The Extra Man (2010)

43% of critics liked it
(68 reviews)
37% of users liked it
(2,233 ratings)

A sophisticated and moving comedy, THE EXTRA MAN follows Louis Ives (Paul Dano), a lonely dreamer who fancies himself the hero of an F. Scott Fitzgerald novel... When a deeply embarrassing incident forces him to leave his job at an exclusive Princeton prep school, Louis heads to New York City to… More A sophisticated and moving comedy, THE EXTRA MAN follows Louis Ives (Paul Dano), a lonely dreamer who fancies himself the hero of an F. Scott Fitzgerald novel... When a deeply embarrassing incident forces him to leave his job at an exclusive Princeton prep school, Louis heads to New York City to make a fresh start. He quickly finds a nine-to-five job at an environmental magazine, where he encounters an entrancing, green-obsessed co-worker Mary (Katie Holmes). But it's Louis' new home life that really sparks his imagination. He rents a room in the ramshackle apartment of Henry Harrison (Kevin Kline), a penniless, wildly eccentric but brilliant playwright. When Henry's not dancing alone to obscure music or singing operettas, he's performing - with great panache - the duties of an "extra man", a social escort for the wealthy widows of Manhattan high society. These two men, separated in age by more than forty years, develop a volatile mentor/apprentice relationship. Through a series of urban adventures where they encounter everything from a leaping lion to a wildly jealous hirsute neighbor, from drunken nonagenarians to a shady Swiss hunchback, Louis and Henry form a memorable bond that bridges their differences.-- (C) Magnolia

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Rating, Runtime: R, 1 hr. 48 min.
Directed By: Shari Springer Berman, Robert Pulcini
Genres: Comedy

In Theaters: Jul 30, 2010 Limited
On DVD: Nov 16, 2010
Studio: Magnolia Pictures

Critic Reviews

Roger Moore, Orlando Sentinel
[Kline's] tour de force, a performance "of uncommon joie de vivre."
Cliff Doerksen, Chicago Reader
[A] drearily quirky mess.
Tom Long, Detroit News
An entertaining kinky kick of a movie, a lightweight delight about dreamers and dilettantes.
Lisa Kennedy, Denver Post
Dano and Kline are very fine performers. So why is this comedy such a chore? The answer appears to be whimsy overload.
Sean O'Connell, Washington Post
Swifter comedic timing and a clearer narrative thread might have helped center this peculiar adaptation of Jonathan Ames's 1998 novel of the same name. Then again, maybe not.
Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune
Some actors are dinner. Kevin Kline is dessert, and his comic brio saves the film version of The Extra Man from its limitations.
Louis Proyect, rec.arts.movies.reviews
A typical Sundance type comedy that confuses quirkiness with humor. Needless to say, it stars Paul Dano in his typically weird character role. A totally annoying film.
S. James Wegg, JWR
Belly laughs are few and far between but the overarching tone of silliness deftly underscored by the human experience makes for a largely fulfilling cinematic experience.
Robert Roten, Laramie Movie Scope
Kevin Kline, who has a gift for this kind of characterization, heads up a talented trio of actors, all playing extremely quirky characters who are borderline pathological, but funny and harmless.
Dennis Schwartz, Ozus' World Movie Reviews
The pic becomes too bent out of shape by so many kooks sharing the spotlight.
Karina Montgomery, rec.arts.movies.reviews
Harrison's life is a quest only for pleasure, and Kline and Dano definitely provide it, even if their arc is short and shallow. See it for Kevin.
Robert W. Butler, Kansas City Star
I did a lot of squirming with this one.
Ken Hanke, Mountain Xpress (Asheville, NC)
I loved Shari Springer Berman and Robert Pulcini's The Extra Man, but it's not going to be to everyone's liking.
Jeff Meyers, Metro Times (Detroit, MI)
The episodic script is all verve and no wit, a relentless tribute to nonconformity that starts to exhaust its goofiness after the first hour.
Mike Scott, Times-Picayune
While directors Shari Springer Berman and Robert Pulcini are busy tipping their caps to their favorite literary figures, they seem to forget their obligation to good movie-making.
Andrew Moraitis, FILMINK (Australia)
Too clever for its own good, this film moves abruptly between serious drama and broad comedy.
Sarah Boslaugh, Playback:stl
...so full of improbabilities (you begin to wonder if anyone connected with the film has actually been to New York) that the whole experience just becomes wearying.
Rob Thomas, Wisconsin State Journal
"Extra Man" is a loving ode to the eccentrics of New York, and a wish that even in today's Disneyfied Manhattan, the city will always make room for the weirdos, too.
Calvin Wilson, St. Louis Post-Dispatch
The Extra Man is a disappointment coming from Berman and Pulcini, whose American Splendor was an imaginative biopic about the late comic-book author Harvey Pekar.

