(2010) Dismissed from teaching literature at Princeton North Prep for girls in New Jersey following a delicate incident involving a brassiere, Louis Ives (Paul Dano, putting me in mind of Lee Pace in the ABC-TV series Pushing Daisies) follows his dream of becoming a writer in New York.

In need of a room, he calls in reference to an ad in the newspaper offering to share a brownstone apartment in Manhattan where he meets the "very original" Henry Harrison (Kevin Klein), who lays down the rules - no overnight guests, no fornication - while expounding his view of women: "I'm against the education of women. It dulls their senses and affects their performance (in bed). The women I really like best are the Hassidic women. They really get it." In need of a roommate to share the rent, Henry presses Louis, the only applicant who speaks English, into agreement.

In addition to his pretense of being an aristocrat with an ostentatious display of Victorian morality ("I'm to the right of the pope on most of these issues"), platitudinous erudition (approves of Fitzgerald's novels, disdains the fiction of Henry James), and threadbare sophistication (paints "black socks" onto his ankles), yet always angling for an advantage, Henry collects Christmas balls, vigorously exercises early in the morning to classical music, and drives an ancient Buick with one functioning door and Florida license plates.

When Louis lands a job as a telephone solicitor for the environmental journal Terra, Henry's rudely dismissive: "Just a front for pornography." Also claiming to be an obscure playwright and an instructor of literature at a college in Queens, Henry tells Louis of his stolen opus, suspecting the thief to be his former housemate Otto Bellman (whose mail he keeps in the freezer), the fiancé of Vivian Cudlip's grandaughter.

"I am an extra man," he further describes himself to explain his escorting wealthy elderly women on the Upper East Side, such as Lois Huber (Lynn Cohen): "although I would argue that I am so much more than extra - I'm essential." For his services he receives neither sex nor money, only pleasure, which Henry tells Louis is worth far more than love.

Though the point of view ostensibly belongs to Louis, the fascination of the film is on Henry - "You may write my biography, but you'll never capture my soul" - much less with the rest of the story. Jonathan Ames collaborated on the script with directors/writers Shari Springer Berman and Robert Pulcini to adapt his novel into a quirky cinematic comedy - "If rape is imminent, enjoy it" - with an occasional intercalation from narrator Graeme Malcolm. On a lunch date Louis confesses to Mary Powell (Katie Holmes), his colleague at work only wanting a favor, his feeling that someone's narrating his life.

"Don't be so middleclass," Henry scolds Louis, practicing his constant disapproval, before demonstrating how to bluff one's way into an opera, "the aristocracy never pays." He also disparages Louis's suggestion of recycling as "insidious" along with caring about the homeless. However, Henry claims to have rehabilitated his personal car repairman, Gershon Gruen (John C. Reilly, speaking in falsetto), a subway mechanic with wild curly hair and bushy beard, from slavery to his libido as a male prostitute with a regimen of bicycling.

Already fearing he's unlovable, Louis is torn bipolarly between wanting to be a gentleman and wanting ("an occasional penchant for women's clothing") to be a lady.

Having piqued Louis's curiosity in both becoming an extra man and in meeting Vivian's niece, following an injury to his back, Henry asks his young friend to fill in for him at a dinner party with Vivian (Marian Seldes) in order to keep his Iranian rival, Aresh (Don Hedaya) at bay. From her Louis learns that Henry, though a Protestant, pretending to Catholicism for its moral snobbery, is not to be trusted. Eventually Louis discovers his true identity, but who really is this extraordinary man, Henry Harrison?

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Copyright © 2010 Patrick Ivers. All rights reserved.
Reproduced with the permission of the copyright holder.

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