Home > Categories > Movies > Drama > The Extra Man review
Louis Ives fancies himself a young gentleman fashioned after his heroes in the books of F. Scott Fitzgerald. He dresses the part - favouring neckties, blue blazers and sport coats. But he also has a penchant for women's clothing, a weakness that leads to him losing his job as a teacher and a Princeton day school. He heads for New York City, where he rents a room in the madly discombobulated apartment of Henry Harrison, a failed but brilliant playwright, who performs great style the duties of a 'walker' - an escort for the rich widows of the Upper East Side.
The two men, separated in age by more than 40 years, develop a relationship as irascible mentor and eager apprentice, which leads to a series of urban adventures - encouraging everything from a leaping lion to a wildly jealous hirsuite neighbour to drunken nonagenarians and an entrancing green-obsessed young journalist.
Product reviews...
I'm never the biggest fan of Kevin Kline but I did enjoy his performance in The Extra Man. He presents a powerful performance of an eccentric character - that of an asexual man who also acts as an escort for older women: A hilarious concept in itself, but for me, it just doesn't really work.
Kline's dominant presence on-screen tends to overshadow the other actors to the point the film slows somewhat whenever Kline is off-screen. The other characters are somewhat lack-lustre and detract from the film. I can't really work out whether the script is lacking, the actors or the direction of the film. But either way, it lack a little cohesion for me.
What sounds like it could be a fantastic film, and probably could be in British hands (Yes, I am biased) if they tightened the script and removed the slap-stick element, but overall the film comes to be a little Americanised in it's humour. Since this is generally the intended market it may work very well in the American market - but not for me.
Kline makes the film, but it is a shame he seems to be the driving element for the film with little support from his co-stars.
Random listing from 'Movies'...
Fantastic Mr. Fox is a 2009 American stop-motion animated comedy film based on the Roald Dahl children's novel of the same name. This story is about a fox who steals food each night from three mean and wealthy farmers. The farmers are fed up with Mr Fox's theft and try to kill him, so they dig their way into the foxes' home. However, the animals are able to outwit the farmers and live underground.
All trademarks, images and copyrights on this site are owned by their respective companies.
KIWIreviews is an independent entity, part of the Knock Out News Group. This is a free public forum presenting user opinions on selected products, and as such the views expressed do not necessarily reflect the opinion of kiwireviews.nz and are protected under New Zealand law by the "Honest Opinion" clause of the Defamation Act of 1992. KIWIreviews accepts no liability for statements made on this site, on the premise that they have been submitted as the true and honest opinions of the individual posters. In most cases, prices and dates stated are approximate and should be considered as only guidelines.
" ? , !"
Marcel Marceau