Movie Review: The Answer Man
Moira Macdonald - Seattle Times
Aug 31, 2009
Arlen Faber (Jeff Daniels) has issues. He's the author of a best-selling spiritual guide, "Me and God" - the sort of thing that's inspired countless wannabe imitations - but has a little trouble getting along with his fellow man. He lives alone, counting only his acerbic editor (Nora Dunn) as a friend - and even she's annoyed with him.
And so when he throws out his back and ends up trapped on the floor of his town house, with an Ella Fitzgerald record playing in the background (endlessly and hellishly repeating the same phrase of "Isn't It Romantic," due to a scratch), there's no one to help him. He crawls his way to the new neighborhood chiropractor. There he finds, just maybe, the woman of his dreams.
Sounds just a bit formulaic, no? Certainly the film's too-often sappy score falls into that category, but otherwise John Hindman's romantic comedy "The Answer Man" is more than meets the eye.
It's a tale of two grown-up, complicated people: Arlen is coping with a loss that he won't talk about; Elizabeth (Lauren Graham), the charming chiropractor, is a single mother trying to be everything for her son. Both are control freaks; both have been alone a while. And both are played by actors capable of creating nuance in the twist of a smile, or the quiet of a too-empty room.
A neighborhood bookstore, run by a recovering alcoholic (Lou Taylor Pucci) with plenty of questions of his own, provides a backdrop for them and for the movie's supporting cast. (I for one can't resist a movie set in a bookstore whose owner speaks lovingly of being surrounded by books - "all those ideas.")
While "The Answer Man" has a meandering pace and ultimately goes precisely where you think it will, first-timer Hindman makes the journey pleasant among these literate and interesting folk. And its ultimate definition of love is a winner: It's when you find someone who is the answer to your questions.
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THE ANSWER MAN
3 stars
With Jeff Daniels, Lauren Graham, Lou Taylor Pucci, Kat Dennings, Olivia Thirlby.
Written and directed by John Hindman.
95 minutes.
Rated R for language.
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