Read all 19 critic reviews

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Featured Audience Ratings

Jim H

A former English professor with curiosities about his sexual identity rooms with a modern-day fop in Manhattan. This is a quirky, whimsical comedy that has more than a few chuckle lines delivered by the irrepressible Kevin Kline. Kline's character is a fop, a fool who fancies… More
A former English professor with curiosities about his sexual identity rooms with a modern-day fop in Manhattan. This is a quirky, whimsical comedy that has more than a few chuckle lines delivered by the irrepressible Kevin Kline. Kline's character is a fop, a fool who fancies himself a gentleman, and with over-wrought aphorisms his instruction of Louis, played by the demure Paul Dano, provides much of the film's delightful comic moments. There are times when the film overdoes its quirk, especially in the falsetto voice of John C. Reilly and some of the situations Louis's sexuality puts him into. On the flip side is the Katie Holmes character; the bland actress plays "the girl," a part with no personality and little use to the film's plot. Overall, The Extra Man features of a fine comic team in Kline and Dano, but their talents could have been put to better use had the film been more subtle; if only Miranda July, who adds just the right pinches of quirk, could have directed it...
Nicki M

Been passing over this one at Blockbuster for a while now. Mostly I was interested to see this for Lecy Goranson. There was nothing else there of interest. Having watched it, that's still true. Story is okay, young guy who enjoys cross dressing Loses his job and winds up moving… More
Been passing over this one at Blockbuster for a while now. Mostly I was interested to see this for Lecy Goranson. There was nothing else there of interest. Having watched it, that's still true. Story is okay, young guy who enjoys cross dressing Loses his job and winds up moving and sharing a flat with a much older man who works as an escort. It's a bit slow and some of the characters I just found irritating. Lecy is only in it for five minutes at the end, but that scene is a highlight and quite funny. It's an okay movie to watch just once, but missing it would be okay too.
Lorenzo v

"They're not gigolos, they're gentlemen." A man who escorts wealthy widows in New York's Upper East Side takes a young aspiring playwright under his wing. <center>"They're not gigolos, they're gentlemen." A man who escorts wealthy widows in New York's Upper East Side takes a young aspiring playwright under his wing. <center>REVIEW</center> Bring Clifton Webb forward 60 years, add wackiness, and you have Kevin Kline as the eccentric bachelor in a rent-stabilized dump on the Upper East Side (yes, there are such flats still). His new roomie played by Paul Dano has a poignance, a sad yearning that I haven't seen conveyed so well since Timothy Bottoms in "Last Picture Show." Dano has the sort of face you only see nowadays looking at you across time in family pictures from a century ago or more. The face is ingenuous, pure. The kind of face that America just doesn't make anymore. Both characters have built protective walls around themselves, perhaps necessarily. Though they fascinate each other, and unintentionally entertain each other, they can't decide whether or not to be real allies. The older man depends on super-annuated ladies of wealth for his dining out and his winters in Florida. The younger man, though straight, enjoys wearing ladies lingerie while having sex. It can be all a bit depressing. But there's a soft landing, a nice ending to this opus all around.
Cynthia S

