Watch The Extra Man For Free

To me, this movie is perfection.

just watch it!

Better Late Then Never

It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

This film tries so hard to be humorously quirky it hurts itself in the process. From start to finish, nearly every character and event is portrayed as being unique and odd in a way that's supposed to make you fall in love with the whole mess. There are good actors in this, to be sure. Kevin Kline, for one. John C. Reilly is wasted by speaking in a painfully fake high-pitched voice that sounds like someone trying to voice a character for a cartoon (this could have worked with some voices, but in this case the director should have said "Well, worth a shot; let's try something else to make this character wacky").A teacher who gets fired for wearing a bra he finds in a teacher's lounge goes to Manhattan to find himself (his words). Although not yet reemployed, he rents a room in the apartment somehow afford by Kline's character (who acts as a male escort for society matrons, though he points out he receives no monetary compensation, which begs the question of how he affords a small but pricey Manhattan apartment). The rest of the film is devoted to showing that the characters are sophisticated but nonconforming.I actually looked away from the screen on several occasions I was so pained by the overacting and, much more, overwriting. I kept waiting for things to get better, even when Reilly started talking in his cartoon voice (with no particular point to it). I do like unusual comedies, even dark ones, but this film wasted some good talents, plus the money I paid to see it.

With two directors, three screenwriters and the work of the original novelist to draw on, the surprising thing about The Extra Man is its paucity of wit, insight and cleverness. Too many cooks spoil the broth, but usually because they throw too much into the pot. This movie is more like stone soup. The main character is entirely defined by obsessions with 1920s literature and cross dressing, neither of which are defined, explained, resolved or lead anywhere. Kevin Kline is wasted in a character that feels incomplete, like half his scenes were edited out of the film, and then is completely neutered of all his politically incorrect personality. It attempts to take on the concept of poverty-stricken existence on the fringes of great wealth, then demonstrates again and again and again that it has no clue what poverty is or what it means. The feeble attempts at comedy here peak with John C. Reilly going a funny voice. This film includes some of the most aggravating and amateurish narration I've ever heard, tries to turn that horrid voice-over into a joke, then continues on with it after the punchline. A great cinema adaptation will make you want to run out and read the book. The Extra Man did make me want to rush and buy up all the available copies of the original work, but so I can pile then up on my lawn and burn them.Louis Ives (Paul Dano) is an awkwardly quiet and proper prep school teacher who acts more like a withdrawn and socially inept young student. He's introduced to the audience fantasizing about being The Great Gatsby and then loses his job after being caught trying on a bra in the teacher's lounge. After spending several months doing nothing, because prep school teachers apparently earn enough to make that possible, he decides to move to Manhattan and rents a room (more like a hallway) from Henry Harrison (Kevin Kline). Sexist, rigid, imperious and simultaneously pretentious and down-to-earth, Harrison claims to be a teacher and a playwright but what his life truly revolves around is being an "extra man". In New York society, wealthy widows are in need of men to escort them to events and fill out the spare chairs at dinner parties.That's the setting of this film. The story, such as it is, deals with Louis' triple efforts to comprehend his sexual identity, date an attractive co-worker (Katie Holmes) at the magazine where he lands a job, and sloooooowly enter into Henry's world as something of an apprentice "extra man". Of the first, Patti D'Arbanville's nuanced portrayal of an aging sex worker is the only highlight. Beyond that, the whole plot line fizzles out and leaves the viewer with no idea if Louis straight, gay, transvestite or what. Of the second, Louis' pursuit of his co-worker defies every bit of his personality, has no point and concludes with Louis counter-intuitively abandoning the pursuit. Of the third, these filmmakers do nothing to delve into the world of "extra men" beyond anything but the shallowest depths and leaves the audience with no better understanding of the culture and its participants than when the movie began.The closest The Extra Man comes to humor is a bit involving Kline and one of those pocket dogs that are the size of cats. The rest all smacks of storytellers who can't tell the difference between clever and funny, while not being all that clever in the first place. A character, or that damnable narration, is always telling the audience things about other characters' background and motivation. That's usually the surest sign of lazy, incompetent writing. Here, though, it strikes me more as some sort of meta-commentary on the whole clichéd conceit, but done by people who've only heard of the whole "meta" concept and don't actually know what it is. There's almost nothing of any value in this thing.Let me give you an example of how the writing in The Extra Man isn't nearly as smart as it was intended to be. Toward the end of the movie, Louis asks his co-worker to go with him to a wedding. She turns him down. That's followed by a scene of the co-worker and her boyfriend where she's essentially shamed into reconsidering her decision. That scene is the only one in the whole production without Louis. No other character has a standalone scene like that where Louis isn't at least present. This entire motion picture is centered on and orbits the character of Louis Ives. If that's the kind of story you're telling and then you, all of a sudden, have to throw in a scene that totally breaks from that convention in order to advance the story, you're not actually writing. You're swinging the Almighty Plot Hammer. Big Hollywood studios produce a lot of loud, dumb, self-indulgent crap. Independent cinema produces a lot of quiet, dumb, self-indulgent crap. If you don't want to admit that, you might fool yourself into enjoying The Extra Man. If you prefer the cold light of truth to ego-gratifying delusion, keep looking for something better.

An interesting movie, full of off beat laughs and phenomenal acting by Kevin Kline and Paul Dano and John C. Reilly. Intellectually stimulating, fun, and most importantly, different than the average movie. Paul Dano is brilliantly cast as a young writer who has some confusion about his sexuality and also feels he is meant to be in another era. Kevin Kline is hilarious as an off beat character whose political and social views are quite out of the ordinary. The movie allows the audience to ponder, while not being overly ambiguous. The scene at the beach when John C. Reilly sings and Kevin Kline teaches Paul Dano to dance, is a keeper for my memory bank. "Get me off this Godforsaken beach. I need alcohol and civilization".

This movie actually took me by surprise.First of all, let me start off by saying that the story is so compelling and spellbinding that it will blow you away. There is just something about this movie that is so unique in every way.The characters in this movie are so fantastically unique, quirky and lovable. It all just came together for a greater unity. The role of Louis Ives (played by Paul Dano) was the quirkiest of all, struggling to find his place in life, dealing with his sexuality and the admiration of Henry and trying to find acceptance. And I must admit that Paul Dano portrayed his character in a very good way; he was awesome in this movie. And his resemblance to a young Liam Neeson is just uncanny.Moving on to the role of Henry Harrison (played by Kevin Kline), well his role was eccentric and strict. But, as usual, Kline put on a magnificent performance. He is very charismatic and have a good voice. He is indeed one of the better actors of recent times.And also, not forgetting, the strange character of Gershon Gruen (played by John C. Reilly) was also very memorable and lovable, especially his voice.In all fairness, then this movie worked so good on all levels. However, I think that a share of people might be put off by the movie, as it does have that certain epic cinema moment to it, and also dealing with (and I use this term in lack of better) sexually deviant behavior. For me, I found that aspect of the movie to be one of the driving factors, because it showed how Louis Ives was struggling to find himself and dealing with his needs.The movie is very beautiful in more than one way. The story is beautiful, the cinematography is beautiful, the music is beautiful, and so forth. This is one of the better movies I have seen in a while. It is a fresh breath of change in the movie scene for me. Nice with a movie that stands out from the mainstream comedies, and dares to be so unique as it is.If you haven't already seen "The Extra Man", then you owe it to yourself to do so, especially if you are (like me) a lover of the cinema and movies. This is a story that will stay with you for a long, long time.Thumbs up, way, way up from me!