Friday, September 2, 2022

The Extra Man (2010)


I got it on DVD from Netflix and watched it twice. I didn't like it the first time but that adjusted my expectations. I liked it on second viewing. 

Louis Ives (Paul Dano) moves to Manhattan after an embarrassing incident at the prep school where he taught English Lit. He sublets a room from aristocratic yet impoverished failed playwright Henry (Kevin Kline) who ushers him into the world of "extra men", men who act as escorts to wealthy women so there will be a more even mix of men and women at events. 

You might make it a double feature with Metropolitan (1990).

Things have changed since 2010. Today, Louis's vegan co-worker would have at least pretended to be less judgemental about cross-dressing. It's interesting that the transvestite is the straight man in this.

Based on a novel by Jonathan Ames. 

With Katie Holmes and John C. Reilly. 

It didn't make New York look that bad. You can share a run down apartment with a stranger for $350 a month, it wasn't hard getting a job and even parking an enormous 1970's American car wasn't a special problem.

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