I have always liked Kevin Kline, but even he couldn't save this movie for me. Mostly boring with very few, tiny laughs. Paul Dano really does nothing for the film. Dano and Kline play the Odd Couple very well, but the very slow-moving, go-nowhere, boring script makes the whole… More
I have always liked Kevin Kline, but even he couldn't save this movie for me. Mostly boring with very few, tiny laughs. Paul Dano really does nothing for the film. Dano and Kline play the Odd Couple very well, but the very slow-moving, go-nowhere, boring script makes the whole thing most uninteresting. Sad really. I had high hopes for this...
Bruce B

This movie has been released by Magnolia Home Entertainment, I'm not sure why it was on my to see list, guess what I saw in previews attracted me to it, But what I sat and watched left me wondering why I ever added it to my list. You Man moves to NYC stays with an older man… More
This movie has been released by Magnolia Home Entertainment, I'm not sure why it was on my to see list, guess what I saw in previews attracted me to it, But what I sat and watched left me wondering why I ever added it to my list. You Man moves to NYC stays with an older man renting what's supposed to be a room but is just a bed in the Man House, of course they form a friendship and the young man has many problems but so does older man. Anyway I didn't fall asleep only because I got a good nights rest. 2 stars
♥˩ƳИИ &

Cast: Kevin Kline, Paul Dano, Katie Holmes, John C. Reilly, Cathy Moriarty, Alicia Goranson, Patti D'Arbanville, Marian Seldes, Jason Butler Harner, Alex Burns Director: Shari Springer Berman, Robert Pulcini Summary: Forced to quit his prep school job after a humiliating… More
Cast: Kevin Kline, Paul Dano, Katie Holmes, John C. Reilly, Cathy Moriarty, Alicia Goranson, Patti D'Arbanville, Marian Seldes, Jason Butler Harner, Alex Burns Director: Shari Springer Berman, Robert Pulcini Summary: Forced to quit his prep school job after a humiliating incident, would-be dramatist Louis Ives (Paul Dano) heads to New York City, where he rents a room from has-been playwright Henry Harrison (Kevin Kline) -- who earns a living escorting rich dowagers about town. Despite their huge age difference, the two develop a bond as Henry takes Louis under his wing and leads him on a series of wild adventures. My Thoughts: "Probably one of my favorite films I have seen of late. Just the most interesting characters and story-line I have watched recently. Kevin Kline plays one of the most eccentric characters. I absolutely loved his insane behavior and his thought process. Paul Dano is never one to shy away from these odd characters, and that's what makes his acting so interesting. I thought he did great. When I first heard John C. Reilly speak in this film, I about fell over laughing. Just didn't expect it. Katie Holmes was good in her supporting role. I will say this will not be a film for all, seeing there are a lot of negative reviews. But I enjoyed the quirky odd film. Hope more see it, and like it."
Sol C

Kevin Kline's performance is the best reason to see this film. He shines in it. The film itself disappoints. They had a good idea for a film, but didn't execute it correctly. They needed a rewrite. The pacing was off and so was the tone of the picture. Paul Dano was… More
Kevin Kline's performance is the best reason to see this film. He shines in it. The film itself disappoints. They had a good idea for a film, but didn't execute it correctly. They needed a rewrite. The pacing was off and so was the tone of the picture. Paul Dano was miscast. He comes off like a flat version of Woody Allen. Another actor in that role could have done a much better job. He lacks on screen chemistry with Katie Holmes and Kiline. Holmes does a great job here. John C. Reilly was over the top here. His voice in the film was terrible, it sounded like a voice I would hear on the muppet show.
Burger S

Very offbeat.
Jason R

Incredible movie! Kevin Kline and Paul Dano are so good in the movie, they play off each other so well and it is really, really fun to watch. So unlike anything you'll ever see, very witty and quirky. THE EXTRA MAN is a definite must see!