The Extra Man

Release Date: July 30th, 2010

Genre: Comedy / Drama

Stars: Kevin Kline, Paul Dano, Katie Holmes, John C. Reilly

Synopsis: A young man moves to Manhattan and rents a room from a quirky middle aged former playwrite who has taken up escorting wealthy elderly women.

AltAss Ratings (On a scale of 1 to 5 asses)

Plot:                                     

"The Extra Man" is not really a plot driven film by any means but could have benefitted greatly from some twists to keep the story fresh and interesting.

Writing / Production:            

The characters are developed very well and there are there are some great laughs especially during the first half of the movie.  As the film progresses it becomes somewhat stagnant and less interesting, making only a partial recovery as it concludes.

Acting:                                      

Kevin Kline is the show stopper and plays the oddball who takes in the protagonist quite brilliantly and hillariously.  Paul Dano as the protagonist performed admirably in spite of some somewhat difficult material and the rest of the cast were very professional and an asset to the film.

Originality:                             

This style of comedy feels vaguely familiar but is still quite uncommon and represented a welcome change of pace from the status quo.

Overall:                                    

"The Extra Man" builds up a full head of steam and then fizzles out midway through the film.  It is an introspective into lonliness that is very funny at times which will strike a chord with a particular audience and bore another to tears.

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