film, returns as the main character in this one, which we don't realize until we see the scene in which the two movies intersect.This one is less extravagant, but I liked it a bit better - possibly because the toilet humor is gone.

I can't add to the two superb previous comments about this short film. I just watched it again, and yes, tears spilled from my eyes, tears of complete overwhelming appreciation for this moral fable, this poem to the positive in people, and to love. I teach preschool age children with severe special needs, and seeing this the first time had me by the heart, weeping profound tears of gratitude. It helped me realize that a large part of what I do, and have always loved to do for my kids and their family's is to simply appreciate the greatness it takes to go through their lives, made difficult from having unexpected horrors happen to their little children. To put that into words sincerely spoken is very touching and does indeed change people for the best. I just forwarded the Flixxy link to another very large group of friends who also work in special education. Every superlative applies to the wonderful magic of this film.

I've lost count of how many times I've been grateful for YouTube. Today a friend sent me the link to this short and within seconds I knew it was special. Validation is truly a gem. There are so many superlatives I could use about Kurt Kuenne's short. The acting, direction, writing, etc., are all superb. But what really stands out is the movie's heart and simplicity. The story (a parable, really) is subtle, uplifting, inspirational--it even surprised me. And after 50+ years of movie watching, I don't surprise easily. This is not your typical Hollywood movie. It has a French feel to it; in fact, it reminded me a bit of Amelie. It is uniquely American, though. I can't wait to see more of Kuenne's work.It's rare that I get a link I can forward to everyone on my email list. You'll see what I mean. Don't miss this one--and pass it along!(It's an hour since I saw it and I'm still smiling!)