The Extra Man

First Impressions:

There is a good movie inside The Extra Man, but plodding pacing and a few significant missteps work against the premise. But before I look at those, I want to look at what I see as the main theme of the film: Shame.

Louis is ashamed of his urges towards lingerie, and deeply uncertain of his sexuality. He loses his job. Henry is deeply ashamed of his poverty and his advancing age. Gershon seems ashamed of his high and girlish voice, which would explain the menacing appearance he adopts for most of the film.

This lack of comfort with oneself runs through the entire film, and could have made for a compelling narrative... but it doesn't.

The film doesn't seem to know what it is. Is it a showcase for Kevin Kline? Is it about Louis and his struggles? This is a core issue. Louis in the novel is probably a deeply interesting person, but his meek demeanor causes him to almost vanish into the background for most of the film. Henry feels more like the star of the film, and the poster art conveys that as a selling point. The problem is, this isn't Henry's story.

I love John C. Reilly's work, but something that probably worked well in the novel falls flat here: Gershon's girlish voice. They would have been better off dubbing him with another actor's voice if they wanted to commit to the incongruity, but Reilly's falsetto feels so put on that it's impossible to buy it as Gershon's natural voice. Having Reilly sing in his natural tone only accenuates the falsity of it, and Henry's explanation of "Yeah, it's weird, isn't it? When he sings he has a human voice," rings so false that I wanted to smack the director.

Katie Holmes' character fails to work as well, but I don't blame her for this. Mary is probably supposed to represent the normalicy that Louis craves and the femininity that he thinks he wants to realize... but Mary comes across simply as another user, another person who takes advantage... and isn't eccentric enough to mask it or make it interesting.

This takes us back to the director. Henry and Gershon are in a comedy, while Louis and Mary are in a character drama. The entire film feels muted and melancholy with jarring moments of wackiness.

There's a good movie here about dealing with the shame one feels for not being "normal", or young, or wealthy... a good movie about finding oneself in reduced circumstances... a good movie about holding on to an old image of oneself that no longer applies.

I wish I had seen it.