Quirky used to mean interesting, funny, even sweet; now quirky means piling oddity upon oddity. And, unfortunately, “Paper Man,” starring Jeff Daniels and Emma Stone, is a movie so full of quirks that everything sinks. First you have Richard Dunn (Daniels), a writer with an imaginary friend who takes the form of a peroxide-blond superhero, Captain Excellent (Ryan Reynolds). Because Richard has writer’s block as he tries to write his next novel about an extinct chicken, his wife Claire (Lisa Kudrow), a successful New York surgeon, has moved him to a run-down beach house in Montauk, Long Island. Richard strikes up a friendship with Abby (Stone), a teen who’s coping with the tragic loss of her twin and also has an imaginary friend (Kieran Culkin). Quirk: Richard builds a couch using his unsold first novels. Quirk: Richard takes up origami. Quirk: Richard is charmed when Abby makes soup for him. Quirk: Abby seems to be one of the few people to read Richard’s first book. Etc., etc., etc.
Richard whines and complains throughout the movie and Daniels is convincingly self-involved. However, this also prevents us from caring what happens to him. And there’s no humor in directors’ Michele and Kieran Mulroney’s script to off set all of the grimness although Ryan Reynolds does his best with the few bits he has. By the time the conclusion rolls around, revealing the lessons the characters learn, you’re just glad the movie is over. 4/25/10
1 comment:
This movie starts out slow, gets even slower but ends up pretty good. If you can sit through the lulls, the dead spots and the flat sections you may last to somewhat enjoy this "minuscule" little movie that won't make a dime at the box office. See it if you dare!!
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