'PAPER MAN': Three Stars (Out of Five)
Quirky comedy / drama starring Jeff Daniels, the up and coming Emma Stone (of 'SUPERBAD', 'ZOMBIELAND' and 'EASY A' fame, she was also just cast as Gwen Stacy in the upcoming 'SPIDER-MAN' reboot), Lisa Kudrow, Kieran Culkin and Ryan Reynolds in yet another superhero role (although this one's imaginary). The film is written and directed by Michele and Kieran Mulroney (a long time actor). Despite the talent involved the film received a very limited theatrical release and garnered mostly negative critical reviews. The film has it's fans though as it sits at a pretty nice 7.1 user rating on IMDb. The high profile additions of Reynolds and Stone (who was the one part critics praised) have drawn interest to the film which other wise would have probably been mostly forgotten.
In the film Daniels plays a psychologically troubled middle-aged writer named Richard sent to a Long Island beach house for the winter by his upset wife (Kudrow) to work on his writer's block. He meets a young girl named Abby (Stone) whom he invites over to babysit, despite the fact that he has no children. She's not freaked out at all by this and agrees to do the job for him anyway. Impressed by the fact that he's a writer she cooks him some soup upon his return and the two strike up a bizarre friendship. She's just as mentally troubled as he is and is still suffering from the traumatic loss of a sibling, when she was young, which she blames herself for. Reynolds plays Richard's imaginary friend Captain Excellent and has been with him since childhood. The movie has somewhat of a twist, that at least I didn't see coming, in the third act.
It's an interesting and mildly touching little film. The performances are all good, especially Stone (as the critics have pointed out) and Daniels like always. Reynolds is good as well but he seems underused. When you have an actor like him in a decent amount of your film you should be able to come up with at least somewhat of a better way to use him. Kudrow is also great like always and Culkin still shines as well. The movie is entertaining and well made to a certain extent but it feels like it could have been more and ultimately it's just not that memorable. Not a bad film but not one I'll probably ever want to see again.
Watch our review show 'MOVIE TALK' at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vqvCRlRn7qY
Quirky comedy / drama starring Jeff Daniels, the up and coming Emma Stone (of 'SUPERBAD', 'ZOMBIELAND' and 'EASY A' fame, she was also just cast as Gwen Stacy in the upcoming 'SPIDER-MAN' reboot), Lisa Kudrow, Kieran Culkin and Ryan Reynolds in yet another superhero role (although this one's imaginary). The film is written and directed by Michele and Kieran Mulroney (a long time actor). Despite the talent involved the film received a very limited theatrical release and garnered mostly negative critical reviews. The film has it's fans though as it sits at a pretty nice 7.1 user rating on IMDb. The high profile additions of Reynolds and Stone (who was the one part critics praised) have drawn interest to the film which other wise would have probably been mostly forgotten.
In the film Daniels plays a psychologically troubled middle-aged writer named Richard sent to a Long Island beach house for the winter by his upset wife (Kudrow) to work on his writer's block. He meets a young girl named Abby (Stone) whom he invites over to babysit, despite the fact that he has no children. She's not freaked out at all by this and agrees to do the job for him anyway. Impressed by the fact that he's a writer she cooks him some soup upon his return and the two strike up a bizarre friendship. She's just as mentally troubled as he is and is still suffering from the traumatic loss of a sibling, when she was young, which she blames herself for. Reynolds plays Richard's imaginary friend Captain Excellent and has been with him since childhood. The movie has somewhat of a twist, that at least I didn't see coming, in the third act.
It's an interesting and mildly touching little film. The performances are all good, especially Stone (as the critics have pointed out) and Daniels like always. Reynolds is good as well but he seems underused. When you have an actor like him in a decent amount of your film you should be able to come up with at least somewhat of a better way to use him. Kudrow is also great like always and Culkin still shines as well. The movie is entertaining and well made to a certain extent but it feels like it could have been more and ultimately it's just not that memorable. Not a bad film but not one I'll probably ever want to see again.
Watch our review show 'MOVIE TALK' at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vqvCRlRn7qY