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Reviews of Recent Independent, Foreign, & Documentary Films in Theaters and DVD/Home Video
THE EXTRA MAN Young English teacher Louis Ives (Paul Dano) is promptly dismissed from his job at an elite Princeton prep school after an unfortunate incident—his headmaster catches Louis trying on a bra in his classroom. (The film’s most fun moments are Louis’s daydreams, where he appears dressed as a woman in imagined scenes from The Great Gatsby.) But the meek and troubled Louis is excited by the chance to break from his isolated life and become a writer in New York. Like all stories about finding yourself in New York, things don’t work out as planned, but still for the better. He finds a roommate short on rent in Henry Harrison—played by Kevin Kline in a bombastic performance that highlights the veteran’s knack for theatrics—who takes Louis into his apartment and quirky coterie. Louis’s pursuit of Henry’s affection and approval provides the film’s somewhat precious core, and that’s how writer/director duo Shari Springer Berman and Robert Pulcini set the scene for their adaptation of Jonathan Ames’s 1998 novel of the same name. It’s definitely a step up from their last adaptation, the lackluster romantic comedy The Nanny Diaries, but it doesn’t hold up to the inventiveness and fun of their American Splendor. Ames co-produced and co-wrote the film, which might explain some of the film’s ups and downs. There’s a rich cast of excellent actors in small roles that appear to have stories worth plumbing in both Ames’s book and mind, but their characterizations don’t successfully translate onto screen. Eventually, introductions to new characters and their quirks starts to feel procedural: John C. Reilly as a downstairs neighbor with a falsetto speaking voice and dreadlocks, Katie Holmes as an insensitive vegan, a dominatrix (Patti D’Arbanville) who helps Louis experiment with drag, a hunchback, and so many more. Dano is wonderful at playing men just weary enough of their repression to break out and discover themselves within the movie’s running time. But the role feels stale. Dano’s become typecast as the reticent introvert (from Little Miss Sunshine to A Good Heart), and he doesn’t take this role any farther or deeper. He’s the same recluse with new problems. The highlight is Kline, who appears to be delighted by the role, and his excitement is palpable. The “extra man" of the title, Henry makes money as a shrewd escort for older women, who he amuses with his wit, style, and 1920s raconteur persona. He could have fallen out of Louis’s Fitzgerald daydreams. There’s
a wonderful score by Klaus Badelt and evocative costumes and sets that
make Ames’s New York come alive, but even these feel like heavy layers
of quirkiness that crowd an already overflowing narrative. As far as
Ames forays into new mediums go, it’s more engaging than the TV series
Bored to Death and the graphic novel The Alcoholic. Like
Ames’s written fiction, it’s hard to engage with a
story that plays second fiddle to the overstated
eccentricities of his characters. Zachary Jones
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