Paper Man

Wow, I just watched this movie and so many on here said how great it was? I like the actors in this movie so I figured I would like the Movie. It should have been called " a few days in the life of a dysfunctional man". This movie seems to fall apart about half way through because it did hold my interest at the beginning. I even laughed once or twice. By the half way point I was more looking forward to it ending. Maybe some important scenes were deleted that would have made a connection to all the loose ends that seem so unimportant or maybe a few more well placed scenes could have made the story worth watching. It needed to either be funnier or have a more substantial story to have been a good movie. Not much of a plot here folks, I figured out that the girl also had an imaginary friend before their two imaginary friends ever communicated, so I do fully understand every thing about the movie. I just thought it was a pretty lame movie. I ask myself how could this movie ever be rated around 7, now I see quite a few people that say they didn't like it but still give it a 5 or so? to me a 5 means average 4 means barely worth watching a 3 means you don't like it a 2 means it was hard to actually watch it and a 1 means one of the worst movies you ever saw. But a 7 on this? my 7 means a very good movie. This was a movie about almost nothing but how two people who had weird childhood issues made something of an incomplete and very strange connection. This is definitely at the bottom of the last ten movies that I have watched but because the acting was pretty good, I won't sink to low. Out of the 4 of us that watched it, no on gave it thumbs up.

This film barely elevates itself out of the dust bin that it crawled out of. Whether Jeff Daniels' horrible, awkward and unfunny groping of Emma Stone or his pushing 10th graders into alcoholic stupors, the disgusting aspects of this film are tough to rise above. The horrible dialog - stilted and sparse - is anything but funny and the comedic moments are completely squandered. What I find most flabbergasting is the complete lack of anything resembling plot closure or character's personal progress at the end of the movie. It just trails off into some kind of oblivion which is exactly where this movie belongs: oblivion. Having said all that, I will justify my 3 star rating by saying that the two leads prove they are worthy of being considered among the best of the best in Hollywood. Honorable mention goes to Lisa Kudrow who provides a yeoman's performance as an unlikable but decent wife.

This is one of those super boring movies in which nothing really interesting happens. The story revolves around Richard Dunn, a writer (Jeff Daniels) with a writer's block and I wouldn't be surprised that would also describe the writer of this movie. Richard Dunn is accompanied by his imaginary friend Captain Excellent (Ryan Reynolds) and his new friend Abby (Emma Stone). There is nothing really more to say about this movie. The actors - aside from Kieran Culkin - have done a good job but they don't really have anything to work with. You might think that a movie with characters such as the imaginary superhero Captain Excellent, a high school girl and a writer could be interesting and it most definitely can, but this movie is more concerned about... well... nothing really. It's like the writers of this movie have decided for some reason to throw away the entire script and focus only on what the characters would do outside the script, when nothing interesting happens. On top of the boredom we get the amazingly hideous and talentless Kieren Culkin who is obviously only in the movie because he is a member of the Culkin family. He plays - or tries to play - Christopher, a friend of Abby who has a crush on her. His role is totally pointless because you can't identify with him - except for the part that he looks like a nerdy virgin, but the movie depends on Kieren Culkin to make us sympathize with his crush on Abby while the movie revolves around Richard and Abby. His character has no reason to exist in the movie, much like his acting career. Ryan Reynolds, in contrast, is a good actor but in this movie he doesn't really have much acting to do. I guess that constantly putting on his Superman-like custom was the most work he had to do during the making of this movie. Unless you like slow and boring movies, I wouldn't recommend this movie.

It's not surprising that the critics didn't like this film. They always seem to miss the good ones. I watched this film because Jeff Daniels was in it and I always enjoy his work. He was terrific as the neurotic writer, but Emma Stone owned this film. What an outstanding actor she is. I don't know what sort of training she had, but she's a natural. She becomes the character she plays. She is absolutely believable. This is the best work I've seen her do. Ryan Reynolds was Excellent (as in Captain). His comic timing and demeanor was spot on. Lisa Kudrow had a smaller part but was still terrific as the frustrated wife. Thanks to Michele and Kieran Mulroney for the outstanding script and direction. Please do it again.