Shari Springer Berman and Robert Pulcini’s “The Extra Man” would feel like a forced study in quirk; that is, if it weren’t based on a book from the wonderfully weird Jonathan Ames (whose oddness seems a little toned down for the HBO series “Bored to Death”). Ames’s protagonist (and proxy) here is Louis Ives, a young aspiring (and socially awkward) playwright played by the well-cast Paul Dano who longs to fulfill his dream of moving to New York. Having just lost his teaching position at a prestigious prep school after the principal caught him in a compromising position snooping at ladies’ lingerie (a proclivity that will soon bloom), Louis uses this bad break as an opportunity to finally move to Manhattan. And while the character has a love of lace, Louis is a human anachronism; he imagines himself to be a holdover from an earlier, more civilized age of lawn parties, ascots and cloche hats.
Seizing the opportunity to begin his writing career, his meager funds force him to seek shared accommodations and he finds a roommate im the much older, much wiser (in his own mind) Henry Harrison (Kevin Kline), another vieux jeu and rakish gentleman who gets by as an “extra man.” For this position, Henry accompanies a number of New York’s aging rich women to social events, providing companionship and the presence of a man. The women might bear a striking resemblance to Miss Havisham, but life as an extra man affords Henry a way to experience luxury and the life of the upper class, while living on the cheap; Henry is so pauperized he is forced to paint on a pair of socks for his outings.
As Louis learns from his roommate’s canny ways, he also finds a job at an environmental magazine, where he meets Mary (Katie Holmes, explaining why she’s now getting magazine covers other than gossip rags). For the shy, “Gatsby”-aping Louis, the gorgeous Mary is just out of reach, and well away from his current social circle of graying ladies and obsequious men. John C. Reilly — in a role that feels more like his early work in size — also stars as Gershon, the downstairs neighbor of Louis and Henry. He gets a laugh the first time he opens his mouth, and it’s nice to be surprised by a performer we’ve been watching for decades.
The vintage, Fitzgerald-esque interludes throughout the film allow the directors to show a bit more style than a simple contemporary comedy normally would. Berman and Pulcini haven’t quite returned to the heights of their first film, “American Splendor,” but “The Extra Man” is a vast improvement over their last effort, “The Nanny Diaries.” Though that film had its share of New York neurotics, the husband-and-wife pair seem to feel more comfortable with the truly odd people that populate this film. It’s an interesting look at New York that avoids easy categorization, both to its benefit and its detriment as it tries to decide what it wants to be (though not as quirked-out, it does have shades of Wes Anderson’s “The Royal Tenebaums” complete with a sweet little snow-outside Velvet Underground montage that’s nowhere near as obnoxious as it sounds). It’s not wholly a coming-of-age story, and it resists becoming entirely about the friendship between Louis and Henry. It wears its literary heart on its patched sleeve, but it seems content to wallow in some indie film cliche as Louis waltzes in the snow.
Ames collaborated on the script with Berman and Pulcini, and together, they’ve crafted a cast of interesting eccentrics. Kline revels in Henry’s weirdness, creating a character who is at once outrageous, irritating and convincingly charming. His perfect enunciation as well as his outdated behavior and ideas make him the perfect partner for the past-obsessed Louis, and Kline inhabits all the role’s caprices with an effortlessness that’s tremendously fun to watch (the picture hinges on Kline’s grouchy, bon vivant performances and without him, it could have been a disaster). He’s human and feels like a person you might meet on the streets of New York.
However, whenever Kline is off screen — you’ll begging for his Henry not to make his annual trip to Florida — the film sags. Dano does a fine enough job, holding his own in scenes with Kline, a remarkable feat when playing against the other actor’s magnetism, but without him we begin to years for the irascible and inimitable character. Dano’s Louis is shy and reserved, but he never entirely fades into the pre-war woodwork when they’re together. However, it’s tough to muster up interest in Kline-less scenes. And then there’s Katie Holmes who is nearly unbearable in every second of screentime. Not only is her character loathsomely vapid (one of those aggro-environmentalists who loudly complains about carnivores, leather shoes and those who don’t recycle), she seems to embody the abrasive character all too well.
If “Extra Man” were true in form to its literary roots, the audience could merely page to the next moment Henry appears, but we’re forced to watch a too-excited Holmes string Louis along in Henry’s absence. These sequences are all kinds of painful, but at least minimal. A quasi, out-of-time fairytale, a buddy film, a bildungsroman story, “The Extra Man,” may not be flawless, but nevertheless, it’s largely an enchanting and winsome, if innocuous picture still worth watching. [B]