The Extra Man

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  • Opened July 30, 2010 (Limited)
  • 1 hr 45 min
  • R | some sexual content

  • 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 9 to 5 job at an environmental magazine, where he encounters an entrancing, green-obsessed co-worker Mary (Katie Holmes).
    He rents a room in the ramshackle apartment of Henry Harrison (Kevin Kline), a penniless, wildly eccentric failed 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. The two men develop a volatile mentorship, which leads to a series of urban adventures -- encountering everything from a leaping lion to a wildly jealous hirsute neighbor to drunken nonagenarians to a shady Swiss hunchback. Full synopsis

  • Cast: Paul Dano, Kevin Kline, Katie Holmes, John C. Reilly, Marian Seldes
  • Director: Shari Springer Berman, Robert Pulcini
  • Genres: Comedy

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Critic Reviews

85
Movieline
| Stephanie Zacharek

The Extra Man is something of a love letter to the marvelous weirdos of New York. Read full review

75
San Francisco Chronicle
| Amy Biancolli

For Kline's performance alone, The Extra Man is well worth seeing. Read full review

70
Wall Street Journal
| John Anderson

Directors Shari Springer Berman and Robert Pulcini show the same appreciation for eccentrics and humanity they brought to "American Splendor" and Mr. Dano's Louis is a delicately wrought wonder. Read full review

63
Chicago Tribune
| Michael Phillips

Some actors are dinner. Kevin Kline is dessert, and his comic brio saves the film version of The Extra Man from its limitations. Read full review

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John C. Reilly as Gershon in "The Extra Man."