If You Weren't Crazy When You Started Watching This Movie You May Well Be Now

 This poster is a lie. This movie is not about the tiny Jeff Daniels

inside Superhero Ryan Reynolds. Hilarious capers do not ensue.

I decided to watch Paper Man because of it's cast; with Jeff Daniels, Ryan Reynolds, Emma Stone, and Ryan Reynolds it seemed slated to be hilarious. Combine that with the poster you see above and I was set in my opinion that this was going to be one of those amazing indie comedies that's an undiscovered diamond in the rough. I was wrong.

I feel positively bipolar after watching this movie. At times I was laughing, at times I felt lie crying, at times I was confused, and at other times I was upset. The premise is simple enough: neurotic writer Richard (Daniels) relocates to the seaside in order to write a book (about an extinct type of bird for some reason). His wife (Claire), a highly successful surgeon, remains in the city during the week because of her career and only visits on the weekends, leaving Richard to deal with the combined stress of writing and his own psyche alone. He meets teenager Abby and forms an unlikely friendship. This friendship helps and hurts in many ways, and ends up changing both characters. Also, Ryan Reynolds is a superhero that only Jeff Daniels can see. Like I said, bipolar. Honestly, the movie doesn't get really interesting until about 1:20:00 into the less than 2 hour movie. 

It's one of those movies that begs for film and psych students to psychoanalyze the characters and writers, but try as I did I couldn't come to any solid conclusion (and I took two WHOLE semesters of Psychology). This movie could either symbolize the loss of innocence, the need for people who appreciate you as you, the need for you to appreciate and understand yourself, the fact that you shouldn't give up on yourself/your life, the importance of depending on yourself above all others, or (and this is the one I'm leaning toward) the fact that some people are just bat-crap crazy. This is reinforced by the fact that the bar Richard goes to has a "psychiatrist on duty" sign in the background.

There were some great moments in the movie though. At one point Claire and Richard are out to dinner at a lobster restaurant and Claire finds it necessary to tell Richard not to name his food. This, combined with Richard saying "if only everything in the world could be covered in butter, what a world that would be," makes for a very funny scene. I don't remember what happens next, but I'm sure it's depressing just for balance. Another great scene, not because it's funny but because it just struck a chord was when Abby (Stone) and Richard are discussing Richard's first book. He asks what she thought of the book and, instead of answering, she asks him the same question back. It's a great scene simply because it's reinforcing his need to appreciate himself based on his own opinion and not the opinions of others (support for one of my other theories listed above).

Two very important things that this movie does teach us relate to two of the stars. First, this helps reinforce to me that Emma Stone is quickly becoming the American Sweetheart for the younger generation. She embodies the same sort of easy, quirky charm that stars like Sandra Bullock and even Liza Minnelli before her. This was a dark movie, but she had some truly amazing scenes and was able to exhibit that she has dramatic acting chops. Finally, relating to this blog post of awhile ago, this movie shows that Green Lantern could have been horrible. Reynolds' superhero is supposed to be quirky and off in this movie, but he could have easily played Hal Jordan with this same sort of over-the-top humor that would have made a caricature of the comic book (I honestly don't know how it's possible to do that). 

I wouldn't tell you not to see this movie if it sounds like your cup of tea, but it left me feeling uneasy and I don't know why. I'd be okay feeling uneasy if I knew why (like after I saw Sin City for the first time), but I feel more uneasy not knowing why I feel this way. I leave it to your discretion (because apparently I assume I actually have a hand in which movies you watch).

2.25 stars out of 5