Paul Dano & Kevin Kline in The Extra Man

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

Taken from a novel by Jonathan Ames, the movie's nominal protagonist is Louis Ives, a prep school literature professor with a taste for cross-dressing ... in small, self-torturing doses.

 

Circumstances collude to throw Louis outside his cramped and lonely life and into the magical isle of Manhattan, where he finds a job at an eco-magazine. Kline portrays Henry Harrison, a man advertising for a roommate whose shabby apartment becomes Louis' new address.

It's a nonsexual arrangement; Henry's a bitterly failed playwright and sometime Queens College instructor, with a more exotic nonsexual arrangement on the side. He is an "extra man" for hire, an escort for New York's ladies of a certain age and beyond, and of means. (The great Marian Seldes plays one of his clients.) He enjoys the free food and the occasional opera tickets. Louis becomes Henry's apprentice in this niche field.

Katie Holmes plays Louis' co-worker at the environmental magazine, whom Louis sees as Daisy Buchanan to his Gatsby -- a figure of desire, timelessly classy. She is quite good. And in the key role of Louis? Paul Dano. This is a problem. While Dano has talent and intelligence (most vividly on display in "There Will Be Blood"), here the actor's strangulated penchant for predictable vocal mannerisms and hesitations turns "The Extra Man" into a story of a man who pauses ... at ... odd times for ... no ... particular reason. Constantly.

Ames' comic fable treats Manhattan as a magnet for genial eccentrics. While directors Robert Pulcini and Shari Springer Berman struggle to achieve the proper tone and pacing when Kline is off the screen -- when he's on, so is the movie. He's like a flea-bitten John Barrymore, carving out his own space on a crowded urban stage. "You have a strange power over people, Henry," Louis says. "It's my constant disapproval," he replies. "Some find it fatherly."

Kline is great fun throughout. The film scrambles to keep up with him.

 

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"The Extra Man" Movie Trailer

 

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Running time: 1:48.

Cast: Kevin Kline (Henry Harrison); Paul Dano (Louis Ives); Katie Holmes (Mary); John C. Reilly (Gershon); Celia Weston (Lagerfeld).

Credits: Directed by Robert Pulcini and Shari Springer Berman; written by Berman, Pulcini and Jonathan Ames, based on the book by Ames; produced by Anthony Bregman. A Magnolia Pictures release.