A washed-up writer forms an unlikely friendship with a teenager from Long Island.
Review
Paper Man was another gem I stumbled upon. An underground indie hit that struck all the right chords and kept me riveted throughout. Its premise has been told before but the film making and performances make this stand above many more of its type.
Paper Man is the tale of Richard Dunn, played by a brilliant Jeff Daniels. A pretty much failed writer who has scuttled away to his holiday home to try and start work on a new novel. His wife (Lisa Kudrow) is a very successful doctor to whom he simply refers to quiet coldly, as 'The Doctor' and has suggested this retreat is a good place to gather his thoughts and bring his new story to life.
Richard however has a slight problem, he is still clinging onto his imaginary friend who he has relied upon since his childhood. Captain Excellent, Ryan Reynolds in a superb role, follows him everywhere, gives him courage when needed and at times even talks for him. Richard has never really found his own feet, made any real friends or stood up for himself, its this meekness and loneliness that leads him to Emma Stone's Abby.
Abby herself has problems, stalked by a friend who forever states his love for her and in a relationship with the local school jock who sees her as nothing more than a quick lay. Richard comes across Abby setting fire to a bin in what you see as a cry for attention and strikes up and unusual but moving relationship.
As mentioned Jeff Daniels is brilliant in the lead, retiring, meek and unashamedly geeky, Daniels plays the role to perfection, think Harry from Dumb and Dumber but not so stupid and your halfway there. Emma Stone plays the teenage girl with troubles very confidently, you can see why now she's getting all the major roles in blockbusters and Lisa Kudrow plays Claire with a removed sense of emotion, I was quite surprised be her. Ryan Reynolds clearly revels in playing the Captain Excellent part, showing up from time to time to give his hero speech and rejuvenate Daniels Dunn. Reynolds and Daniels bounce off each other superbly and keep the whole thing just the right side of believable. Without these two talents this could easily have slipped into farce and the whole thing would have crumbled.
The film style just screams indie at you, from the opening credits right through to the ending you can see coming throughout, but Kieran and Michele Mulroney hold everything together and allow the movie to flow with a kinetic sense of energy. They balance the emotional and comedic side of proceedings with true professionalism and coax one of the best performances out of Jeff Daniels in a long while.
If your looking for a decent feel good indie movie you wont be disappointed by this, my only concern is that it may just be a little too 'indie' for some.
1 Comments
