Whenever someone asks me who some of my favorite actors are, I will run down a list of between 5-10 names. One name that I never seem to include is Kevin Kline. To this very day, I think the only reason he is not included in my list is probably because he has rarely been seen on screen over the past decade and the words “Out of sight, out of mind” pop into my head. Almost every time I see Kline on screen, he gives such a great performance that for the life of me, can’t think of any other reason why he would not be on my list. If you look back at some of his films like A Fish Called Wanda, Dave, In & Out, The Big Chill, you can understand why I think he is a standout talent. Kline’s performance as Henry Harrison in the new film “The Extra Man” by Shari Springer Berman & Robert Pulcini (American Splendor) is another homerun. It’s just too bad that that movie itself is kind of a letdown.
The Extra Man follows a lonely young man named Louis Ives (Paul Dano) who loses his teaching job due to a deeply embarrassing incident and decides to move to New York to start a career as a writer. While looking for a room to rent, he meets Henry Harrison (Kline) a brilliant and eccentric playwright who is also a social escort for wealthy widows (aka an extra man). The two men bond as Henry takes Louis under his wing, to show him the ways of social escorting.
Louis also gets a day job at an environmental magazine where he meets a vegan and green-obsessed co-worker named Mary (Katie Holmes). This is the first time I can think of where Holmes does not seem like she is simply walking through her lines. I can tell she tried to show some life in the film Mad Money but it was forced. Here she seems more comfortable and I actually did not hate her in the part.
Louis has a big secret that he keeps from Mary and Henry. Louis likes to dress in women’s clothing and he is not sure if he is a man trapped in a woman’s body of if it’s something different. This is one of the problems that I had with the film. It was never quite clear where this desire stemmed from and I did not buy the explanation that was given in the film. There are also quite a few other problems with the movie. Most scenes that do not include Henry’s character are plain dull and at those moments the film does not seem to have a pulse. Only when Kline is on screen, did I get some real enjoyment out of the film. I did laugh more than a handful of times from Henry’s random quips and outbursts.
We do get a nice little surprise in the form of John C Riley playing a character named Gershon. He has a funny little reveal of his own as soon as he opens his mouth. Unfortunately, not even Riley can breathe much life into the film. This really is a shame because as I said, Kline is terrific, but the film is far from great. At the very best, I would say rent the movie when it comes on DVD just for Kevin Kline.
By Marc Ferman
