"I mean, I could be a coal miner dying of black lung or something. You could be a Cincinnati crack whore on food stamps."
Paper Man is an oddball indie drama with a great cast, an odd sense of humor, and the occasional turn into deeper territory.
Richard (Jeff Daniels) is a frustrated writer who moves into a cabin outside a small town, in order to inspire himself to write and do some research for his book. Oh, and he has an imaginary superhero friend named Captain Excellent (Ryan Reynolds) who appears to help him whenever he's overwhelmed by a situation, or doesn't know what to do. Richard develops a friendship with a local babysitter named Abby (Emma Stone in full adorability mode) and hires her, even though he and his wife (Lisa Kudrow) have no children. The two of them draw various issues out of each other and help each other with their loneliness as they grow closer in friendship. And there's soup, too.
Paper Man is a tricky movie to recommend. Not because it's bad (I enjoyed it), but because it's the kind of movie that some people will almost automatically like, and some people won't. And there's no real way to tell, except by watching it. I found some of the more fantastical aspects of the movie to be a little extraneous, as the story would have been equally (and perhaps even more) effective without them. Forced quirkiness holds Paper Man back a bit, but it's ultimately a worthwhile little film.
Paper Man is an oddball indie drama with a great cast, an odd sense of humor, and the occasional turn into deeper territory.
Richard (Jeff Daniels) is a frustrated writer who moves into a cabin outside a small town, in order to inspire himself to write and do some research for his book. Oh, and he has an imaginary superhero friend named Captain Excellent (Ryan Reynolds) who appears to help him whenever he's overwhelmed by a situation, or doesn't know what to do. Richard develops a friendship with a local babysitter named Abby (Emma Stone in full adorability mode) and hires her, even though he and his wife (Lisa Kudrow) have no children. The two of them draw various issues out of each other and help each other with their loneliness as they grow closer in friendship. And there's soup, too.
Paper Man is a tricky movie to recommend. Not because it's bad (I enjoyed it), but because it's the kind of movie that some people will almost automatically like, and some people won't. And there's no real way to tell, except by watching it. I found some of the more fantastical aspects of the movie to be a little extraneous, as the story would have been equally (and perhaps even more) effective without them. Forced quirkiness holds Paper Man back a bit, but it's ultimately a worthwhile little film.