The Extra Man

In its halfhearted effort to capture New York City eccentricity, The Extra Man turns Jonathan Ames's unique comic novel into an enervating film. Writer/directors Robert Pulcini and Shari Springer Berman, who cannily brought Harvey Pekar's American Splendor to life, don't quite nail the tricky tone of Ames's book (despite the involvement of the author himself), and their sepia-toned reveries and the arch narration have a forced quality. As a well-groomed young man with literary aspirations, Paul Dano doesn't capture the comedic vitality of Louis Ives, who arrives in the city with no money and is forced to take a room with Henry Harrison, a cantankerous loon who maintains his standard of living by mooching off of wealthy older women. Kevin Kline plays Harrison with an actorly bravado appropriate to the role, but his performance adds to the movie's feeling of stilted theatricality. John C. Reilly shows up in a supporting turn as their wild-bearded, squeaky-voiced neighbor, and the ridiculous broadness of his performance exemplifies the film's failure to find the right notes. Louis's gradual recognition of Henry's talents and exploration of his own sexual deviance (he likes to wear women's clothes) should be funny and heartbreaking, but instead the movie vacillates between wanly amusing and mildly irritating.