1 Film Excess win:
Best Supporting Actor: John C. Reilly
2 Film Excess nominations:
Best Lead Actor: Kevin Kline (lost to Stephen Dorff for Somewhere)
Best Supporting Actor: John C. Reilly (won)
+ Best New York movie of the Year
+ Best Comeback Actor of the Year: Kevin Kline
The stars of Shari Springer Berman & Robert Pulcini's The Extra Man on its festive poster |
A young aspiring writer moves to Manhattan, where he finds housing in the apartment of an aging eccentric, who teaches him how to attend the opera for free, piss in the street without receiving attention for it and being an 'extra man', while they both gain a friendship.
Friendship is the true theme of Extra Man behind all the marvelously written and performed dialog exchanges between the vibrant leads, Paul Dano (L.I.E. (2001)) and Kevin Kline (Darling Companion (2012)) who, - together with John C. Reilly (Chicago (2002)) in a hysterical supporting role, - seem to have been created for these very parts. This is an intelligent film, which is refreshingly contrary to the 'fetishes' of contemporary society, (personified in the film by Katie Holmes (Mad Money (2008)), who is good as Dano's vegan love interest.)
The film is enthusiastically made, well-cast, well-written and really really funny. An example of this: Henry Harrison (Kline) announcing loudly with perfect seriousness to a waitress refilling his coffee cup: "Enough!" - Genius!
The Extra Man is an adaptation of Jonathan Ames' (Wake Up Sir! (2004)) same-titled 1998 novel, written by Ames and co-writer-directors and marrieds Shari Springer Berman & Robert Pulcini (American Splendor (2003), both).
Related posts:
Shari Springer Berman and Robert Pulcini: Girl Most Likely/Imogene (2012) - Wiig is great as another dysfunctional woman in Berman & Pulcini's unfocused fare
2010 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III]
2010 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]
2010 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]
2010 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess
2010 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III]
2010 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]
2010 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]
2010 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess
Watch a trailer for the film here
Cost: 7 mil. $
Box office: At least 0.649 mil. $
= Box office disaster
[The Extra Man premiered January 25 (Sundance) and runs 108 minutes. Filming took place in New York from February - April 2009. The film opened #54 in 2 theaters to an 18k $ first weekend, peaking later in just 33 theaters, grossing 453k $ in North America, (69.8 % of the total gross). Of its foreign markets, it was biggest in Italy with 143k $ (22 %). The unbelievably poor performance of the film in cinemas, as one of the year's best, is wildly disheartening to a movie lover. - But it hasn't spelled the end for Berman/Pulcini, who have made a TV movie and two features since. The Extra Man is rotten at 42 % with a 5.3 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]
What do you think of The Extra Man?
Any film you find masterful but which has been a critical and commercial disaster?
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