Platicsco
Good story, Not enough for a whole film
Juana
what a terribly boring film. I'm sorry but this is absolutely not deserving of best picture and will be forgotten quickly. Entertaining and engaging cinema? No. Nothing performances with flat faces and mistaking silence for subtlety.
Marva
It is an exhilarating, distressing, funny and profound film, with one of the more memorable film scores in years,
Tony Rome
I have not seen Kevin Kline as funny as he is here in "The Extra Man," since his Oscar winning "A Fish Called Wanda," I thought he would be hysterical as Artemus Gordon in "The Wild Wild West," but I was terribly mistaken. Kline redeems his comic traits in "The Extra Man," the character is zany, and eccentric, fully of mystery, and entertaining stories. His young protégé is also entertaining, with humor, and drama. I thought John C. Riley's performance was quite hilarious, even if it is a small role. The 3 mens antics as a team are funny as well as touching. I would definitely recommend this film be seen. *****
napierslogs
Henry Harrison (Kevin Kline) is "The Extra Man", but to him, he's an "essential man". He seems to live in a time and class that he doesn't physically occupy. Louis Ives (Paul Dano) would really just like to be a character in an F. Scott Fitzgerald novel. These characteristics were so intriguing at the beginning of the film because there are a lot of thoughtful and interesting directions to take it.They make a great pairing, except for the fact that Henry isn't just homophobic, but proudly and defiantly, extremely homophobic, and Louis is proudly and completely confused. And neither of them understand the nature of their friendship. When the film chooses to explore Louis' inner transvestite and getting deeper into Henry's obsession as the essential man, everything just gets weird."The Extra Man" is an extremely intelligent film. There was clearly a lot of effort put into the writing, the characters, the acting and the making of this film, but the weird directions it took were too much for me. I want to recommend it to those who like smart, philosophical, but weird, independent films. Just look out for some "sexually deviant behaviour".
evanston_dad
An ultimately fairly lame movie about a young man (Paul Dano) who rents a room from an older eccentric (Kevin Kline) and learns from him how to be a dandy.The biggest problem with "The Extra Man" is that the entire film hinges on what Dano's character learns from his experiences living with Kline, but what it is he learns is never made explicit to us. He seems to be confused about whether or not he wants the experience of being with women or BEING a woman (his hidden fetish is cross dressing), and there are several ambiguous questions about both his and Kline's sexuality that are never fully resolved. It would appear that at the film's end he's achieved some enlightenment about himself, but what that enlightenment is I certainly couldn't tell you.Dano is pretty good despite limitations in the material; Kline is merely serviceable. The film also stars John C. Reilly and Katie Holmes, who shows some spunk as a co-worker of Dano but whose role feels oddly truncated.Grade: C
Gordon-11
This film is about a male playwright and part time escort who takes on a young professor with transvestite tendency as his flatmate."The Extra Man" is an interesting look into the lives of three wacky characters, but it does not offer much else. It is engaging enough to make you keep watching, but it does not make you beg for more. The film concentrates on how the characters are at present, but it gives little insight into why they are the way they are. I expect that this kind of film to be more introspective, but it is not. The weird interpersonal relationships among all the characters are vaguely interesting, maybe I cannot get into them more because their universe is so far from mine.
