The Extra Man

Ya’ can’t be anyone else but who ya’ are … though no one comes to that reality overnight, and it may take a lifetime, and then some, to find our identity.

I like quirkiness, and this film has plenty of that.

Kevin Kline gives us Henry Harrison, a down-on-his-luck playwright, whose opus has been stolen, who supports himself with some college-level lit teaching, loves a bowl of Christmas balls beside his chair, fancies himself an aristocrat and escorts wealthy old ladies to the opera and fine restaurants (the extra man), spending an occasional several months in Palm Springs each winter on their tab.

Paul Dano serves up an amazingly complex character, at once both intriguing and slightly off-putting: a quiet and uncertain prep school lit teacher by the name of Louis Ives, who loses his job because the headmistress caught him in the teachers’ lounge trying on a bra left there in another teacher’s briefcase. Dismissed for “financial reasons” Louis somewhat happily heads off to find his life as a writer in Manhattan, driving an old Pontiac inherited from his father.

Searching the want ads for an apartment, Louis calls Henry, and following a delightfully bizarre interview, with Kevin Kline at his acerbic/ironic/misogynist best, Louis agrees to room there.

They pretty much go their separate ways, until one strange incident (crossdressing) brings them into a roaring conflict, yet one through which both gain a greater understanding of one another. For Henry, he is what he is. For Louis, he is not yet what he shall become, but having tried to be what he is not, and having failed profoundly, he begins a journey into his own reality – though the story draws to an end before we clearly see what and how that shall end.

I loved it and had plenty of laughs.

Kline is Kline, and there’s no one who can deliver his lines with such disdain for the world as he does.

Dano, on the other hand, offers us a most unusual character, in part, because of his looks – he’s no Hollywood hunk – with a face as we would find in some tragic story from the Twenties, an era to which his character is drawn via literature  - and in his imagination, living in Gatsby’s world. At several points, as his quest to find himself breaks down, we watch him break down, too; this young man can act. He takes some real chances in this role, and succeeds.

John C. Reilly gives us another offbeat role as Gershon the repairman, Henry’s neighbor, with a squeaky voice that becomes “normal” only when he sings. He’s a delightful off-beat presence, a “chronic masturbator,” with unruly hair and beard – a man who can repair most anything.

Marion Seldes is marvelous in her role as Vivian, a wealthy old lady who loves the charm and comfort of a gentleman escort, usually Henry. But laid up with a bad back, Henry sends Louis instead. The work here is remarkable, and in one of the most tender film moments I’ve seen, at the end of the evening, and at the foot of her mansion stairs, she drapes her arm around Louis’ neck, and Louis picks her up and enfolds her little frail body in his arms and slowly carries her up to the bedroom, gently laying her on the bed, and thanking her for a most wonderful evening.

Katie Holmes scores a strange role here – a decent but shallow human being wonderfully engaged in her own life. Only toward the end is there a glimmer of light for her character, and in a final gesture to apologize to Louis for her otherwise dismissive attitude, is turned down by Louis because he’s just a few steps ahead of her now.

The whole things ends with a wedding … I like that … a new beginning for all of them?

Maybe … but at least some freedom for Louis to appreciate Louis – he may not yet know who he is, but he knows who he is not, and more importantly, he knows where to look!

This is a small film, of course. For me, a little gem.

The script is subtle, the acting honest; the dreary apartment with all the detritus of Henry’s tired life says it well.

See it in the theater?

Not necessarily … this is a good one for Netflix.

But be warned: if kinkiness – sado-masochism and cross-dressing bother you, stay away. But if quest themes intrigue you, and good acting entertains you, you’ll enjoy “The Extra Man.”